Symfony, entity vs repository

Question

I'm new to Symfony, I come from a MVC framework where there were just one Model class, but here in Symfony we have 2, as far as I've learnt (Entity and Repository)

So, I'm not sure when a method should be put inside the Entity class and when it should be inside the Repository...

for example:

$user->logLogin()

which logs the user login (timestamp, ip, country, user agent ecc.) to a log_logins table, and it's called from a login event listener, where should it go? (I'm not going to create a UserLogins Entity since there is no need to manipulate the data on that table, it's just some read-only information)

Answer 1

It might not be immediately evident, but in Symfony you do things with services. The login method does not belong either in the entity or the repository.

The general idea is as follows:

• Entity: a data structure. Almost never has a meaningful method that is not an accessor.
• Repository: The only part that interacts with a DB. You use the default ones in most cases but do need one if you have some special queries. Business logic should not be here either.
• Services: where the business logic lives. Have a lot of them. Make them use other services and repositories

A typical controller invokes a few services, usually without touching repositories (or Doctrine) directly.

This structure is not apparent in many examples that cut out some of these layers in the interest of being as simple and brief as possible.

NOTE: Symfony has a rich login system which is already connected to several of its components and that you might use without without reimplementing a new one. I'd reccomend to have a look.