Symfony2 Persisting form collection with a relational entities - php

Question

Haven't found a solution to this problem through research yet but I am trying to save into the database with two forms in one (embedded/collection). I have entities that are related to each other and I want the form to submit and persist both entities into the database.
Main entity:
/**
* #var integer
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Sub", mappedBy="mainId", cascade={"persist"})
*/
protected $sub;
public function __construct() {
$this->sub = new ArrayCollection();
}
Sub entity:
/**
* #var integer
*
* #ORM\Column(name="main_id", type="integer")
*/
protected $mainId;
.......
/**
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Main", inversedBy="sub")
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="main_id", referencedColumnName="id")
*/
protected $main;
Here's my MainType form:
class MainType extends AbstractType
{
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder
->add('dano', 'text', array(
'label' => 'DA: ',
'disabled' => true
))
->add('partno','text', array(
'label' => 'Part: ',
'disabled' => true
))
->add('batchno', 'text', array(
'label' => 'Batch: ',
'disabled' => true
))
->add('sub', 'collection', array('type' => new SubType()))
->add('submit', 'submit');
}......
And my SubType form:
class SubType extends AbstractType
{
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder
->add('main_id','hidden')
->add('rackno','text', array(
'label' => 'Rack No(s) '
))
->add('diecode','text', array(
'label' => 'Die Code '
))
->add('heatcode','text', array(
'label' => 'Heat Code '
))
->add('inqty','integer', array(
'label' => 'Qty In '
))
->add('onhold','choice', array(
'label' => 'Hold',
'choices' => array(
'1' => 'On Hold',
'0' => 'Released'
),
'multiple' => false,
'expanded' => true
));
And my controller:
/**
* #param Request $request
* #Route("/{dano}", name="subpart_part")
*/
public function submitPartByDAAction(Request $request, $dano) {
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$entity = $em->getRepository('Bundle:Main')
->findOneByDano($dano);
$partno = $entity->getPartno();
$batchno = $entity->getBatchno();
$mainid = $entity->getId();
$main1 = new Main();
$main1->setDano($dano);
$main1->setPartno($partno);
$main1->setBatchno($batchno);
$sub1 = new Sub();
$sub1->setMainId($mainid);
$main1->getSub()->add($sub1);
$form = $this->createForm(new MainType(), $main1, array(
'method' => 'POST'
));
$form->handleRequest($request);
if($form->isValid()) {
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$em->persist($main1);
$em->flush();
return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('subpart_home'));
}
return $this->render('Bundle:Parts:addparts.html.twig', array(
'form' => $form->createView()
));
}
Let me explain what I did here, at first I did not have the Sub's "main_id" field (which is related to Main's id) on but when I tried persisting the data it gave me the error:
An exception occurred while executing 'INSERT INTO sub
(main_id, rackno, heatcode, diecode, inqty, onhold) VALUES
(?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)' with params [null, "46", "eterte", "seteter", 3, 0]:
SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1048 Column
'main_id' cannot be null
So then I made a field "main_id" with it being hidden, grabbed the id from Main by getId(); and passed it into the Sub's form's setMainId(); to persist and it still gives me the same error that "main_id" cannot be null.
What am I missing? Thanks!

Answer 1

You are defining your entities wrong. First understand the concept of ORM and relations. Your Sub entity does not need to have the integer main_id. Simply map it to Main entity. Your Main entity should look like
/**
* #var Sub
* this value is just integer in database, but doc should point it to Sub
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Sub", mappedBy="mainId", cascade={"persist"})
*/
protected $sub;
public function __construct() {
$this->sub = new ArrayCollection();
}
And your Sub entity
/**
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Main", inversedBy="sub")
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="main_id", referencedColumnName="id")
*/
protected $main;
You dont need main_id. The ORM will handle that for you. The MainType form is good. Just get rid of the main_id in SubType form.
You should reference to entities by object rather than their IDs. In your controller also rather than using
$sub1->setMainId($mainid);
You should set the object.
$sub1->setMain($main1);

Answer 2

Your main form is also a little weird. I do not say it is not valid, but you should consider replacing this line:
->add('sub', 'collection', array('type' => new SubType()))
With something like this:
->add('sub', new SubType(), array())
I think it is way more appropriate if you have only "ONE" item. You use collection when you want many items.
I would suggest you look into the form component... how the form is represented as a tree...
Also never make fields like "main_id", unless it is necessary. Try not to work id's and work with associations.