Cascade Validation not working on third layer of a form

Question

I have a form with 3 layers: First Layer is the container for the games:

class GameListType extends AbstractType {

    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options) {
        $builder->add('games', 'collection', array(
            'required' => false,
            'allow_add' => true,
            'prototype' => true,
            'by_reference' => false,
            'type' => new GameBetType(),
        ))
        ;
    }

    public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) {
        parent::setDefaultOptions($resolver);
        $resolver->setDefaults(array(
            'cascade_validation' => true,
        ));
    }  
}

Second Layer is the Game itself, since i don't intend to change the game, but the bet on it, it only includes the form for the bet:

class GameBetType extends AbstractType {

    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options) {   
        $builder->add('bet', new BetType());
    }

    public function setDefaultOptions(\Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) {
        parent::setDefaultOptions($resolver);
        $resolver->setDefaults(array(
            'data_class' => 'Strego\TippBundle\Entity\Game',
            'cascade_validation' => true,
        ));
    }  
}

And the third layer is the form for the bet:

class BetType extends AbstractType
{
    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
    {

        $builder->add('scoreT1' , 'text')
                ->add('scoreT2' , 'text');
        ;
    }


        public function setDefaultOptions(\Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) {
        parent::setDefaultOptions($resolver);
        $resolver->setDefaults(array(
            'data_class' => 'Strego\TippBundle\Entity\Bet',
        ));
    }

}

The issue is, that if there are validation constraints on the third level, the root form is always valid, but if I specifically validate the bet entity, I get the correct violation list in my controller:

// Form processing
$form = $this->createForm(new GameListType(), $entity);
$request = $this->getRequest();

if ($request->getMethod() == 'POST') {
    $form->bind($request);
    $entity = $form->getData();

    if ($form->isValid()) {
        foreach ($entity->getGames() as $game) {                  
            if($game->hasBet()){
                $bet = $game->getBet();
                $bet->setUser($user);
                $validator = $this->container->get('validator');
                $errors = $validator->validate($bet);
                var_dump($errors)  //<-- i see there are errors
                if(count($errors) == 0){
                    print($bet. ' gets persisted<br>');
                    $em->persist($bet);
                } 
            }             
        }
    $em->flush();
    }
}

Another issue is that even if I don't call $em->persist($bet) the entities gets persisted. I don't see the output described in the line

print($bet.'gets persisted<br>'); 

but the form input is still persisted to the database.

So my two questions:

1. How do I get the errors if the validation fails on the bet fails to the form (I don't want the whole form to be invalid, since there could only 1 out of 3 bets be invalid).

2. Why is the bet persisted even if I dont call $em-persist($bet), is this some magic that happens with the binding?

Answer 1

To answer your second question, you may have declared bi-directional OneToMany relationship between User and Bet entity and set cascade={"persist"} on User side of the relation. So entity manager automatically marks Bet entity objects for insert/update in next flush operation. Also move $em->flush(); line out of the loop. As flush method issues db query, it connects to db every time code enters the loop. Whereas if $em->flush(); is outside of the loop the entity will query once with all the changed sql wrapped in a single transaction.

Answer 2

You just forget to add cascade_validation to games collection type

$builder->add('games', 'collection', array(
    'required' => false,
    'allow_add' => true,
    'prototype' => true,
    'by_reference' => false,
    'type' => new GameBetType(),
    'cascade_validation' => true
));