Symfony doctrine timestamp field - php

Question

I'm trying to create a timestamp database field type for my Symfony project.
I have created the following database type:
class TimestampType extends Type {
const TIMESTAMP_TYPE_NAME = 'timestamp';
/**
* Gets the SQL declaration snippet for a field of this type.
*
* #param array $fieldDeclaration The field declaration.
* #param \Doctrine\DBAL\Platforms\AbstractPlatform $platform The currently used database platform.
*
* #return string
*/
public function getSQLDeclaration(array $fieldDeclaration, AbstractPlatform $platform)
{
return "TIMESTAMP";
}
public function convertToDatabaseValue($value, AbstractPlatform $platform)
{
return $value;
}
public function convertToPHPValue($value, AbstractPlatform $platform)
{
return $value;
}
/**
* Gets the name of this type.
*
* #return string
*
* #todo Needed?
*/
public function getName()
{
return self::TIMESTAMP_TYPE_NAME;
}
}
In my entity, I have declared the following property:
/**
* #var \DateTime
* #ORM\Column(name="created", type="timestamp", options={"default":"CURRENT_TIMESTAMP"})
*/
protected $created = null;
It all looks good, but when running a database update, I get an error:
An exception occurred while executing 'ALTER TABLE question CHANGE created created TIMESTAMP DEFAULT 'CURRENT_TIMESTAMP' NOT NULL COMMENT '(DC2Type:timestamp)'':
SQLSTATE[42000]: Syntax error or access violation: 1067 Invalid default value for 'created'
For some reason, my default value is being encapsulated in single quotes. This doesn't happen for datetime fields, but then I get an error the default value is invalid.
Is there any way I can make Symfony accept a timetamp field with CURRENT_TIMESTAMP as default value?
I've tried the following in my custom type, by commenting out the appending query Symfony adds:
public function getSQLDeclaration(array $fieldDeclaration, AbstractPlatform $platform)
{
return "TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP COMMENT '(DC2Type:" . self::TIMESTAMP_TYPE_NAME . ")' #--";
}
That works, but now Symfony always thinks it needs to update my tables and runs the query for every table that it thinks it needs to update.
My goal is to have a timestamp in the database if I run native insert queries. I know it can be done using HasLifecycleCallbacks and I have them configured, but I want to avoid ORM at some points and use native queries.
Any help would be appreciated. :)

Answer 1

A funny little trick I've seen is this (you wouldn't need the database type you created, just update the mapping):
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="datetime", nullable=false)
* #ORM\Version
* #var \DateTime
*/
protected $created = null;
What happens behind the scenes is that Doctrine will end up casting the datetime to a timestamp since it was combined with #version, and should add the default timestamp schema change.
With that said, this isn't quite the intended use for this feature (http://doctrine-orm.readthedocs.org/en/latest/reference/annotations-reference.html#annref-version), and I'd be curious what happens on subsequent update queries you make.
I know you're looking for the default to be set in MySQL so you can run queries outside of Doctrine, but the clearest way to add a default timestamp for me has always been to add it in the object's constructor:
public function __construct()
{
$this->created = new \DateTime();
}