Add connection to DBAL dynamically in Silex - php

Question

I am writing a PHP application using the Silex framework. I'm using the Doctrine Service Provider, and I can open a connection normally as this:
$app->register(new Silex\Provider\DoctrineServiceProvider(), array(
'dbs.options' => array (
'localhost' => array(
'driver' => 'pdo_mysql',
'host' => 'localhost',
'dbname' => 'test',
'user' => 'root',
'password' => 'root',
'charset' => 'utf8',
)
),
));
That works perfectly. What I want now is to add another database connection afterwards in my code. I know I can do it adding another element to dbs.options, but I want to do it afterwards, in the controllers (as different controllers will use different database connections).
Is that possible? I guess I could use something like DriverManager::getConnection($options, $config, $manager); but there's probably a better way to do it.
Thanks!

Answer 1

$conn = DriverManager::getConnection($params, $config);
this is original code to generate new connection, so what you wrote is ok
Link: http://docs.doctrine-project.org/projects/doctrine-dbal/en/latest/reference/data-retrieval-and-manipulation.html

Answer 2

You can configure multiple db connections using the DoctrineServiceProvider bundled with Silex.
Replace the db.options with an array of configurations where keys are connection names and values configuration options.
$app->register(new Silex\Provider\DoctrineServiceProvider(), array(
'dbs.options' => array (
'mysql_read' => array(
'driver' => 'pdo_mysql',
'host' => 'mysql_read.someplace.tld',
'dbname' => 'my_database',
'user' => 'my_username',
'password' => 'my_password',
'charset' => 'utf8',
),
'mysql_write' => array(
'driver' => 'pdo_mysql',
'host' => 'mysql_write.someplace.tld',
'dbname' => 'my_database',
'user' => 'my_username',
'password' => 'my_password',
'charset' => 'utf8',
),
),
));
Access multiple connections in your controllers:
$app->get('/blog/{id}', function ($id) use ($app) {
$sql = "SELECT * FROM posts WHERE id = ?";
$post = $app['dbs']['mysql_read']->fetchAssoc($sql, array((int) $id));
$sql = "UPDATE posts SET value = ? WHERE id = ?";
$app['dbs']['mysql_write']->executeUpdate($sql, array('newValue', (int) $id));
return "<h1>{$post['title']}</h1>".
"<p>{$post['body']}</p>";
});
Source: http://silex.sensiolabs.org/doc/providers/doctrine.html