Pagination, session and a controller's action - Symfony2 - php

Question

I have a list of friends which should be displayed 3 in a page. Each friend has a category and I also have a drop down menu to choose to view only the friends which are from the chosen category. They should also be display 3 in a page. The way in which filtered and not filtered friends are displayed is the same so I didn't want to have two almost actions in my controller and two identic templates, so I tried to make this in one controller's action and template, but there is a problem. I can't make the pagination for the second and following pages of the filtered friends. Pleae help! :( The problem is that I use a form and when I click on the second page, the variable which was filled in the form and binded, become undefined. Here is the code:
Controller's action
public function displayAction($page, Request $request)
{
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getEntityManager();
$user = $this->get('security.context')->getToken()->getUser();
$cat = new Category();
$dd_form = $this->createForm(new ChooseCatType($user->getId()), $cat);
if($request->get('_route')=='filter')
{
if($request->getMethod() == 'POST')
{
$dd_form->bindRequest($request);
if($cat->getName() == null)
{
return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('home_display'));
}
$filter = $cat->getName()->getId();
if ($dd_form->isValid())
{
$all_friends = $em->getRepository('EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend')
->filterFriends($filter);
$result = count($all_friends);
$FR_PER_PAGE = 3;
$pages = $result/$FR_PER_PAGE;
$friends = $em->getRepository('EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend')
->getFilteredFriendsFromTo($filter, $FR_PER_PAGE, ($page-1)*$FR_PER_PAGE);
$link = 'filter';
}
}
}
else
{
$all_friends = $user->getFriends();
$result = count($all_friends);
$FR_PER_PAGE = 3;
$pages = $result/$FR_PER_PAGE;
$friends = $em->getRepository('EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend')
->getFriendsFromTo($user->getId(), $FR_PER_PAGE, ($page-1)*$FR_PER_PAGE);
$link = 'home_display';
}
// Birthdays
$birthdays = null;
$now = new \DateTime();
$now_day = $now->format('d');
$now_month = $now->format('m');
foreach ($all_friends as $fr)
{
if($fr->getBirthday() != null)
{
if($fr->getBirthday()->format('d') == $now_day && $fr->getBirthday()->format('m') == $now_month)
{
$birthdays[]=$fr;
$fr->setYears();
}
}
}
// Search
$search = new Search();
$s_form = $this->createFormBuilder($search)
->add('words', 'text', array(
'label' => 'Search: ',
'error_bubbling' => true))
->getForm();
// Renders the template
return $this->render('EMMyFriendsBundle:Home:home.html.twig', array(
'name' => $name, 'friends' => $friends, 'user' => $user, 'birthdays' => $birthdays, 'pages' => $pages, 'page' => $page, 'link' => $link,
'dd_form' => $dd_form->createView(), 's_form' => $s_form->createView()));
}
Template
{% if birthdays != null %}
<div>
<img class="birthday" src="http://www.clker.com/cliparts/1/d/a/6/11970917161615154558carlitos_Balloons.svg.med.png">
<div class="try">
This friends have birthday today:
{% for bd in birthdays %}
<p>
{{ bd.name }}
<span class="years">
({{ bd.years }} years)
</span>
</p>
{% endfor %}
</div>
</div>
{% endif %}
{% for fr in friends %}
{# TODO: Fix where are shown #}
{% if fr.getWebPath()!=null %}
<a href="{{ path('friend_id', {'id': fr.id}) }}">
<img class="avatar" src="{{ fr.getWebPath }}">
</a>
{% endif %}
{% if loop.index is odd %}
<p class="list1">
{% else %}
<p class="list2">
{% endif %}
<a class="friends" href="{{ path('friend_id', {'id': fr.id}) }}">{{ fr.name }}</a>
</p>
{% endfor %}
{# TODO: Pagination #}
{% if pages>1 %}
<p>
{% for i in 0..pages %}
{% if page == loop.index %}
<span class="pagination">{{ loop.index }}</span>
{% else %}
<span class="pagination">{{ loop.index }}</span>
{% endif %}
{% endfor %}
</P>
{% endif %}
<p>Choose category:</p>
<form class="search" action="{{ path('filter') }}" method="post" {{ form_enctype(s_form) }}>
{{ form_widget(dd_form.name) }}
{{ form_rest(dd_form) }}
<input type="submit" value="Show friends" />
</form>
Repository
class FriendRepository extends EntityRepository
{
public function getFriendsFromTo ($user, $limit, $offset)
{
return $this->getEntityManager()
->createQuery('SELECT f FROM EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend f WHERE f.user='.$user. 'ORDER BY f.name ASC')
->setMaxResults($limit)
->setFirstResult($offset)
->getResult();
}
public function filterFriends ($filter)
{
$q = $this->createQueryBuilder('f');
$q->select('f')
->where('f.category = :filter')
->setParameter('filter', $filter);
return $q->getQuery()->getResult();
}
public function getFilteredFriendsFromTo ($filter, $limit, $offset)
{
$q = $this->createQueryBuilder('f');
$q->select('f')
->where('f.category = :filter')
->setMaxResults($limit)
->setFirstResult($offset)
->setParameter('filter', $filter);
return $q->getQuery()->getResult();
}
}
I tried a lot of things, but there is always a problem. In this code it says that the variable $all_friends in the birthday for loop is not defined - and yes, it isn't. Maybe I have to store it in session and I tried this:
$session = $this->getRequest()->getSession();
$session->set('all_friends');
and then passing $friends=$session->get('all_friends'); to the for loop, but it doesn't work and isn't the variable $all_friends too big to store it?
Any ideas will be apreciated! Thank you for your time and effort!
EDIT
When I use the way with the session and
$session = $this->getRequest()->getSession();
$session->set('all_friends');
$fri=$session->get('all_friends');
foreach ($fri as $fr)
{ .... }
the error I get is
Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\src\EM\MyFriendsBundle\Controller\HomeController.php line 100
and also
Warning: Missing argument 2 for Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Session::set(), called in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\src\EM\MyFriendsBundle\Controller\HomeController.php on line 71 and defined in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\app\cache\dev\classes.php line 148
When I don't use session I get
Notice: Undefined variable: all_friends in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\src\EM\MyFriendsBundle\Controller\HomeController.php line 100
when I choose a category to show the friends from it, and I click its second page.
P.S. The lines from the errors don't corespond to the lines in the code I pasted, bacause I skipped some parts of the action, repository and template, because they don't have a part in this problem and they work correctly. If someone wishes, I can send him or update here all the code.

Answer 1

You are setting nothing on session :
$session->set('all_friends');
You should be doing this instead:
$session->set('all_friends', $data);
You should really start respecting Symfony2 coding standards too.
My eyes are melting when I try to read your code. You should read this and don't forget to create form class instead of creating form in your controller.
EDIT: If your $data is a result from a Doctrine2 query, I suggest that you store only the entity id and the entity class in order to fetch them later when you need it.
EDIT2: Here's some code that might help you saving on session filters data. PS, don't forget to add the missing use ....
/**
* Set filters
*
* #param array $filters Filters
* #param string $type Type
*/
public function setFilters($name, array $filters = array())
{
foreach ($filters as $key => $value) {
// Transform entities objects into a pair of class/id
if (is_object($value)) {
if ($value instanceof ArrayCollection) {
if (count($value)) {
$filters[$key] = array(
'class' => get_class($value->first()),
'ids' => array()
);
foreach ($value as $v) {
$identifier = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($v);
$filters[$key]['ids'][] = $identifier['id'];
}
} else {
unset($filters[$key]);
}
} elseif (!$value instanceof \DateTime) {
$filters[$key] = array(
'class' => get_class($value),
'id' => $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($value)
);
}
}
}
$this->getRequest()->getSession()->set(
$name,
$filters
);
}
/**
* Get Filters
*
* #param array $filters Filters
* #param type $type Type
*
* #return array
*/
public function getFilters($name, array $filters = array())
{
$filters = array_merge(
$this->getRequest()->getSession()->get(
$name,
array()
),
$filters
);
foreach ($filters as $key => $value) {
// Get entities from pair of class/id
if (is_array($value) && isset($value['class'])) {
if (isset($value['id'])) {
$filters[$key] = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->find($value['class'], $value['id']);
} elseif (isset($value['ids'])) {
$data = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->getRepository($value['class'])->findBy(array('id' => $value['ids']));
$filters[$key] = new ArrayCollection($data);
}
}
}
return $filters;
}
EDIT3: Why you're not using KnpPaginatorBundle for pagination ?