Symfony2 form collection: How to remove entity from a collection? - php

Question

I try to remove entities from a collection but it doesn't work.
I think I have a mistake somewhere, but I don't know where.
Here the code from my updateAction:
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getEntityManager();
$entity = new Person();
if (!$entity) {
throw $this->createNotFoundException('Unable to find Person entity.');
}
$editForm = $this->createForm(new PersonType(), $entity);
$deleteForm = $this->createDeleteForm($id);
$request = $this->getRequest();
$editForm->bindRequest($request);
if ($editForm->isValid()) {
$entity = $editForm->getData();
$em->persist($entity);
foreach($entity->getAddresses() as $address)
{
$em->persist($address);
}
$em->flush();
return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('person_show', array('id' => $id)));
}
return $this->render('AppPersonBundle:Person:edit.html.twig', array(
'entity' => $entity,
'edit_form' => $editForm->createView(),
'delete_form' => $deleteForm->createView(),
);
Note that to remove my entity I remove the div from the html.
I mean I remove <div id="myapp_personbundle_persontype_address_4"> for example.
Is it the right way?

Answer 1

Thanks to this answer, I found a better solution. You can use Doctrine's orphan removal feature:
class Gallery
{
//...
/**
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Photo", mappedBy="gallery", cascade={"persist", "remove"}, orphanRemoval=true)
*/
private $photos;
//...
public function removePhotos($photo)
{
$this->photos->remove($photo);
$photo->setGallery(null);
}
}

Answer 2

For now, i do :
[...]
$editForm = $this->createForm(new PersonType(), $entity);
$deleteForm = $this->createDeleteForm($id);
$previousCollections = array(
'addresses' => $entity->getAddresses(),
);
$request = $this->getRequest();
$editForm->bindRequest($request);
if ($editForm->isValid()) {
$entity = $editForm->getData();
$this->deleteCollections($em, $previousCollections, $entity);
$em->persist($entity);
foreach($entity->getAddresses() as $address)
{
$em->persist($address);
}
$em->flush();
return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('person_show', array('id' => $id)));
}
[...]
}
private function deleteCollections($em, $init, $final)
{
if (empty($init)) {
return;
}
if (!$final->getAddresses() instanceof \Doctrine\ORM\PersistentCollection) {
foreach ($init['addresses'] as $addr) {
$em->remove($addr);
}
}
}
And I hope a solution will be found one day with https://github.com/symfony/symfony/issues/1540, but it slow to be found.

Answer 3

Form collection in symfony2 is quite straightforward, it does almost all the work for you. Basically you just need add a collection type and set allow_add, allow_delete flags and add a small JavaScript code. Have a look at the cookbook example

Answer 4

I'm using this solution...
In the controler:
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$enity->removeElements($em);
//Add all your elements again in order to update entity collection.
$entity->addElement($element) ...
....
$em->persist($entity);
$em->flush();
In the entity:
public function removeElements($em)
{
$elements = $this->elements;
foreach ($elements as $element) {
$this->elements->removeElement($element);
$em->remove($element);
$em->persist($this);
}
}
For me it works and it shows less code and I don't have to use the orphanRemoval feature.