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06.

Query for a List of Genuses

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Start your All-Access Pass

Woh guys, we can already create new tables, add columns and insert or update data. There's just one big piece left: querying.

Let's create a new page that will show off all the genuses. Create public function listAction() and give it a route path of /genus:

88 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
// ... lines 1 - 30
/**
* @Route("/genus")
*/
public function listAction()
{
// ... lines 36 - 40
}
// ... lines 42 - 88

Querying? Get the Entity Manager

Remember, everything in Doctrine starts with the all-powerful entity manager. Just like before, get it with $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager():

88 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
// ... lines 1 - 33
public function listAction()
{
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
// ... lines 37 - 40
}
// ... lines 42 - 88

To make a query, you'll always start the same way: $genuses = $em->getRepository(). Pass this the class name - not the table name - that you want to query from: AppBundle\Entity\Genus. This gives us a repository object, and hey! He's really good at querying from the genus table. In fact, it's got a bunch of useful methods on it like findAll() and findOneBy. Use findAll():

88 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
// ... lines 1 - 33
public function listAction()
{
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$genuses = $em->getRepository('AppBundle\Entity\Genus')
->findAll();
// ... line 40
}
// ... lines 42 - 88

What does this return exactly? Um... I don't know - so let's find out! Dump $genuses to see what it looks like:

88 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
// ... lines 1 - 37
$genuses = $em->getRepository('AppBundle\Entity\Genus')
->findAll();
dump($genuses);die;
// ... lines 41 - 88

Back to the browser! Go to /genus... and there's the dump! Ah, it's an array of Genus objects. That makes sense - Doctrine is obsessed with always using objects. And sure, you can make queries that only return some columns, but that's for later.

The AppBundle:Genus Alias

Back to the controller! Now change the Genus class name to just AppBundle:Genus:

88 lines | src/AppBundle/Controller/GenusController.php
// ... lines 1 - 37
$genuses = $em->getRepository('AppBundle:Genus')
->findAll();
// ... lines 40 - 88

Wait, what? Didn't I say this should be the class name? What is this garbage? It's cool - this is just a shortcut. Internally, Doctrine converts this to AppBundle\Entity\Genus. You can use either form, but usually you'll see the shorter one.... ya know, because programmers are efficient... or maybe lazy.