Symfony2 form validation always returning ERROR: This value should not be blank

Question

I have a strange problem using a form in Symfony2.

First i've added the validation as annotations inside the entity class Job here:

class Job
{
    /**
     * @ORM\Id
     * @ORM\Column(type="integer")
     * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
     */
    protected $id;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255, nullable=true)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     * @Assert\Choice(callback="getTypeValues")
     */
    protected $type;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $company;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255, nullable=true)
     */
    protected $logo;

    /**
     * @Assert\Image()
     */
    protected $file;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255, nullable=true)
     * @Assert\Url()
     */
    protected $url;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $position;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $location;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="text")
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $description;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="text")
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $how_to_apply;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255, unique=true)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $token;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="boolean", nullable=true)
     */
    protected $is_public;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="boolean", nullable=true)
     */
    protected $is_activated;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     * @Assert\Email()
     */
    protected $email;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="datetime")
     */
    protected $expires_at;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="datetime")
     */
    protected $created_at;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="datetime", nullable=true)
     */
    protected $updated_at;

    /**
     * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Category", inversedBy="jobs")
     * @ORM\JoinColumn(name="category_id", referencedColumnName="id")
     * @Assert\NotBlank()
     */
    protected $category;
}

I've created a JobType class and used it inside a form. So i can add jobs.

class JobType extends AbstractType
{
    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
    {
        $builder
            ->add('type', 'choice', array('choices' => Job::getTypes(), 'expanded' => true))
            ->add('category')
            ->add('company')
            ->add('file', 'file', array('label' => 'Company logo', 'required' => false))
            ->add('url')
            ->add('position')
            ->add('location')
            ->add('description')
            ->add('how_to_apply', null, array('label' => 'How to apply?'))
            ->add('is_public', null, array('label' => 'Public?'))
            ->add('email')
        ;
    }

    public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
    {
        $resolver->setDefaults(array(
                'data_class' => 'Ibw\JobeetBundle\Entity\Job',
            ));
    }

    public function getName()
    {
        return 'job';
    }
}

Here's my controller:

public function createAction(Request $request)
{
    $entity = new Job();
    $form = $this->createForm(new JobType(), $entity);
    $form->handleRequest($request);

    if($form->isValid())
    {
        $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
        $em->persist($entity);
        $em->flush();

        return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('ibw_job_preview', array(
                'company'   => $entity->getCompanySlug(),
                'location'  => $entity->getLocationSlug(),
                'position'  => $entity->getPositionSlug(),
                'token'     => $entity->getToken(),
            )));
    } else {
        return new Response(var_dump($form->getErrorsAsString()));
//            return new Response($form->getErrorsAsString());
//          return $this->render('IbwJobeetBundle:Job:new.html.twig', array(
//                  'form' => $form->createView(),
//              ));
    }
}

Now when i do var_dump($form->getErrorsAsString()) I get:

string 'ERROR: This value should not be blank.
type:
    0:
        No errors
    1:
        No errors
    2:
        No errors
category:
    No errors
company:
    No errors
file:
    No errors
url:
    No errors
position:
    No errors
location:
    No errors
description:
    No errors
how_to_apply:
    No errors
is_public:
    No errors
email:
    No errors
' (length=355)

Or when i do var_dump($form->getErrors()) I get:

array (size=1)
  0 => 
    object(Symfony\Component\Form\FormError)[614]
      private 'message' => string 'This value should not be blank.' (length=31)
      protected 'messageTemplate' => string 'This value should not be blank.' (length=31)
      protected 'messageParameters' => 
        array (size=0)
          empty
      protected 'messagePluralization' => null

I have no idea what generates this ERROR: This value should not be blank. error. I'm having hard times figuring it out. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

I've just had the same problem. I got a global error ERROR: This value should not be blank, but there was not any errors to a specific field.

nifr was right, validation is in fact applied to the underlying object. The question is whether or not the object is valid after the form has applied the submitted data to it. http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/forms.html#form-validation

The reason for this problem is that some fields of the object are not valid after a form submission and these fields are not included in the form. To solve this problem, you can pass valid data to the fields of the object before validation, or use validation groups to validate the object against only some of the constraints on the class.

Answer 2

remove the following:

token:
     - NotBlank: ~

from src/Ibw/JobeetBundle/Resources/config/validation.yml

Answer 3

as @cheesemacfly mentioned, your problem is in the "token" field

it's asserted to be "not blank" but it is not included in the form, that's why the error is not bound to any of the form fields and is rather a global error for the form because the validation happens on the entity, not on the form(different than in symfony 1.4) and so the validation mechanism can't bind it to a field in a form because this property(token) doesn't have a field in the form