How to validate unique entities in an entity collection in symfony2
I've created a custom constraint/validator for this.
It validates a form collection using the "All" assertion, and takes an optional parameter : the property path of the property to check the entity equality.
(it's for Symfony 2.1, to adapt it to Symfony 2.0 check the end of the answer) :
For more information on creating custom validation constraints, check The Cookbook
The constraint :
#src/Acme/DemoBundle/Validator/constraint/UniqueInCollection.php
<?php
namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
/**
* @Annotation
*/
class UniqueInCollection extends Constraint
{
public $message = 'The error message (with %parameters%)';
// The property path used to check wether objects are equal
// If none is specified, it will check that objects are equal
public $propertyPath = null;
}
And the validator :
#src/Acme/DemoBundle/Validator/constraint/UniqueInCollectionValidator.php
<?php
namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintValidator;
use Symfony\Component\Form\Util\PropertyPath;
class UniqueInCollectionValidator extends ConstraintValidator
{
// We keep an array with the previously checked values of the collection
private $collectionValues = array();
// validate is new in Symfony 2.1, in Symfony 2.0 use "isValid" (see below)
public function validate($value, Constraint $constraint)
{
// Apply the property path if specified
if($constraint->propertyPath){
$propertyPath = new PropertyPath($constraint->propertyPath);
$value = $propertyPath->getValue($value);
}
// Check that the value is not in the array
if(in_array($value, $this->collectionValues))
$this->context->addViolation($constraint->message, array());
// Add the value in the array for next items validation
$this->collectionValues[] = $value;
}
}
In your case, you would use it like this :
use Acme\DemoBundle\Validator\Constraints as AcmeAssert;
// ...
/**
* @ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Discount", mappedBy="client", cascade={"persist"}, orphanRemoval="true")
* @Assert\All(constraints={
* @AcmeAssert\UniqueInCollection(propertyPath ="product")
* })
*/
For Symfony 2.0, change the validate function by :
public function isValid($value, Constraint $constraint)
{
$valid = true;
if($constraint->propertyPath){
$propertyPath = new PropertyPath($constraint->propertyPath);
$value = $propertyPath->getValue($value);
}
if(in_array($value, $this->collectionValues)){
$valid = false;
$this->setMessage($constraint->message, array('%string%' => $value));
}
$this->collectionValues[] = $value;
return $valid
}
For Symfony 4.3(only tested version) you can use my custom validator. Prefered way of usage is as annotaion on validated collection:
use App\Validator\Constraints as App;
...
/**
* @ORM\OneToMany
*
* @App\UniqueProperty(
* propertyPath="entityProperty"
* )
*/
private $entities;
Difference between Julien and my solution is, that my Constraint is defined on validated Collection instead on element of Collection itself.
Constraint:
#src/Validator/Constraints/UniqueProperty.php
<?php
namespace App\Validator\Constraints;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
/**
* @Annotation
*/
class UniqueProperty extends Constraint
{
public $message = 'This collection should contain only elements with uniqe value.';
public $propertyPath;
public function validatedBy()
{
return UniquePropertyValidator::class;
}
}
Validator:
#src/Validator/Constraints/UniquePropertyValidator.php
<?php
namespace App\Validator\Constraints;
use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintValidator;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\UnexpectedTypeException;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\UnexpectedValueException;
class UniquePropertyValidator extends ConstraintValidator
{
/**
* @var \Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccessor
*/
private $propertyAccessor;
public function __construct()
{
$this->propertyAccessor = PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor();
}
/**
* @param mixed $value
* @param Constraint $constraint
* @throws \Exception
*/
public function validate($value, Constraint $constraint)
{
if (!$constraint instanceof UniqueProperty) {
throw new UnexpectedTypeException($constraint, UniqueProperty::class);
}
if (null === $value) {
return;
}
if (!\is_array($value) && !$value instanceof \IteratorAggregate) {
throw new UnexpectedValueException($value, 'array|IteratorAggregate');
}
if ($constraint->propertyPath === null) {
throw new \Exception('Option propertyPath can not be null');
}
$propertyValues = [];
foreach ($value as $key => $element) {
$propertyValue = $this->propertyAccessor->getValue($element, $constraint->propertyPath);
if (in_array($propertyValue, $propertyValues, true)) {
$this->context->buildViolation($constraint->message)
->atPath(sprintf('[%s]', $key))
->addViolation();
}
$propertyValues[] = $propertyValue;
}
}
}
Here is a version working with multiple fields just like UniqueEntity does. Validation fails if multiple objects have same values.
Usage:
/**
* ....
* @App\UniqueInCollection(fields={"name", "email"})
*/
private $contacts;
//Validation fails if multiple contacts have same name AND email
The constraint class ...
<?php
namespace App\Validator\Constraints;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
/**
* @Annotation
*/
class UniqueInCollection extends Constraint
{
public $message = 'Entry is duplicated.';
public $fields;
public function validatedBy()
{
return UniqueInCollectionValidator::class;
}
}
The validator itself ....
<?php
namespace App\Validator\Constraints;
use Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccess;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraint;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintValidator;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\UnexpectedTypeException;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Exception\UnexpectedValueException;
class UniqueInCollectionValidator extends ConstraintValidator
{
/**
* @var \Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\PropertyAccessor
*/
private $propertyAccessor;
public function __construct()
{
$this->propertyAccessor = PropertyAccess::createPropertyAccessor();
}
/**
* @param mixed $collection
* @param Constraint $constraint
* @throws \Exception
*/
public function validate($collection, Constraint $constraint)
{
if (!$constraint instanceof UniqueInCollection) {
throw new UnexpectedTypeException($constraint, UniqueInCollection::class);
}
if (null === $collection) {
return;
}
if (!\is_array($collection) && !$collection instanceof \IteratorAggregate) {
throw new UnexpectedValueException($collection, 'array|IteratorAggregate');
}
if ($constraint->fields === null) {
throw new \Exception('Option propertyPath can not be null');
}
if(is_array($constraint->fields)) $fields = $constraint->fields;
else $fields = [$constraint->fields];
$propertyValues = [];
foreach ($collection as $key => $element) {
$propertyValue = [];
foreach ($fields as $field) {
$propertyValue[] = $this->propertyAccessor->getValue($element, $field);
}
if (in_array($propertyValue, $propertyValues, true)) {
$this->context->buildViolation($constraint->message)
->atPath(sprintf('[%s]', $key))
->addViolation();
}
$propertyValues[] = $propertyValue;
}
}
}
I can't manage to make the previous answer works on symfony 2.6. Because of the following code on l. 852 of RecursiveContextualValidator, it only goes once on the validate method when 2 items are equals.
if ($context->isConstraintValidated($cacheKey, $constraintHash)) {
continue;
}
So, here is what I've done to deals with the original issue :
On the Entity :
* @AcmeAssert\UniqueInCollection(propertyPath ="product")
Instead of
* @Assert\All(constraints={
* @AcmeAssert\UniqueInCollection(propertyPath ="product")
* })
On the validator :
public function validate($collection, Constraint $constraint){
$propertyAccessor = PropertyAccess::getPropertyAccessor();
$previousValues = array();
foreach($collection as $collectionItem){
$value = $propertyAccessor->getValue($collectionItem, $constraint->propertyPath);
$previousSimilarValuesNumber = count(array_keys($previousValues,$value));
if($previousSimilarValuesNumber == 1){
$this->context->addViolation($constraint->message, array('%email%' => $value));
}
$previousValues[] = $value;
}
}
Instead of :
public function isValid($value, Constraint $constraint)
{
$valid = true;
if($constraint->propertyPath){
$propertyAccessor = PropertyAccess::getPropertyAccessor();
$value = $propertyAccessor->getValue($value, $constraint->propertyPath);
}
if(in_array($value, $this->collectionValues)){
$valid = false;
$this->setMessage($constraint->message, array('%string%' => $value));
}
$this->collectionValues[] = $value;
return $valid
}