Symfony2: keep it as function or create Service? - php

Question

I have this method in my Controller that from indexAction() is called several times. Should I keep it as it is, or should I create Helper Class (Service) for it and other reusable methods, since I could avoid passing arguments such as $em in this case? I can't understand a context of services and when it is comfortable to use them.
public function getProfile($em, $username, $password) {
$dql = $em->createQuery('SELECT Profiles FROM ProjectProjectBundle:Profiles AS Profiles WHERE Profiles.email = :email AND Profiles.password = :password')
->setParameters(array(
'email' => $username,
'password' => $password
));
return $dql->getArrayResult();
}

Answer 1

First of all, know this: You should never, never, never have SQL/DQL in your controllers. Never.
Secondly, you have a few options, but I'm only going to outline one. I'm assuming you have Entities defined so let's start with an options based on that.
Tell doctrine where the Profiles entity's repository is located
src/Project/ProjectBundle/Entity/Profiles.php
/**
* #ORM\Table()
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="Project\ProjectBundle\Entity\ProfilesRepository")
*/
class Profiles {}
Create the ProfilesRepository class and imlement a custom finder
src/Project/ProjectBundle/Entity/ProfilesRepository.php
namespace Project\ProjectBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;
class ProfilesRepository extends EntityRepository
{
/**
* Find a Profiles entity with the given credentials
*
* #return \Project\ProjectBundle\Entity\Profiles|null
*/
public function findByCredentials($username, $password)
{
return $this->findBy(array('email' => $username, 'password' => $password ));
}
}
Update the convenience method in your controller
/**
* Fetch a user's profile
*
* #return \Project\ProjectBundle\Entity\Profiles
*/
private function fetchProfile($username, $password)
{
try { // Exception-safe code is good!
$profilesRepo = $this->getDoctrine()->getEntityRepository('ProjectProjectBundle:Profiles');
return $profilesRepo->findByCredentials($username, $password);
}
catch (\Exception $e)
{
// Do whatever you want with exceptions
}
return null;
}
A few notes on the proposal
I ditched the DQL in favor of Repository finders
I ditched the array representation of rows in favor of Entity representations. As long as you're actually using Entities, this is preferable.
I renamed getProfile() to fetchProfile() since it's a better description for what the method does. I also made it private because that's just good secure coding practice.

Answer 2

Use the EntityRepositories
// src/YourProjectName/BundleName/Entity/ProfileRepository.php
<?php
namespace YourProjectName\BundleName\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;
class ProfileRepository extends EntityRepository
{
public function myGetProfile($username, $password)
{
$dql = $this->getEntityManager()->createQuery('SELECT Profiles FROM ProjectProjectBundle:Profiles AS Profiles WHERE Profiles.email = :email AND Profiles.password = :password')
->setParameters(array(
'email' => $username,
'password' => $password
));
return $dql->getArrayResult();
}
}
Then from any controllers you'll be able to do
$repository = $em->getRepository('YourBundle:Profile');
$repository->myGetProfile('username', 'password');

Answer 3

I would use an entity reposity (Just posted this and realised Isaac has just posted so please refer)
/** Repository Class **/
<?php
namespace YourProjectName\BundleName\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;
class ProfileRepository extends EntityRepository {
public function myGetProfile($username, $password) {
return $this->getEntityManager()
->createQueryBuilder('p')
->from('ProjectProjectBundle:Profiles','p')
->where('p.email = :email')
->andWhere('p.password = :password')
->setParameters(['email' => $email, 'password' => $password])
->getQuery()
->getArrayResult();
}
}
/** In a controller **/
$results = $em->getRepository('ABundle:Profile')->myGetProfile($username, $password);
Also don't forget to add this repository to your enity class or it will not work
If you have one main function that is called I would also recommend shorting this with #ParamConverter using repository method.

Answer 4

The first distinction I would make is that you grouped Helper Classes and Services as the same thing. You might have a global helper class for formatting strings or working with filepaths, but that wouldn't make a good service.
Re-reading http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/service_container.html provided a good analogy with a Mailer service. Maybe in your case you'd want a Profiler service to manage your Profile objects.
$profiler = $this->get('profile_manager');
$current_profile = $profiler->getProfile();
$other_profile = $profiler->getProfile('username','password');