How to set up entity (doctrine) for database view in Symfony 2

Question

Lets say i have a view table. And i want to get data from it to an entity. Can i (and how) create entity class to do that. (no save operation needed). I just want to display

Answer 1

The accepted answer is correct, but I'd like to offer some additional suggestions that you might want to consider:

Mark your entity as read-only.

Make the constructor private so that only Doctrine can create instances.

/**
 * @ORM\Entity(readOnly=true)
 * @ORM\Table(name="your_view_table")
 */
class YourEntity {
    private function __construct() {}
}

Answer 2

In addition to above answer, I have mixed some of your example code to extend the DoctrineUpdateCommand

This is my DoctrineUpdateCommand:

class DoctrineUpdateCommand extends UpdateSchemaDoctrineCommand{
   protected function executeSchemaCommand(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output, SchemaTool $schemaTool, array $metadatas) {
      $container = $this->getApplication()->getKernel()->getContainer();  

     $filterExpr = $container->get('doctrine')->getEntityManager()->getConnection()->getConfiguration()->getFilterSchemaAssetsExpression();
     $emptyFilterExpression = empty($filterExpr);

     /** @var $newMetadatas \Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ClassMetadata */
     $newMetadatas = array();

     foreach ($metadatas as $metadata) {
        if(($emptyFilterExpression||preg_match($filterExpr, $metadata->getTableName()))){
            array_push($newMetadatas, $metadata);
        }        
     }

     parent::executeSchemaCommand($input, $output, $schemaTool, $newMetadatas);
 }
}

Thanks for the right way

Answer 3

There is nothing special in querying a view — it's just a virtual table. Set the table of your entity this way and enjoy:

/**
 * @ORM\Entity
 * @ORM\Table(name="your_view_table")
 */
class YourEntity {
    // ...
}

Answer 4

Both the previous answers are correct, but if you use the doctrine migration tool and do a schema:update it will fail...

So, in addition to marking the entity as read only and making the constructor private (explained in Ian Phillips answer):

/**
 * @ORM\Entity(readOnly=true)
 * @ORM\Table(name="your_view_table")
 */
class YourEntity {
    private function __construct() {}
}

You would need to set the schema tool to ignore the entity when doing a schema:update...

In order to do that you just need to create this command in your bundle, and set yout entity in the ignoredEntity list:

src/Acme/CoreBundle/Command/DoctrineUpdateCommand.php:

<?php

namespace Acme\CoreBundle\Command;

use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputOption;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputArgument;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;
use Doctrine\ORM\Tools\SchemaTool;

class DoctrineUpdateCommand extends \Doctrine\Bundle\DoctrineBundle\Command\Proxy\UpdateSchemaDoctrineCommand {

  protected $ignoredEntities = array(
      'Acme\CoreBundle\Entity\EntityToIgnore'
  );

  protected function executeSchemaCommand(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output, SchemaTool $schemaTool, array $metadatas) {

    /** @var $metadata \Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ClassMetadata */
    $newMetadatas = array();
    foreach ($metadatas as $metadata) {
      if (!in_array($metadata->getName(), $this->ignoredEntities)) {
        array_push($newMetadatas, $metadata);
      }
    }

    parent::executeSchemaCommand($input, $output, $schemaTool, $newMetadatas);
  }

}

(credit to Alexandru Trandafir Catalin: obtained from here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/25948910/1442457)

BTW, this is the only way I found to work with views from doctrine... I know it is a workaround... If there is a better way I am open or suggestions)

Answer 5

In addition to above anwers if you are using doctrine migrations for schema update the following configuration works perfectly.

/**
 * @ORM\Entity(readOnly=true)
 * @ORM\Table(name="view_table_name")
 */
class YourEntity {
    private function __construct() {}
}

Till here is te same as above answers. Here you need to configure doctrine not to bind schemas;

doctrine:
    dbal:
        schema_filter: ~^(?!view_)~

The above filter definition filters all 'view_' prefixed tables as well as views an could be extended using regex. Just make sure you have named your views with 'view_' prefix.

But doctrine:schema:update --dump-sql still shows the views, I hope they will integrate the same filter to schema update too.

I hope this solution would help some others.

Source: http://symfony.com/doc/current/bundles/DoctrineMigrationsBundle/index.html#manual-tables

Answer 6

In addition to above answer, You must have a naming Strategy of your view' entities and the virtual tables, for example: view_your_table, and then you must add the following code to the doctrine.yaml, to disable creating new migration file to the view: schema_filter: ~^(?!view_)~