How to right insert or update on same Doctrine2 object - php

Question

I have this piece of code:
$entity = $em->getRepository('AppBundle:Representative')->find($soqlObj1['records'][0]['Id']);
if ($entity === null) {
$entity = new Representative();
$em->persist($entity);
}
// we set the values from veeva
$entity->setVeevaRepId($soqlObj1['records'][0]['Id']);
$entity->setEmail($soqlObj1['records'][0]['Email']);
...
$em->flush();
And this is part of the entity Representative:
class Representative
{
/**
* #ORM\Id()
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45, nullable=false, unique=true)
* #ORM\GeneratedValue()
* #Expose()
*/
protected $veeva_rep_id;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $display_name;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $avatar_url = 'https://pdone.s3.amazonaws.com/avatar/default_avatar.png';
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $rep_type = "VEEVA";
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $username;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $first;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $last;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45, nullable=true)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $title;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="text", nullable=true)
*/
protected $bio;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45, nullable=true)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $phone;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=45)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $email;
/**
* #var bool
* #ORM\Column(type="boolean")
* #Expose()
*/
protected $inactive = false;
/**
* #var \DateTime
* #ORM\Column(type="datetime", nullable=true)
* #Expose()
*/
protected $lastLoginAt;
/**
* #var \DateTime
* #ORM\Column(type="datetime")
* #Expose()
*/
protected $lastSyncAt;
/**
* #var Territory
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Territory")
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="territories_id", referencedColumnName="veeva_territory_id")
* #Expose()
*/
protected $territory;
/**
* #var string
* #ORM\Column(type="string", nullable=true, length=150)
*/
protected $repTokenId;
...
}
There are a few others columns that are required at DB level (nullable = false at entity level), my question: if the object doesn't exists at DB it will be created or update based on the code I wrote or I need to move each required field into conditional? Which is the right way to achieve this? I am trying to do a INSERT|UPDATE based on just one query result

Answer 1

If you retrieved object from db, doctrine itself knows if the next operation will be an update or an insert: you don't have to worry about anything
Your answer is a valid one but I would modify it as follows
$entity = $em->getRepository('AppBundle:Representative')->find($soqlObj1['records'][0]['Id']);
if ($entity === null) {
$entity = new Representative();
}
// we set the values from veeva
$entity->setVeevaRepId($soqlObj1['records'][0]['Id']);
$entity->setEmail($soqlObj1['records'][0]['Email']);
$em->persist($entity);
$em->flush();
As I told you, you don't have to worry about insertion or update, doctrine will do it for you. However, if you need to set certain values only if the object is a new one or if it was fetched from db, just add proper code under $entity === null control