Chaining Symfony Repository Methods ( Filters ) - php

Question

What is the best practice to chain repository methods to reuse query building logic?
Here is how I did it, but I doubt if this is the right way:
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager;
class OrderRepository extends \Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository
{
private $q;
public function __construct(EntityManager $em, Mapping\ClassMetadata $class)
{
parent::__construct($em, $class);
$this->q = $this->createQueryBuilder('o');
}
public function getOneResult()
{
return $this->q->getQuery()->getOneOrNullResult();
}
public function getResult()
{
return $this->q->getQuery()->getResult();
}
public function filterByStatus($status)
{
$this->q->andWhere('o.status = :status')->setParameter('status', $status);
return $this;
}
public function findNextForPackaging()
{
$this->q->leftjoin('o.orderProducts', 'p')
->orderBy('o.deliveryDate', 'ASC')
->andHaving('SUM(p.qtePacked) < SUM(p.qte)')
->groupBy('o.id')
->setMaxResults(1);
return $this;
}
}
This allows me to chain method like this:
$order = $em->getRepository('AppBundle:Order')->filterByStatus(10)->findNextForPackaging()->getOneResult();
This is of course just an example. In reality there are many more methods that can be chained.
One big problem with this is the fact that I need a join for some of the "filters", so I have to check if the join has already been set by some method/filter before I add it. ( I did not put it in the example, but I figured it out, but it is not very pretty )
The other problem is that I have to be careful when using the repository, as the query could already be set to something, so I would need to reset the query every time before using it.
I also understand that I could use the doctrine "matching" method with criteria, but as far as I understood, this is rather expensive, and also, I don't know how to solve the "join" Problem with that approach.
Any thoughts?

Answer 1

I made something similar to what you want:
Controller, this is how you use it. I am not returning Response instance but serialize the array in kernel.view listener but it is still valid example:
/**
* #Route("/root/pending_posts", name="root_pending_posts")
* #Method("GET")
*
* #return Post[]
*/
public function pendingPostsAction(PostRepository $postRepository, ?UserInterface $user): array
{
if (!$user) {
return [];
}
return $postRepository->begin()
->wherePublished(false)
->whereCreator($user)
->getResults();
}
PostRepository:
class PostRepository extends BaseRepository
{
public function whereCreator(User $user)
{
$this->qb()->andWhere('o.creator = :creator')->setParameter('creator', $user);
return $this;
}
public function leftJoinRecentComments(): self
{
$this->qb()
->leftJoin('o.recentCommentsReference', 'ref')->addSelect('ref')
->leftJoin('ref.comment', 'c')->addSelect('c');
return $this;
}
public function andAfter(\DateTime $after)
{
$this->qb()->andWhere('o.createdAt > :after')->setParameter('after', $after);
return $this;
}
public function andBefore(\DateTime $before)
{
$this->qb()->andWhere('o.createdAt < :before')->setParameter('before', $before);
return $this;
}
public function wherePublished(bool $bool)
{
$this->qb()->andWhere('o.isPending = :is_pending')->setParameter('is_pending', !$bool);
return $this;
}
}
and BaseRepository has most used stuff, still work in progress:
namespace wjb\CoreBundle\Model;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;
use Doctrine\ORM\QueryBuilder;
abstract class BaseRepository extends EntityRepository
{
/** #var QueryBuilder */
private $qb;
public function begin()
{
$this->qb = $this->createQueryBuilder('o');
return $this;
}
public function qb(): QueryBuilder
{
return $this->qb;
}
public function none()
{
$this->qb()->where('o.id IS NULL');
return $this;
}
public function setMaxResults($maxResults)
{
$this->qb()->setMaxResults($maxResults);
return $this;
}
public function addOrderBy($sort, $order = null)
{
$this->qb()->addOrderBy($sort, $order);
return $this;
}
public function getResults()
{
return $this->qb()->getQuery()->getResult();
}
}
This helps me a lot in chaining calls like in controller example.