Unable to transform value for property path : Expected a \DateTime or \DateTimeInterface

Question

First of all: I'm pretty new to Symfony/programming and have problems finding the solution I need.

I have these variables in my 'Event' Entity with standard getters and setters.:

 /**
 * @var \DateTime
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="startTime", type="time", nullable=true)
 *
 * @Assert\Expression(
 *     "this.getStartTime() <= this.getEndTime()",
 *     message="Start time should be less or equal to end date!"
 * )
 */
private $startTime;

/**
 * @var \DateTime
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="endTime", type="time", nullable=true)
 *
 * @Assert\Expression(
 *     "this.getEndTime() >= this.getStartTime()",
 *     message="End time should be greater or equal to start time!"
 * )
 */
private $endTime;

I have this Controller for my form:

<?php


namespace AppBundle\Controller;


use AppBundle\Entity\Event;
use AppBundle\Form\EventCreateFormType;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Annotation\Route;

class EventController extends Controller {

/**
 * @Route("/eventmanager", name="event")
 */
public function eventsAction(Request $request)
{
    $events = $this->getDoctrine()// query database and get all events
    ->getRepository('AppBundle:Event')
        ->findAll();

    $event = new Event();

    $adminstatus = false;

    if (in_array('ROLE_ADMIN', $this->getUser()->getRoles())) {
        $adminstatus = true;
    }
    $event = $this->get('holiday.service')->createEventForm($request);
    $form = $this->createForm(EventCreateFormType::class, $event, array('rolestatus' => $adminstatus));


    if ($form->isValid()) {

        $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
        $em->persist($event);
        $em->flush();

        return $this->redirectToRoute('event'); // redirect to route: events
    }

    return $this->render('default/eventmanager.html.twig', array('events' => $events, 'form' => $form->createView()));
}

With this type:

<?php


namespace AppBundle\Form;


use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\SubmitType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\TextareaType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\TextType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\TimeType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolver;

class EventCreateFormType extends AbstractType {

public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
    parent::buildForm($builder, $options);

    $builder
        ->add('title', TextType::class, array(
            'label' => 'event.form.title.label',
            'attr' => array(
                'maxlength' => 75,
                '' => '')
        ))
        ->add('dateOf', TextType::class, array(
            'label' => 'event.form.dateOf.label',
//                'widget' => 'single_text',
//                'html5' => false,
            'attr' => [
                'class' => 'js-datepicker',
//                    'format' => 'dd-MM-yyyy',
            ],
        ))
        ->add('startTime', TimeType::class, array(
            'label' => 'event.form.startTime.label',
        ))
        ->add('endTime', TimeType::class, array(
            'label' => 'event.form.endTime.label',
        ))
        ->add('notice', TextareaType::class, array(
            'label' => 'event.form.notice.label',
            'required' => false,
            'attr' => array('maxlength' => 2500)
        ));
    if ($options['rolestatus'] == true) {
        $builder->add('status', ChoiceType::class, array(
            'label' => 'event.form.status.label',
            'data' => $options['rolestatus'],
            'choices' => array(
                'event.form.status.public' => true,
                'event.form.status.private' => false
            ),
            'choices_as_values' => true
        ));
    }
    $builder->add('save', SubmitType::class, array(
        'label' => 'event.form.create.button'
    ));


}

public function configureOptions(OptionsResolver $resolver)
{
    $configs = $resolver->getDefinedOptions();
    $configs[] = 'rolestatus';
    $resolver->setDefined($configs);
}

}

And this service:

<?php

namespace AppBundle\Controller\Services;

use AppBundle\Entity\Event;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;

class HolidayServiceController extends Controller {



public function createEventForm(Request $request) {

    $submittedForm = $request->get('event_create_form');
    $adminstatus = false;
    if (in_array('ROLE_ADMIN', $this->getUser()->getRoles())) {
        $adminstatus = true;
    }
    dump($submittedForm);

    $event = new Event();
    if (!empty($submittedForm)) {

            $creator = $this->getUser();
            $title = $submittedForm['title'];
            $startTime = $submittedForm['startTime'];
            $endTime = $submittedForm['endTime'];
            $notice = $submittedForm['notice'];
            $now = new\DateTime();
            $dateOf = new \DateTime();
            $explodedDate = explode('-', $submittedForm['dateOf']);
            $dateOf->setDate($explodedDate[2], $explodedDate[1], $explodedDate[0]);

            $event->setTitle($title);
            $event->setDateOf($dateOf);
            $event->setStartTime($startTime);
            $event->setEndTime($endTime);
            $event->setNotice($notice);
            $event->setCreator($creator);
            $event->setCreatedAt($now);
            if (!empty($submittedForm) && $adminstatus == true) {
                $status = $submittedForm['status'];
                $event->setStatus($status);
            } else {
                $event->setStatus(false);
            }
            return $event;
        }
    return $event;


}
}

Now, when i try to create a new Event I get following error:

Unable to transform value for property path "startTime": Expected a \DateTime or \DateTimeInterface. 500 Internal Server Error - TransformationFailedException

I know that this is happening because I'm passing an array of startTime but not an object.

What do I have to change to accomplish that?

thx in advance.

Answer 1

If you use Symfony forms you don't have to retrieve data from request "manually". The only thing you should do is to handle request:

$event = new Exvent();
$form = $this->createForm(EventCreateFormType::class, $event);
$form->handleRequest($request);

Handle request just binds data from request with entity properties. It takes value from form array, looks what type the property should be and converts it into appropriate format.

If you want to do that manually (then you don't have to create form - it's just useless) you should do something like this:

$startTime = new \DateTime($submittedForm['startTime']);
$endTime = new DateTime($submittedForm['endTime']);

If, as you said, startTime and endTimes are array you have to build datetime string from those arrays before put them into DateTime constructor.

Then startTime and endTime will be type of DateTime.