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Symfony RESTful API: Hypermedia, Links & Bonuses (Course 5)

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Finishing the Battle

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Head to the controller. We've got this form flow mastered! Step 1: create a new BattleModel object: $battleModel = new BattleModel():

37 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/Api/BattleController.php
... lines 1 - 11
class BattleController extends BaseController
{
/**
* @Route("/api/battles")
* @Method("POST")
*/
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
$battleModel = new BattleModel();
... lines 21 - 34
}
}

Step 2: create the form: $form = $this->createForm() with BattleType::class:

37 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/Api/BattleController.php
... lines 1 - 5
use AppBundle\Form\BattleType;
... lines 7 - 11
class BattleController extends BaseController
{
... lines 14 - 17
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
$battleModel = new BattleModel();
$form = $this->createForm(BattleType::class, $battleModel);
... lines 22 - 34
}
}

On my version of PhpStorm, I need to go back and re-type the e to trigger auto-completion so that the use statement is added above.

For the second argument to createForm: pass it $battleModel.

Step 3: Use $this->processForm():

37 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/Api/BattleController.php
... lines 1 - 11
class BattleController extends BaseController
{
... lines 14 - 17
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
$battleModel = new BattleModel();
$form = $this->createForm(BattleType::class, $battleModel);
$this->processForm($request, $form);
... lines 23 - 34
}
}

Remember, this is a method we added in BaseController:

187 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/BaseController.php
... lines 1 - 19
abstract class BaseController extends Controller
{
... lines 22 - 142
protected function processForm(Request $request, FormInterface $form)
{
$data = json_decode($request->getContent(), true);
if ($data === null) {
$apiProblem = new ApiProblem(400, ApiProblem::TYPE_INVALID_REQUEST_BODY_FORMAT);
throw new ApiProblemException($apiProblem);
}
$clearMissing = $request->getMethod() != 'PATCH';
$form->submit($data, $clearMissing);
}
... lines 155 - 185
}

it decodes the Request body and submits it into the form, which is what we do on every endpoint that processes data.

Type-hint the Request argument for the controller and pass this to processForm().

If the form is not valid, we need to send back errors. Use another method from earlier: $this->throwApiProblemValidationException() and pass it the $form object:

37 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/Api/BattleController.php
... lines 1 - 11
class BattleController extends BaseController
{
... lines 14 - 17
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
$battleModel = new BattleModel();
$form = $this->createForm(BattleType::class, $battleModel);
$this->processForm($request, $form);
if (!$form->isValid()) {
$this->throwApiProblemValidationException($form);
}
... lines 27 - 34
}
}

This will grab the validation errors off and create that response.

At this point, we have a BattleModel object that's populated with the Programmer and Project objects sent in the request. To create the battle, we need to use the BattleManager. Do that with $this->getBattleManager() - that's just a shortcut to get the service - ->battle() and pass it $battleModel->getProgrammer() and $battleModel->getProject():

37 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/Api/BattleController.php
... lines 1 - 11
class BattleController extends BaseController
{
... lines 14 - 17
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
$battleModel = new BattleModel();
$form = $this->createForm(BattleType::class, $battleModel);
$this->processForm($request, $form);
if (!$form->isValid()) {
$this->throwApiProblemValidationException($form);
}
$battle = $this->getBattleManager()->battle(
$battleModel->getProgrammer(),
$battleModel->getProject()
);
... lines 32 - 34
}
}

Put a little $battle = in the beginning of all of this to get the new Battle object. Perfect!

Now that the battle has been heroically fought, let's send back the gory details. Use return $this->createApiResponse() and pass it $battle and the 201 status code:

37 lines src/AppBundle/Controller/Api/BattleController.php
... lines 1 - 11
class BattleController extends BaseController
{
... lines 14 - 17
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
$battleModel = new BattleModel();
$form = $this->createForm(BattleType::class, $battleModel);
$this->processForm($request, $form);
if (!$form->isValid()) {
$this->throwApiProblemValidationException($form);
}
$battle = $this->getBattleManager()->battle(
$battleModel->getProgrammer(),
$battleModel->getProject()
);
// todo - set Location header
return $this->createApiResponse($battle, 201);
}
}

We aren't setting a Location header yet, so let's at least add a todo for that.

We are done! Controller, model and form: these are the only pieces we need to create a robust endpoint. Try the test:

./vendor/bin/phpunit --filter testPOSTCreateBattle

We are in prime battling shape.

Now, let's complicate things and learn how to really take control of every field in our endpoint. And, learn more about relations.

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Agnes Avatar

If anyone is getting an error running this test with the downloaded code, be aware that the jwt_key_pass_phrase needs to be set to happyapi from the last course.

Reply
weaverryan Avatar

Thanks Agnes! I just updated the parameters.yml.dist file to use this as the default value... just to help people a bit more. Thanks for the tip on this!

Reply
Default user avatar

Hi,
I'm getting an error, when running `./vendor/bin/phpunit --filter testPOSTCreateBattle`:

There was 1 error:

1) AppBundle\Controller\Api\BattleControllerTest::testPOSTCreateBattle

Doctrine\DBAL\Exception\InvalidFieldNameException: An exception occurred while executing 'INSERT INTO battle_project (name, difficulty_level) VALUES (?, ?)' with params ["my_project", 4]:

SQLSTATE[42S22]: Column not found: 1054 Unknown column 'difficulty_level' in 'field list'

the column is certainly there. I have even dropped the database and done the following:
./bin/console doctrine:database:create
./bin/console doctrine:schema:create
and get the same error.

What could be going on?

Reply
Default user avatar

When I run the query manually, it works fine:
INSERT INTO battle_project (name, difficulty_level) VALUES ("my_project",4)

Reply
Vladimir Z. Avatar
Vladimir Z. Avatar Vladimir Z. | Vlad | posted 4 years ago

Sorry, Ryan, I figured it out! I was using the test config (config_test.yml), which had a different database name (suffixed with '_test').
Please delete my comments.
Thank you!

Reply
weaverryan Avatar

Ha, nice detective work Vlad! It's probably better you figured it out - you won't forget about this in the future :)

Reply
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This tutorial uses an older version of Symfony. The concepts of Hypermedia & HATEOAS are still valid. But I recommend using API Platform in modern Symfony apps.
Symfony 3

What PHP libraries does this tutorial use?

// composer.json
{
    "require": {
        "php": ">=5.5.9",
        "symfony/symfony": "3.0.*", // v3.0.3
        "doctrine/orm": "^2.5", // v2.5.4
        "doctrine/doctrine-bundle": "^1.6", // 1.6.2
        "doctrine/doctrine-cache-bundle": "^1.2", // 1.3.0
        "symfony/swiftmailer-bundle": "^2.3", // v2.3.11
        "symfony/monolog-bundle": "^2.8", // v2.10.0
        "sensio/distribution-bundle": "^5.0", // v5.0.4
        "sensio/framework-extra-bundle": "^3.0.2", // v3.0.14
        "incenteev/composer-parameter-handler": "~2.0", // v2.1.2
        "jms/serializer-bundle": "^1.1.0", // 1.1.0
        "white-october/pagerfanta-bundle": "^1.0", // v1.0.5
        "lexik/jwt-authentication-bundle": "^1.4", // v1.4.3
        "willdurand/hateoas-bundle": "^1.1" // 1.1.1
    },
    "require-dev": {
        "sensio/generator-bundle": "^3.0", // v3.0.6
        "symfony/phpunit-bridge": "^3.0", // v3.0.3
        "behat/behat": "~3.1@dev", // dev-master
        "behat/mink-extension": "~2.2.0", // v2.2
        "behat/mink-goutte-driver": "~1.2.0", // v1.2.1
        "behat/mink-selenium2-driver": "~1.3.0", // v1.3.1
        "phpunit/phpunit": "~4.6.0", // 4.6.10
        "doctrine/doctrine-fixtures-bundle": "^2.3" // 2.3.0
    }
}
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