Auto Setting the "owner"

Every DragonTreasure must have an owner... and to set that, when you POST to create a treasure, we require that field. I think we should make that optional. So, in the test, stop sending the owner field. When this happens, let's automatically set it to the currently-authenticated user.

Make sure the test fails. Copy the method name... and run it:

symfony php bin/phpunit --filter=testPostToCreateTreasure

Nailed it. Got a 422, 201 expected. That 422 is a validation error from the owner property: this value should not be null.

Removing the Owner Validation

If we're going to make it optional, we need to remove that Assert\NotNull.

And now when we try the test:

symfony php bin/phpunit --filter=testPostToCreateTreasure

Well hello there gorgeous 500 error! Probably it's because the null owner_id is going kaboom when it hits the database. Yup!

Using the State Processors

So: how can we automatically set this field when it's not sent? In the previous API Platform 2 tutorial, I did this with an entity listener, which is a fine solution. But in API Platform 3, just like when we hashed the user password, there's now a really nice system for this: the state processor system.

As a reminder, our POST and PATCH endpoints for DragonTreasure already have a state processor that comes from Doctrine: it's responsible for saving the object to the database. Our goal will feel familiar at this point: to decorate that state process so we can run extra code before saving.

Like before, start by running:

php bin/console make:state-processor

Call it DragonTreasureSetOwnerProcessor.

Over in src/State/, open that up. Ok, let's decorate! Add the construct method with private ProcessorInterface $innerProcessor.

Then down in process(), call that! This method doesn't return anything - it has a void return - so we just need $this->innerProcessor - don't forget that part like I am - ->process() passing $data, $operation, $uriVariables and $context.

Now, to make Symfony use our state processor instead of the normal one from Doctrine, add #[AsDecorator]... and the id of the service is api_platform.doctrine.orm.state.persist_processor.

Cool! Now, everything that uses that service in the system will be passed our service instead... and then the original will be passed into us.

Decorating Multiple Times is Ok!

Oh, and there's something cool going on. Look at UserHashPasswordStateProcessor. We're decorating the same thing there! Yea, we're decorating that service twice, which is totally allowed! Internally, this will create a, sort of, chain of decorated services.

Ok, let's get to work setting the owner. Autowire our favorite Security service so we can figure out who is logged in. Then, before we do the saving, if $data is an instanceof DragonTreasure and $data->getOwner() is null and $this->security->getUser() - making sure the user is logged in - then $data->setOwner($this->security->getUser()).

That should do it! Run that test:

symfony php bin/phpunit --filter=testPostToCreateTreasure

Yikes! Allowed memory size exhausted. I smell recursion! Because... I'm calling process() on myself: I need $this->innerProcessor->process(). Now:

symfony php bin/phpunit --filter=testPostToCreateTreasure

A passing test is so much cooler than recursion. And the owner field is now optional!

Next: we currently return all treasures from our GET collection endpoint, including unpublished treasures. Let's fix that by modifying the query behind that endpoint to hide them.