Zend Framework 2 : Using DoctrineModule\Form\Element\ObjectSelect and custom repository

When we are using Doctrine2 in Zend Framework 2 project, we can use existing module named DoctrineModule that can be used to easist our job. Now I will explain about how to use DoctrineModule\Form\Element\ObjectSelect in our Form to load data into select element with custom query instead of default one.
For example, we have data like this :

Now, we need to build a form element that collect continent data, that’s means, we need to ‘group by continent’ for query-ing the table data like this :

To make it work, we need to create custom repository. Ok, let’s start.
1. Prepare the Entity

//module/Tutorial/src/Tutorial/Entity/Countries.php
namespace Tutorial\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;

/**
 * Countries
 *
 * @ORM\Table(name="countries")
 * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="Tutorial\Repository\CountriesRepository")
 */
class Countries
{
    /**
     * @var integer
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="bigint", nullable=false)
     * @ORM\Id
     * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="IDENTITY")
     */
    private $id;

    /**
     * @var string
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="country", type="string", length=30, nullable=false)
     */
    private $country;

    /**
     * @var string
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="continent", type="string", length=30, nullable=false)
     */
    private $continent;



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

    /**
     * Set country
     *
     * @param string $country
     * @return Countries
     */
    public function setCountry($country)
    {
        $this->country = $country;

        return $this;
    }

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

    /**
     * Set continent
     *
     * @param string $continent
     * @return Countries
     */
    public function setContinent($continent)
    {
        $this->continent = $continent;

        return $this;
    }

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

Above entity is pretty generic, but we add new “repositoryClass” attribute in the @ORM\Entity annotation to linked with our custom repository.
2. Create a custom repository

//module/Tutorial/src/Tutorial/Repository/CountriesRepository.php
namespace Tutorial\Repository;

use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;

class CountriesRepository extends EntityRepository
{
    public function getContinent()
    {
        $querybuilder = $this->createQueryBuilder('c');
        return $querybuilder->select('c')
                    ->groupBy('c.continent')
                    ->orderBy('c.id', 'ASC')
                    ->getQuery()->getResult();
    }
}

The getContinent grab the countries data group by continent.
3. Create form

//module/Tutorial/src/Tutorial/Form/CountriesForm.php
namespace Tutorial\Form;

use Zend\Form\Form;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilterProviderInterface;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager;

class CountriesForm extends Form
    implements InputFilterProviderInterface
{
    protected $entityManager;
    
    public function __construct(EntityManager $entityManager)
    {
        parent::__construct();

        $this->entityManager = $entityManager;       
    }
    
    public function init()
    {
        $this->add(array(
           'name' => 'continent',
           'type' => 'DoctrineModule\Form\Element\ObjectSelect',
           'options' => array(
                'object_manager'     => $this->entityManager,
                'target_class'       => 'Tutorial\Entity\Countries',
                'property' => 'continent',
                'is_method' => true,
                'find_method'        => array(
                    'name'   => 'getContinent',
                ),
            ), 
        ));
    }
    
    public function getInputFilterSpecification()
    {
        return array(); // filter and validation here
    }
}

We need to inject form with Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager, and call the getContinent method that we already define at our CountriesRepository. So the Form need to be created via factory :

//module/Tutorial/src/Tutorial/Factory/Form/CountriesFormFactory.php
namespace Tutorial\Factory\Form;

use Zend\ServiceManager\FactoryInterface;
use Zend\ServiceManager\ServiceLocatorInterface;
use Tutorial\Form\CountriesForm;

class CountriesFormFactory implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function createService(ServiceLocatorInterface $serviceLocator)
    {
        $services         = $serviceLocator->getServiceLocator();
        $entityManager    = $services->get('Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager');
        
        $form = new CountriesForm($entityManager);
        return $form;
    }
}

4. Create controller

//module/Tutorial/src/Tutorial/Controller/CountriesController.php
namespace Tutorial\Controller;

use Zend\Mvc\Controller\AbstractActionController;
use Zend\Form\FormInterface;
use Zend\View\Model\ViewModel;

class CountriesController extends AbstractActionController
{
    protected $countriesForm;
    
    public function __construct(FormInterface $countriesForm)
    {
        $this->countriesForm = $countriesForm;
    }
    
    public function indexAction()
    {
        return new ViewModel(array(
            'form' => $this->countriesForm, 
        ));
    }
}

We need to inject controller with the CountriesForm, so the Controller need to be created via factory :

//module/Tutorial/src/Tutorial/Factory/Controller/CountriesControllerFactory.php
namespace Tutorial\Factory\Controller;

use Zend\ServiceManager\FactoryInterface;
use Zend\ServiceManager\ServiceLocatorInterface;
use Tutorial\Controller\CountriesController;

class CountriesControllerFactory implements FactoryInterface
{
    public function createService(ServiceLocatorInterface $serviceLocator)
    {
        $services       = $serviceLocator->getServiceLocator();
        $countryForm    = $services->get('FormElementManager')->get('Tutorial\Form\CountriesForm');
        $controller = new CountriesController($countryForm);

        return $controller;
    }
}

5. Register services

//module/Tutorial/config/module.config.php
return array(
    'doctrine' => array(
        'driver' => array(
            'Tutorial_Entities' => array(
                'class' =>'Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Driver\AnnotationDriver',
                'cache' => 'array',
                'paths' => array(__DIR__ . '/../src/Tutorial/Entity')
            ),
            'orm_default' => array(
                'drivers' => array(
                    'Tutorial\Entity' => 'Tutorial_Entities'
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
    
    'controllers' => array(
        'factories' => array(
            'Tutorial\Controller\Countries' => 'Tutorial\Factory\Controller\CountriesControllerFactory',  
        ),
    ),
    
    'form_elements' => array(
        'factories' => array(
            'Tutorial\Form\CountriesForm' => 'Tutorial\Factory\Form\CountriesFormFactory',  
        ),
    ),
    
    'router' => array(
        'routes' => array(
            'countries' => array(
                'type'    => 'segment',
                'options' => array(
                    'route'    => '/countries[/:action]',
                    'constraints' => array(
                        'action' => '[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9_-]*',
                    ),
                    'defaults' => array(
                        'controller' => 'Tutorial\Controller\Countries',
                        'action'     => 'index',
                    ),
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
    
    'view_manager' => array(
        'template_path_stack' => array(
            'tutorial' => __DIR__ . '/../view',
        ),
    ),
    
);

6. Last but not least, build a view :

// module/Tutorial/view/tutorial/countries/index.phtml
$form = $this->form;
$form->prepare();

echo $this->form()->openTag($form);
echo $this->formCollection($form);
echo $this->form()->closeTag();

Ok, done 😉