Validator

DoctrineModule provides three validators that work out the box: DoctrineModule\Validator\ObjectExists and DoctrineModule\Validator\NoObjectExists which implements a check if an entity exists or does not exists in the database, respectively, and DoctrineModule\Validator\UniqueObject which implements a check if a value is only used in one object. They behave like any other standard Zend validator.

All three validators accept the following options :

• object_repository : an instance of an object repository.
• fields : an array that contains all the fields that are used to check if the entity exists (or does not).

The DoctrineModule\Validator\UniqueObject also needs the following option:

• object_manager : an instance of an object manager.

For the use_context option and other specifics to DoctrineModule\Validator\UniqueObject see below.

Tip : to get an object repository from an object manager you call the getRepository function of any valid object manager instance, passing it the FQCN of the class. For instance, in the context of Doctrine 2 ORM, here is how you get the object_repository of the 'Application\Entity\User' entity:

$repository = $entityManager->getRepository('Application\Entity\User');

Simple usage

You can directly instantiate a validator the following way:

$validator = new \DoctrineModule\Validator\ObjectExists([
    'object_repository' => $objectManager->getRepository('Application\Entity\User'),
    'fields' => ['email'],
]);

var_dump($validator->isValid('[email protected]')); // dumps 'true' if an entity matches
var_dump($validator->isValid(['email' => '[email protected]'])); // dumps 'true' if an entity matches

Use together with Zend Framework 2 forms

Of course, validators are especially useful when paired with forms. To add a NoObjectExists validator to a Zend Framework form element:

namespace Application\Form;

use DoctrineModule\Validator\NoObjectExists as NoObjectExistsValidator;
use Zend\Form\Form;
use Zend\ServiceManager\ServiceManager;
use Application\Entity;

class User extends Form
{
    public function __construct(ServiceManager $serviceManager)
    {
        parent::__construct('my-form');

        // Add an element
        $this->add([
            'type'    => 'Zend\Form\Element\Email',
            'name'    => 'email',
            'options' => [
                'label' => 'Email',
            ],
            'attributes' => [
                'required' => 'required',
            ],
        ]);

        // add other elements (submit, CSRF…)

        // Fetch any valid object manager from the Service manager
        $entityManager = $serviceManager->get('doctrine.entitymanager.orm_default');

        // Now get the input filter of the form, and add the validator to the email input
        $emailInput = $this->getInputFilter()->get('email');

        $noObjectExistsValidator = new NoObjectExistsValidator([
            'object_repository' => $entityManager->getRepository(Entity\User::class),
            'fields'            => 'email',
        ]);

        $emailInput
            ->getValidatorChain()
            ->attach($noObjectExistsValidator);
    }
}

If you are using fieldsets you can directly add the validator using the array notation. For instance in the getInputFilterSpecification function, as shown here:

namespace Application\Form;

use Zend\Form\Fieldset;
use Zend\InputFilter\InputFilterProviderInterface;
use Zend\ServiceManager\ServiceManager;
use Application\Entity;

class UserFieldset extends Fieldset implements InputFilterProviderInterface
{
    protected $serviceManager;

    public function __construct(ServiceManager $serviceManager)
    {
        $this->serviceManager = $serviceManager;

        parent::__construct('my-fieldset');

        // Add an element
        $this->add([
            'type'    => 'Zend\Form\Element\Email',
            'name'    => 'email',
            'options' => [
                'label' => 'Email',
            ],
            'attributes' => [
                'required' => 'required',
            ],
        ]);
    }

    public function getInputFilterSpecification()
    {
        $entityManager = $this->serviceManager->get('doctrine.entitymanager.orm_default');

        return [
            'email' => [
                'validators' => [
                    [
                        'name' => 'DoctrineModule\Validator\NoObjectExists',
                        'options' => [
                            'object_repository' => $entityManager->getRepository(Entity\User::class),
                            'fields' => 'email',
                        ],
                    ],
                ],
            ],
        ];
    }
}

You can change the default message of the validators like this:

// For NoObjectExists validator (using array notation) :
'validators' => [
    [
        'name' => 'DoctrineModule\Validator\NoObjectExists',
        'options' => [
            'object_repository' => $this->getEntityManager()->getRepository('Application\Entity\User'),
            'fields' => 'email',
            'messages' => [
                'objectFound' => 'A user with this email already exists.',
            ],
        ],
    ],
],

// For ObjectExists validator (using object notation) :
$objectExistsValidator = new \DoctrineModule\Validator\ObjectExists([
    'object_repository' => $entityManager->getRepository('Application\Entity\User'),
    'fields'            => 'email',
]);

**$objectExistsValidator->setMessage('noObjectFound', 'Email was not found.');**

UniqueObject

There are two things you have to think about when using DoctrineModule\Validator\UniqueObject; As mentioned above you have to pass an ObjectManager as object_manager option and second you have to pass a value for every identifier your entity has.

• If you leave out the use_context option or set it to false you have to pass an array containing the fields- and identifier-values into isValid(). When using Zend\Form this behaviour is needed if you're using fieldsets.
• If you set the use_context option to true you have to pass the fields-values as first argument and an array containing the identifier-values as second argument into isValid(). When using Zend\Form without fieldsets, this behaviour would be needed.

Important: Whatever you choose, please ensure that the identifier-values are named by the field-names, not by the database-column.