Creating preUpdate or preFlush event with Event Listener

Question

I have a onFlush() event which works fine but what I need to do is to turn that into preFlush() or preUpdate() both acceptable. I did preFlush() but for some reason it doesn't do anything. Not even an error. What am I missing?

TEST: I placed exit in preFlush() to see if it is being called at all or not. Outcome is: 1 so foreach() is never run! It is an empty array. I also tested preUpdate() and all the lines in that get runed but no data inserted.

public function preFlush(PreFlushEventArgs $args)
{
    $em = $args->getEntityManager();
    $uow = $em->getUnitOfWork();
    echo '1';
    foreach ($uow->getScheduledEntityUpdates() as $entity) {
        echo '2';
        if ($entity instanceof User) {
            echo '3';
        }
    }
    exit;
}

I created them after reading the documentation.

service.yml

services:
    entity.event_listener.user:
        class:  Site\FrontBundle\EventListener\Entity\UserListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_listener, event: preUpdate }
            - { name: doctrine.event_listener, event: onFlush }
            - { name: doctrine.event_listener, event: preFlush }

Working onFlush() example:

class UserListener
{
    public function onFlush(OnFlushEventArgs $args)
    {
        $em = $args->getEntityManager();
        $uow = $em->getUnitOfWork();

        foreach ($uow->getScheduledEntityUpdates() as $entity) {
            if ($entity instanceof User) {
                $userLog = new UserLog();
                $userLog->setDescription($entity->getId() . ' being updated.');

                $em->persist($userLog);

                // Instead of $em->flush() cos we're already in flush process
                $userLogMetadata = $em->getClassMetadata(get_class($userLog));
                $uow->computeChangeSet($userLogMetadata, $userLog);
            }
        }
    }
}

Not working preFlush() example:

class UserListener
{
    public function preFlush(PreFlushEventArgs $args)
    {
        $em = $args->getEntityManager();
        $uow = $em->getUnitOfWork();

        foreach ($uow->getScheduledEntityUpdates() as $entity) {
            if ($entity instanceof User) {
                $userLog = new UserLog();
                $userLog->setDescription($entity->getId() . ' being updated.');

                $em->persist($userLog);

                // Instead of $em->flush() cos we're already in flush process
                $userLogMetadata = $em->getClassMetadata(get_class($userLog));
                $uow->computeChangeSet($userLogMetadata, $userLog);
            }
        }
    }
}

Not working preUpdate() example

class UserListener
{
    public function preUpdate(LifecycleEventArgs $args)
    {
        $entity = $args->getEntity();
        $em = $args->getEntityManager();
        $uow = $em->getUnitOfWork();

        if ($entity instanceof User) {
            $userLog = new UserLog();
            $userLog->setDescription($entity->getId() . ') been updated.');

            $em = $args->getEntityManager();
            $em->persist($userLog);
            $userLogMetadata = $em->getClassMetadata(get_class($userLog));
            $uow->computeChangeSet($userLogMetadata, $userLog);
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

SOLUTION:

The trick is, persisting after preUpdate() within postFlush() event.

Note: Although this might not be the best solution, it answers the question however it could be done with an Event Subscriber or simple onFlush() -> $uow->getScheduledEntityUpdates() in an Event Listener.

Service.yml

services:

    entity.event_listener.user_update:
        class:  Site\FrontBundle\EventListener\Entity\UserUpdateListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_listener, event: preUpdate }
            - { name: doctrine.event_listener, event: postFlush }

Event Listener

<?php

namespace Site\FrontBundle\EventListener\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Event\LifecycleEventArgs;
use Doctrine\ORM\Event\PostFlushEventArgs;
use Site\FrontBundle\Entity\User;
use Site\FrontBundle\Entity\UserLog;

class UserUpdateListener
{
    private $log = array();

    public function preUpdate(LifecycleEventArgs $args)
    {
        $entity = $args->getEntity();

        // False check is compulsory otherwise duplication occurs
        if (($entity instanceof User) === false) {
            $userLog = new UserLog();
            $userLog->setDescription($entity->getId() . ' being updated.');

            $this->log[] = $userLog;
        }
    }

    public function postFlush(PostFlushEventArgs $args)
    {
        if (! empty($this->log)) {
            $em = $args->getEntityManager();
            foreach ($this->log as $log) {
                $em->persist($log);
            }
            $em->flush();
        }
    }
}