Making an entity repository container aware in Symfony2.1

By Iain Cuthbertson

February 4, 2013

I had a need to add ACL rules to entities at the repository level.

My biggest struggle was getting dependancy injection working.

This is what I finally came up with after a fresh mind and an instant coffee:

	<?php

	namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Repository;

	use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerInterface;
	use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerAwareInterface;

	use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;

	/**
	* FooRepository
	*
	* @author Iain Cuthbertson <iain.cuthbertson@siftware.com>
	*/
	class FooRepository extends EntityRepository implements ContainerAwareInterface
	{
	/**
	* @var ContainerInterface
	*/
	private $container;

	public function setContainer(ContainerInterface $container = null)
	{
	$this->container = $container;
	}

	/**
	* Example method that uses a container service
	*
	* @param integer $parentId
	* @return \Acme\DemoBundle\Entity\Foo
	*/
	public function getOrCreate($controllerId)
	{
	$foo = new Foo();

	$exampleTools = $this->container->get('exampleTools');
	$exampleTools->someMethod($foo);

	return $foo;
	}
	}

view raw FooRepository.php hosted with ❤ by GitHub

Comments

KingCrunch says: 16th February 2013 at 11:30 am

If your EntityRepository needs to know about the DIC, you made it wrong…

Wessel says: 13th June 2013 at 12:03 pm

Mmm nice trick.

I do get the idea of separation, however suppose I have a helper class with a lof of common string manipulations I have to do from and to the database in every entityRepository.

Pulling it out of the Container sounds a lot cleaner than duplicate the code?

Anyone have a proper idea how this would be handled correctly?

Thanks!

Kevin says: 26th February 2014 at 5:20 am

Why would you not want to use a trait to implement the string manipulation functions? Then each class that needs those functions can use the trait.