Symfony3 persisting generated entities - php

Question

I'm working on a project saving IP Addresses and IP Ranges. Currently, my Range entity has references to two IP Address entities (the network and broadcast entities) and has a OneToMany relationship to the hosts. The IP Address entity has a ManyToOne relationship to the IP Range, that is optional.
Here is my IP Address entity:
class IPAddress {
/**
* #var int
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
// relations to other tables
/**
* #var IPRange
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\IPRange", inversedBy="hosts", cascade={"persist", "remove"})
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="ip_range_id", referencedColumnName="id", nullable=true)
*/
private $ipRangeId;
// entity variables
/**
* #var mixed
* #ORM\Column(name="ip_address", type="binary", length=16, nullable=false, unique=true)
* #SIAssert\IpPacked(version="all")
*/
private $ipAddress;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(name="ip_address_text", type="string", length=50, nullable=false)
*/
private $ipAddressText;
/**
* #var int
* #ORM\Column(name="cidr", type="smallint", nullable=false, options={"unsigned"=true})
*/
private $cidr;
/**
* #var mixed
* #ORM\Column(name="gateway", type="binary", length=16, nullable=false)
*/
private $gateway;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(name="gateway_text", type="string", length=50, nullable=false)
*/
private $gatewayText;
/**
* #var int
* #ORM\Column(name="type", type="smallint", options={"unsigned"=true})
*/
private $type;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(name="description", type="string", length=50)
*/
private $description;
// getters and setters not shown
}
And my IP Range entity:
class IPRange {
/**
* #var int
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
// relations to other tables
/**
* #var IPAddress
* #ORM\OneToOne(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\IPAddress", cascade={"persist", "remove"}, orphanRemoval=true)
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="network", referencedColumnName="id", nullable=false)
*/
private $network;
/**
* #var IPAddress
* #ORM\OneToOne(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\IPAddress", cascade={"persist", "remove"}, orphanRemoval=true)
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="broadcast", referencedColumnName="id", nullable=false)
*/
private $broadcast;
/**
* #var array
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="AppBundle\Entity\IPAddress", mappedBy="ipRangeId")
*/
private $hosts;
// entity variables
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(name="description", type="string", length=50, nullable=false)
*/
private $description;
/**
* #var int
* #ORM\Column(name="cidr", type="smallint", nullable=false, options={"unsigned"=true})
*/
private $cidr;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(name="notes", type="text", length=65535, nullable=true)
*/
private $notes;
// getters and setters not shown
}
My current flow when I create a new IP Range:
generate new IP Range entity (display form)
get information back from form
generate IP Address entities with a null for the IP Range entity (IP Range not yet persisted, because the network and broadcast IP Address entities are not created)
persist my IP Range entity
get that ID and rewrite all my IP Address entities with the a valid IP Range entity
I must be missing something, because it seems like a lot of steps to programmatically create entities.
Is there a better and more efficient way of doing this?
Edited ... added my form types ...
My IPRangeType:
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder
->add('description', TextType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'label' => 'Description:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('notes', TextareaType::class, array(
'required' => false,
'label' => 'Notes:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('cidr', ChoiceType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'multiple' => false,
'expanded' => false,
'choices' => array (
'IPv4' => [
'/30 (255.255.255.252)' => 30,
'/29 (255.255.255.248)' => 29,
'/28 (255.255.255.240)' => 28,
'/27 (255.255.255.224)' => 27,
'/26 (255.255.255.192)' => 26,
'/25 (255.255.255.128)' => 25,
'/24 (255.255.255.0)' => 24,
'/23 (255.255.254.0)' => 23,
'/22 (255.255.252.0)' => 22,
'/21 (255.255.248.0)' => 21,
'/20 (255.255.240.0)' => 20,
],
'IPv6' => [
'/64 network' => 64,
]
),
'label' => 'CIDR (subnet):',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('network', IPAddressType::class, array(
'required' => true,
))
->add('gateway_select', ChoiceType::class, array(
'mapped' => false,
'required' => true,
'multiple' => false,
'expanded' => false,
'choices' => array (
'- enter in valid IP and CIDR -' => 0,
),
'label' => 'Gateway:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('json_data', HiddenType::class, array(
'mapped' => false,
))
;
}
My IPAddressType:
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder
->add('ipAddress', TextType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'label' => 'IP Address:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('cidr', ChoiceType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'multiple' => false,
'expanded' => false,
'choices' => array (
'IPv4' => [
'/30 (255.255.255.252)' => 30,
'/29 (255.255.255.248)' => 29,
'/28 (255.255.255.240)' => 28,
'/27 (255.255.255.224)' => 27,
'/26 (255.255.255.192)' => 26,
'/25 (255.255.255.128)' => 25,
'/24 (255.255.255.0)' => 24,
'/23 (255.255.254.0)' => 23,
'/22 (255.255.252.0)' => 22,
'/21 (255.255.248.0)' => 21,
'/20 (255.255.240.0)' => 20,
],
'IPv6' => [
'/64 network' => 64,
]
),
'label' => 'CIDR (subnet):',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('gateway', TextType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'label' => 'Gateway:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('type', ChoiceType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'multiple' => false,
'expanded' => false,
'choices' => IPAddress::TYPE,
'label' => 'Address Type:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
->add('description', TextType::class, array(
'required' => true,
'label' => 'Description:',
'label_attr' => array(
'class' => 'text-right middle',
),
))
;
$builder->get('ipAddress')
->addModelTransformer(new IPToStringTransformer());
$builder->get('gateway')
->addModelTransformer(new IPToStringTransformer());
}

Answer 1

Sounds very roundabout. I'll loosely detail for you what I would do as a general approach.
I would create two form types, call one IpAddressType and the other IpRangeType. Because you're sharing purposes in IpAddress you should only need one type, it's all the same data.
So your form type will look something like:
(this is symfony 2.3 syntax - there will be some differences if you have a newer version - but the approach is the same)
class IpRangeType extends AbstractType
{
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder->add('description');
$builder->add('cidr'); // and other single fields
$builder->add('network', new IpAddressType());
$builder->add('broadcast', new IpAddressType());
$builder->add('hosts', 'collection', ['type' => new IpAddressType()]);
}
public function getName()
{
return 'ip_range';
}
public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults(array(
'data_class' => 'YourBundle\Entity\IpRange',
));
}
}
Sub form type.
class IpAddressType extends AbstractType
{
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder->add('ipAddress');
$builder->add('ipAddressText'); // etc etc
}
public function getName()
{
return 'ip_address';
}
public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults(array(
'data_class' => 'YourBundle\Entity\IpAddress',
));
}
}
Then in your controller:
$ipRange = new IpRange();
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$form = $this->createForm(new IpRangeType(), $ipRange);
$form->handleRequest($request);
if ($form->isValid()) {
$em->persist($ipRange);
$em->flush();
return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('your_success_route'));
}
It should be that simple.
Note: you will need to set at least cascade=persist on IpRange $hosts property, otherwise it won't persist IpAddress items added to the collection.
Because of cascade persist on IpRange network, broadcast and hosts properties you don't need to persist individual items, the ipAddress entities will automatically be associated with the parent entity.
You will need to follow this approach for adding your host entries:
http://symfony.com/doc/current/form/form_collections.html
Also please have a look at the forms documentation in general, you should never need to 'generate' an entity if a form is done correctly (other than in very special cases).
Correctly implemented the form should return your complete entities with the data added in the form and all you have to do is validate & persist.
Docs for handling form submissions here: http://symfony.com/doc/current/forms.html#handling-form-submissions