Uploading images using Form Collections and Doctrine in Symfony2

Question

I have been trying to make a Form Collection with file upload in Symfony2 and following this guide

http://symfony.com/doc/master/cookbook/form/form_collections.html

but can't seem to make this part work:

// src/Acme/TaskBundle/Entity/Task.php

// ...

public function setTags(ArrayCollection $tags)
{
foreach ($tags as $tag) {
    $tag->addTask($this);
}

$this->tags = $tags;
}

. Basically, I have a Property Entity and an Image Entity with 1 to many relationship. I already made each of their FormTypes and the Property Entity persist just fine on the other hand Image entity's property_id column always gets NULL, even thought other properties of Image entities get persisted properly.

Here is the Property Entity:

<?php

namespace Mata\MainBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;

use Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image;


class Property
{
/**
 * @var integer
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
 * @ORM\Id
 * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
 */
private $id;

/**
 * @var string
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255)
 */
private $name;

/**
 * @var string
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="description", type="text")
 */
private $description;

/**
 * @var float
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="price", type="float")
 */
private $price;

/**
 * @var string
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="type", type="string", length=255)
 */
private $type;

/**
 * @var integer
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="owner", type="integer")
 */
private $owner;

/**
 * @var boolean
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="available", type="boolean")
 */
private $available;

/**
 *
 *
 * @ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Image", mappedBy="property", cascade={"persist"})
 */
private $images;

public function __construct()
{
    $this->images = new ArrayCollection();
}

/**
 * Get id
 *
 * @return integer 
 */
public function getId()
{
    return $this->id;
}

/**
 * Set name
 *
 * @param string $name
 * @return Property
 */
public function setName($name)
{
    $this->name = $name;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get name
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getName()
{
    return $this->name;
}

/**
 * Set description
 *
 * @param string $description
 * @return Property
 */
public function setDescription($description)
{
    $this->description = $description;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get description
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getDescription()
{
    return $this->description;
}

/**
 * Set price
 *
 * @param float $price
 * @return Property
 */
public function setPrice($price)
{
    $this->price = $price;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get price
 *
 * @return float 
 */
public function getPrice()
{
    return $this->price;
}

/**
 * Set type
 *
 * @param string $type
 * @return Property
 */
public function setType($type)
{
    $this->type = $type;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get type
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getType()
{
    return $this->type;
}

/**
 * Set owner
 *
 * @param integer $owner
 * @return Property
 */
public function setOwner($owner)
{
    $this->owner = $owner;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get owner
 *
 * @return integer 
 */
public function getOwner()
{
    return $this->owner;
}

/**
 * Set available
 *
 * @param boolean $available
 * @return Property
 */
public function setAvailable($available)
{
    $this->available = $available;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get available
 *
 * @return boolean 
 */
public function getAvailable()
{
    return $this->available;
}

/**
 * Add images
 *
 * @param \Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image $images
 * @return Property
 */
public function addImage(\Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image $images)
{
    $this->images[] = $images;

    return $this;
}

public function setImages(ArrayCollection $images)
{
    foreach ($images as $image) {
        $image->setProperty($this);
    }

    $this->images = $images;
}

/**
 * Remove images
 *
 * @param \Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image $images
 */
public function removeImage(\Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image $images)
{
    $this->images->removeElement($images);
}

/**
 * Get images
 *
 * @return \Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection 
 */
public function getImages()
{
    return $this->images;
}
}

Image Entity:

namespace Mata\MainBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

/**
 * Image
 *
 * @ORM\Table()
 * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="Mata\MainBundle\Entity\ImageRepository")
 * @ORM\HasLifecycleCallbacks
 */
class Image
{
/**
 * @var integer
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
 * @ORM\Id
 * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
 */
private $id;

/**
 * @Assert\File(maxSize="6000000")
 */
public $file;

/**
 * @var string
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255)
 */
private $name;

/**
 * @var string
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="path", type="string", length=255)
 */
private $path;


/**
 * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Property", inversedBy="images")
 * @ORM\JoinColumn(name="property_id", referencedColumnName="id")
 */
protected $property;



/**
 * Get id
 *
 * @return integer 
 */
public function getId()
{
    return $this->id;
}

/**
 * Set name
 *
 * @param string $name
 * @return Image
 */
public function setName($name)
{
    $this->name = $name;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get name
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getName()
{
    return $this->name;
}

/**
 * Set path
 *
 * @param string $path
 * @return Image
 */
public function setPath($path)
{
    $this->path = $path;

    return $this;
}



/**
 * Get path
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getPath()
{
    return $this->path;
}

public function getAbsolutePath()
{
    return null === $this->path
        ? null
        : $this->getUploadRootDir().'/'.$this->path;
}

public function getWebPath()
{
    return null === $this->path
        ? null
        : $this->getUploadDir().'/'.$this->path;
}

protected function getUploadRootDir()
{
    // the absolute directory path where uploaded
    // documents should be saved
    return __DIR__.'/../../../../web/'.$this->getUploadDir();
}

protected function getUploadDir()
{
    // get rid of the __DIR__ so it doesn't screw up
    // when displaying uploaded doc/image in the view.
    return 'uploads/documents';
}

/**
 * @ORM\PrePersist()
 * @ORM\PreUpdate()
 */
public function preUpload()
{
    if (null !== $this->file) {
        // do whatever you want to generate a unique name
        $filename = sha1(uniqid(mt_rand(), true));
        $this->path = $filename.'.'.$this->file->guessExtension();
    }
}

/**
 * @ORM\PostPersist()
 * @ORM\PostUpdate()
 */
public function upload()
{
    if (null === $this->file) {
        return;
    }

    // if there is an error when moving the file, an exception will
    // be automatically thrown by move(). This will properly prevent
    // the entity from being persisted to the database on error
    $this->file->move($this->getUploadRootDir(), $this->path);

    unset($this->file);
}

/**
 * @ORM\PostRemove()
 */
public function removeUpload()
{
    if ($file = $this->getAbsolutePath()) {
        unlink($file);
    }
}

/**
 * Set property
 *
 * @param \Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Property $property
 * @return Image
 */
public function setProperty(\Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Property $property)
{
    $this->property = $property;

    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get property
 *
 * @return \Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Property
 */
public function getProperty()
{
    return $this->property;
}
}

Property FormType:

namespace Mata\AdminBundle\Form\Type;


use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;

use Mata\AdminBundle\Form\Type\ImageType;

class PropertyType extends AbstractType
{


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

        $builder->add('name');
        $builder->add('description');
        $builder->add('price');
        $builder->add('type');
        $builder->add('owner');
        $builder->add('available');
        $builder->add('images', 'collection', array(
            'type' => new ImageType(),
            'allow_add' => true,
            'by_reference' => false,
            'allow_delete' => true,
            'prototype' => true

        ));

    }

    public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
    {
        $resolver->setDefaults(array(
            'data_class' => 'Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Property',
        ));
    }

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

Image FormType:

namespace Mata\AdminBundle\Form\Type;


use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;


class ImageType extends AbstractType
{

    public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
    {
        $builder->add('name','text');
        $builder->add('file', 'file');

    }

    public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
    {
        $resolver->setDefaults(array(
            'data_class' => 'Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image',
        ));
    }

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

Controller action:

public function addAction(Request $request)
{

    $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
    $property = new Property();

    $form = $this->createForm(new PropertyType(), $property);

    if ($request->isMethod('POST')) {
        $form->bind($request);

        if ($form->isValid()) {
            $em->persist($property);
            $em->flush();

            $this->get('session')->getFlashBag()->add('notice', 'Successfully added new Property');

            return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('mata_admin.property.create'));
        }
    }

    return $this->render('MataAdminBundle:Property:add.html.twig',array(
        'title' =>  'Property',
        'form' => $form->createView()
        )
    );
}

Answer 1

When you add by_reference => false you are suposed to set the counter entity in the add function.

So your property_id should be persisting correctly in the image changing the addImage function in your propery to:

public function addImage(\Mata\MainBundle\Entity\Image $image)
{
  $this->images[] = $image;

  $image->setProperty($this);

  return $this;
}