Delete an item from oneToMany relationship

Question

I have the following Gallery entity

class Gallery {     /**      * @var integer      *      * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")      * @ORM\Id      * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")      */     private $id;      /**      * @var ArrayCollection      * @ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Tessa\GalleryBundle\Entity\Photo", mappedBy="gallery", cascade={"persist", "remove"})      */     private $photos;      /* ... */ } 

This gallery is linked with a manyToOne relationship to a PointOfInterest entity. Here is the declaration

class PointOfInterest {  /* ... */  /**  * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Tessa\GalleryBundle\Entity\Gallery", cascade={"persist", "remove"})  * @ORM\JoinColumn(nullable=false)  */ private $gallery;  /* ... */ 

I also use a Form to update the PointOfInterest entity. Here is the form declaration

public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options) {     $builder             ->add('name',           'text')             ->add('gallery',        new GalleryType())        ; } 

and the GalleryType declaration.

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

When I edit the PoI I can add photos to the gallery without problem, but I can't delete anything.

I tried to hook on gallery PreUpdate, but it is never called. I printed output in removePhotos method of Gallery entity, and the photos are removed from the gallery. I then suspect the Gallery to never be persisted.

Here is the code when I persist the PoI after editing.

private function handleForm($elem, $is_new) {     $form = $this->createForm(new CircuitType, $elem);      $request = $this->get('request');     if ($request->getMethod() == 'POST') {         $form->bind($request);          if ($form->isValid()) {             $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();             $em->persist($elem);             $em->flush();              return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('tessa_circuit_index'));         }     }      return $this->render('TessaUserBundle:Circuits:add.'.'html'.'.twig',         array(             'form' => $form->createView(),             'is_new' => $is_new,         )); } 

Answer 1

There is article in Symfony2 cookbook about handling this type of situation. As you have OneToMany relationship, you have to remove related objects manually in controller.

Edit: Or you can make use of 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);     } }