Doctrine 2.5 - Entity Update Bug

[nepster-web]

I have the entity (this is simple example):

class Record
{
    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="ContentContext_RecordTranslationCollection")
     * @var RecordTranslationCollection
     */
    private $translations;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->translations = new RecordTranslationCollection();
    }

    public function getTranslations(): RecordTranslationCollection
    {
        return $this->translations;
    }

    public function addTranslation(RecordTranslation $translation): void
    {
        /** @var RecordTranslation $translation */
        foreach ($this->translations as $currentTranslation) {
            if ($currentTranslation->getLocale() === $translation->getLocale()) {
                $this->translations->removeElement($currentTranslation);
                break;
            }
        }
        $this->translations->add($translation);
    }
}

My RecordTranslationCollection extends \Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection

And my ContentContext_RecordTranslationCollection type looks like this:

class RecordTranslationCollectionType extends JsonType
{
    private $hydrator;

    public function setHydrator(Hydrator $hydrator)
    {
        $this->hydrator = $hydrator;
    }

    public function convertToDatabaseValue($collection, AbstractPlatform $platform)
    {
        $result = [];
        foreach ($collection as $entity) {
            $result[] = $this->hydrator->extract($entity);
        }

        return json_encode($result);
    }

    public function convertToPHPValue($json, AbstractPlatform $platform)
    {
        $data = json_decode($json, true) ?? [];
        $collection = new RecordTranslationCollection();
        foreach ($data as $translate) {
            $collection->add($this->hydrator->hydrate($translate, RecordTranslation::class));
        }
        return $collection;
    }

}

Ok, it all works when you create and save a new entity! But there is a problem when updating.
When I get the entity Record from the database to update the collection of translations, for example:

$record = // query to db ;

$translate1 = new RecordTranslation(); // for convenience, let's skip the data
$translate2 = new RecordTranslation(); // for convenience, let's skip the data

$record->addTranslation($translate1);
$record->addTranslation($translate2);

$this->entityManager->persist($record);
$this->entityManager->flush();

And my new collection does not save.
Doctrine does not understand that the object RecordTranslationCollection has changed.
And the method convertToDatabaseValue is not called.

If you use a spike, for example:

$r = new ReflectionProperty(get_class($record), 'translations');
$r->setAccessible(true);
$r->setValue($object, clone $record->getTranslations());

$this->entityManager->persist($record);
$this->entityManager->flush();

The entity will be saved correctly. So doctrine does not see the changes inside the object, but only see the object itself.

[Majkl578]

Changes to object properties are detected by reference so if the object (instance) does not change, it's deemed to be same. See description fo DateTime, it applies to objects in general: https://doctrine-orm.readthedocs.io/projects/doctrine-orm/en/latest/cookbook/working-with-datetime.html#datetime-changes-are-detected-by-reference

[Ocramius]

Also see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15486402/doctrine2-orm-does-not-save-changes-to-a-datetime-field

[nepster-web]

I think littering in entities is doubtful. Maybe it's better to use a setting for example:

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="ContentContext_RecordTranslationCollection", updatable=true)
     * @var RecordTranslationCollection
     */
    private $translations;

In my case it will be easier to extend method persist, check properties of the entity on the availability of necessary objects and use clone there where it is should be.

[Ocramius]

"littering in entities"?

[nepster-web]

Sorry for my beginner's English.

I mean it's trash into entities.

[Ocramius]

No, it's just good practice to avoid sharing referentially kept mutable state by de-referencing via clone. See also https://ocramius.github.io/extremely-defensive-php/ and https://ocramius.github.io/doctrine-best-practices/ for further tips ;-)

[nepster-web]

Thank you very much!