Question

all.

I would like to ask if it is possible to have multiple forms (now per select option) on one page instead of multiple select field.

The situation is: I have User with @ManyToMany bi-relation to Services and ‘user_services’ relation storage table, but extended with additional fields like min_price, max_price, etc. with UserService Doctrine Entity class.

I think that the better user experience in my particular case is to have a table layout with checkboxes, service names and price fields with one save button, but I can’t get how to create multiple forms in which each form corresponds to one option from select list for example and followed by additional fields for this option.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Imagine that you have a bunch of services and you want to display them

What would you do?

My Solution:

Controller:

class DefaultController extends Controller
{
    public function indexAction(Request $request)
    {
        /** @var $em \Doctrine\ORM\EntityManager */
        $em = $this->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager');
        $services = $em->getRepository('ThestudioscheduleProfileBundlesServiceBundle:Service')->findAll();
        $user = $this->get('security.context')->getToken()->getUser();
        $form = $this->createForm(new UserServiceType($services, $user->getServiceDetails()));
        if ('POST' == $request->getMethod()) {
            $form->bindRequest($request);
            if ($form->isValid()) {
                $data = $form->getData();
                $em->getConnection()->beginTransaction();
                try {
                    foreach ($data['services'] as $serviceDetails) {
                        // if service is selected
                        if ($serviceDetails['id']) {
                            $serviceDetails['details']->setUser($user);
                            $serviceDetails['details']->setService($em->getRepository('ThestudioscheduleProfileBundlesServiceBundle:Service')->find($serviceDetails['service']));
                            $serviceDetails['details'] = $em->merge($serviceDetails['details']);
                        } else {
                            // if the entity is exist but user unchecked it - delete it
                            if ($serviceDetails['details']->getId()) {
                                $serviceDetails['details'] = $em->merge($serviceDetails['details']);
                                $em->remove($serviceDetails['details']);
                            }
                        }
                    }
                    $em->flush();
                    $em->getConnection()->commit();
                    // TODO: display success message to user
                    return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('ThestudioscheduleProfileBundlesServiceBundle_homepage'));
                } catch (\Exception $e) {
                    $em->getConnection()->rollback();
                    $em->close();
                    var_export($e->getMessage());die;
                    // TODO: log exception
                    // TODO: display something to user about error
                }
            }
        }
        return $this->render('ThestudioscheduleProfileBundlesServiceBundle:Default:index.html.twig', array(
            'form' => $form->createView()
        ));
    }
}

UserServiceType:

class UserServiceType extends AbstractType
{
    private $services;
    private $userServiceDetails;
    public function __construct($services, $userServiceDetails)
    {
        $this->services = $services;
        $this->userServiceDetails = $userServiceDetails;
    }
    /**
     * @param \Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilder $builder
     * @param array $options
     * @return void
     */
    public function buildForm(FormBuilder $builder, array $options)
    {
        // all application services
        $builder->add('services', 'collection');
        foreach ($this->services as $key => $service) {
            $serviceType = new ServiceType($service, null);
            foreach ($this->userServiceDetails as $details) {
                if ($service == $details->getService()) {
                    $serviceType->setUserServiceDetails($details);
                }
            }
            $builder->get('services')->add('service_' . $key, $serviceType);
        }
    }
    /**
     * Returns the name of this type.
     *
     * @return string The name of this type
     */
    public function getName()
    {
        return 'profile_user_service';
    }
}

ServiceType:

class ServiceType extends AbstractType
{
    private $service;
    private $userServiceDetails;
    public function __construct($service, $userServiceDetails)
    {
        $this->service = $service;
        $this->userServiceDetails = $userServiceDetails;
    }
    /**
     * @param \Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilder $builder
     * @param array $options
     * @return void
     */
    public function buildForm(FormBuilder $builder, array $options)
    {
        $builder->add('id', 'checkbox', array(
                    'label' => $this->service->getName(),
                    'required' => false))
                ->add('service', 'hidden')
                ->add('details', new ServiceDetailsType($this->userServiceDetails));
        $values = array('service' => $this->service->getId());
        if (null !== $this->userServiceDetails) {
            $values = array_merge($values, array('id' => true));
        }
        $builder->setData($values);
    }
    /**
     * Returns the name of this type.
     *
     * @return string The name of this type
     */
    public function getName()
    {
        return 'profile_service';
    }
    public function setUserServiceDetails($details)
    {
        $this->userServiceDetails = $details;
    }
}

ServiceDetailsType:

class ServiceDetailsType extends AbstractType
{
    private $details;
    public function __construct($details)
    {
        $this->details = $details;
    }
    /**
     * @param \Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilder $builder
     * @param array $options
     * @return void
     */
    public function buildForm(FormBuilder $builder, array $options)
    {
        $builder->add('id', 'hidden')
                ->add('minPrice', 'money', array('required' => false))
                ->add('maxPrice', 'money', array('required' => false))
                ->add('unit', 'choice', array(
                    'choices' => array(
                        'hour' => 'Hours',
                        'photo' => 'Photos'
                    ),
                    'required' => false
                ))
                ->add('unitsAmount', null, array('required' => false));
        if (!empty($this->details)) {
            $builder->setData($this->details);
        }
    }
    public function getDefaultOptions(array $options)
    {
        return array(
            'data_class' => 'Thestudioschedule\ProfileBundles\ServiceBundle\Entity\UserService',
            'csrf_protection' => false
        );
    }
    /**
     * Returns the name of this type.
     *
     * @return string The name of this type
     */
    function getName()
    {
        return 'profile_service_details';
    }
}

The most amazing thing that all this works! Many thanks to Florian for spending his time on me and for keeping me thinking about the solution and my apologise for unclear question (if it is). I think, Symfony docs should be updated with more different form embedding/collection examples like this.

Cheers,
Dima.