Symfony 2: Avoid persisting photo entity collection when no photo is uploaded - php

Question

I have an entity AdsList which represents ads and I have linked entity Photos.
When I create or update the entity AdsList a new row is created in the Photos table in the database even when I do not upload a photo and I don't want that to happen. I wish the table to be updated ONLY if there is a photo uploaded.
The AdsList entity:
namespace obbex\AdsBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;
use obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\Photos;
/**
* AdsList
*
* #ORM\Table()
* #ORM\Entity
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\AdsListRepository")
* #ORM\HasLifecycleCallbacks()
*/
class AdsList
{
... several properties
/**
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\Photos",mappedBy="adslist", cascade={"persist","remove"})
* #ORM\JoinColumn(nullable=true)
*/
protected $photos;
... more getters and setters
And this is the entity Photos
namespace obbex\AdsBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\File\UploadedFile;
/**
* Photos
*
* #ORM\Table()
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\PhotosRepository")
* #ORM\HasLifecycleCallbacks
*/
class Photos
{
/**
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\AdsList", inversedBy="photos")
* #ORM\JoinColumns({
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="adslist_id", referencedColumnName="id",onDelete="CASCADE")
* })
*/
protected $adslist;
And here is the form AdsListType
class AdsListType extends AbstractType
{
/**
* #param FormBuilderInterface $builder
* #param array $options
*/
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder
->add('email',TextType::class)
->add('telephone', IntegerType::class,array('required'=>false))
->add('displayPhone',CheckboxType::class,array('required'=>false,'attr'=>array('checked'=>false)))
->add('title',TextType::class)
->add('description', TextareaType::class)
->add('country', EntityType::class,array(
'class' => 'obbexAdsBundle:Countries',
'choice_label'=>'countryName',
'multiple'=>false
))
->add('region',TextType::class)
->add('department',TextType::class)
->add('address',TextType::class, array('required' => false))
->add('city',TextType::class)
->add('zipCode',TextType::class)
->add('statusPro',TextType::class)
->add('publication', CheckboxType::class)
->add('price', IntegerType::class)
->add('photos',CollectionType::class, array('entry_type'=> 'obbex\AdsBundle\Form\PhotosType',
'allow_add' => true,
'allow_delete'=>true,
'data'=>array(new Photos() ),
'required' => false
)
)
->add('save', SubmitType::class)
;
}
public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver) {
$resolver->setDefaults(array(
'data_class' => 'obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\AdsList',
));
}
}
I guess that there is a procedure in order to avoid persisting the Photos entity but I've tried in the controller:
public function editAdAction(Request $request,AdsList $ads){
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$form = $this->createForm(AdsListEditType::class, $ads);
$form->handleRequest($request);
if ($form->isValid()) {
if($form->get('save')->isClicked()){
//this condition in case no photo is uploaded
if($form->get('photos')->getData()[0]->getFile() === null){
$photos = $ads->getPhotos();
//what do here? or maybe the problem is somewhere else
//I've tried $em->refresh($photo); but it throws the error I gave
}
$em->flush();
$id = $ads->getId();
return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('ad_edition',array('id'=>$id)));
}
return $this->render('obbexAdsBundle:Default:editAd.html.twig',
array(
'ads'=>$ads,
'form'=>$form->createView()
));
}
But I have the following error
Entity obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\Photos#000000000b2d669200007fb2152337c5
is not managed. An entity is managed if its fetched from the database or
registered as new through EntityManager#persist
Has anyone done this? it seems pretty standard to me. In case no photo is uploaded don't do anything in the database to keep it clean

Answer 1

In the case there is no file set
We should not touch the image property
/**
* Add image
*
* #param \obbex\AdsBundle\Entity\Photo $image
*
* #return Painting
*/
public function addImage(\Art\GeneralBundle\Entity\Photo $photo)
{
if($photos->getFile() !== NULL){
$this->photos[] = $photo;
$image->setAdlist($this);
}
return $this;
}
and then no photo will be persisted if the field file is not filled with information.
Note that I linked the AdsList entity with the Photo Entity via the object AdsList itself not from the controller which was incorrect.