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08.

Alien Tech for Fixtures: Foundry & Faker

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We're using src/DataFixtures/AppFixtures.php to create fake fixture data. This works fine. But where's the cool and fun? Do we really want to write manual code to add dozens or more entities? Points to you if you answered: hell no!

To take this from tedious to terrific, find your terminal and run:

Installing Foundry and Faker

composer require --dev foundry

Scroll up to see what was installed. The important packages are zenstruck/foundry - as way to create many entities quickly - and fakerphp/faker - a library to make fake data so we don't need to rely on lorem ipsum and our own lack of creativity.

Run

git status

to see what the recipes did: it enabled a bundle and added a config file. That config works well out of the box, so no need to look at it.

Creating a Starship Factory

With Foundry, every entity can have a factory class. To get these going run:

symfony console make:factory

This lists all entities that don't yet have a factory. Choose Starship and... success! It created a new StarshipFactory class. Go check that out: src/Factory/StarshipFactory.php.

This class will be really good at creating Starship objects - handy in case the Borg come back. First, look at this class() method. This tells Foundry which entity class this factory helps with. The defaults() is where we define default values to use when creating starships. I recommend adding defaults for all required fields: it'll make life easier.

Hey! Check out these self::faker() calls! This is how we generate random data. For name, captain and class, it's random text, status, is a random StarshipStatusEnum and arrivedAt defaults to any random date Since time travel still hasn't been invented, replace self::faker()->dateTime() with self::faker()->dateTimeBetween('-1 year', 'now'):

133 lines | src/Factory/StarshipFactory.php
// ... lines 1 - 11
final class StarshipFactory extends PersistentProxyObjectFactory
{
// ... lines 14 - 111
protected function defaults(): array|callable
{
return [
'arrivedAt' => \DateTimeImmutable::createFromMutable(self::faker()->dateTimeBetween('-1 year', 'now')),
// ... lines 116 - 119
];
}
// ... lines 122 - 131
}

Faker's text() method will give us random text, but not necessarily interesting text. Instead of serving under Captain "apple pie breakfast", in the tutorial/ directory, copy these constants and paste them at the top of the factory class:

133 lines | src/Factory/StarshipFactory.php
// ... lines 1 - 11
final class StarshipFactory extends PersistentProxyObjectFactory
{
private const SHIP_NAMES = [
'Nebula Drifter',
'Quantum Voyager',
'Starlight Nomad',
// ... lines 18 - 44
];
// ... line 46
private const CLASSES = [
'Eclipse',
'Vanguard',
'Specter',
// ... lines 51 - 57
];
// ... line 59
private const CAPTAINS = [
'Orion Stark',
'Lyra Voss',
'Cassian Drake',
// ... lines 64 - 90
];
// ... lines 92 - 131
}

Then, for captain use randomElement(self::CAPTAINS). For class, randomElement(self::CLASSES) and for name, randomElement(self::SHIP_NAMES):

133 lines | src/Factory/StarshipFactory.php
// ... lines 1 - 11
final class StarshipFactory extends PersistentProxyObjectFactory
{
// ... lines 14 - 111
protected function defaults(): array|callable
{
return [
// ... line 115
'captain' => self::faker()->randomElement(self::CAPTAINS),
'class' => self::faker()->randomElement(self::CLASSES),
'name' => self::faker()->randomElement(self::SHIP_NAMES),
// ... line 119
];
}
// ... lines 122 - 131
}

Using the Starship Factory

Time to use this factory! In src/DataFixtures/AppFixtures.php, in load(), write StarshipFactory::createOne(). Pass this an array of property values for the first ship: copy these from the existing code: name, class, captain, status and arrivedAt:

39 lines | src/DataFixtures/AppFixtures.php
// ... lines 1 - 9
class AppFixtures extends Fixture
{
public function load(ObjectManager $manager): void
{
StarshipFactory::createOne([
'name' => 'USS LeafyCruiser (NCC-0001)',
'class' => 'Garden',
'captain' => 'Jean-Luc Pickles',
'status' => StarshipStatusEnum::IN_PROGRESS,
'arrivedAt' => new \DateTimeImmutable('-1 day'),
]);
// ... lines 21 - 36
}
}

I'll paste the other two... and remove the old code:

39 lines | src/DataFixtures/AppFixtures.php
// ... lines 1 - 9
class AppFixtures extends Fixture
{
public function load(ObjectManager $manager): void
{
// ... lines 14 - 21
StarshipFactory::createOne([
'name' => 'USS Espresso (NCC-1234-C)',
'class' => 'Latte',
'captain' => 'James T. Quick!',
'status' => StarshipStatusEnum::COMPLETED,
'arrivedAt' => new \DateTimeImmutable('-1 week'),
]);
StarshipFactory::createOne([
'name' => 'USS Wanderlust (NCC-2024-W)',
'class' => 'Delta Tourist',
'captain' => 'Kathryn Journeyway',
'status' => StarshipStatusEnum::WAITING,
'arrivedAt' => new \DateTimeImmutable('-1 month'),
]);
}
}

Bonus! Remove the persist() and flush() calls: Foundry handles that for us!

Let's see what this does! Reload the fixtures:

symfony console doctrine:fixtures:load

Choose yes and... success! Back over, refresh and... it looks the same. That's a good sign! Now, let's create a fleet of ships!

Creating Many Starships

For the first three, we passed an array of values... but we didn't need to do that. If we don't pass a value, it'll use the StarshipFactory::defaults() method. Watch how dangerous this makes us: a Borg cube just showed up? Whip up 20 new ships with StarshipFactory::createMany(20):

41 lines | src/DataFixtures/AppFixtures.php
// ... lines 1 - 9
class AppFixtures extends Fixture
{
public function load(ObjectManager $manager): void
{
// ... lines 14 - 37
StarshipFactory::createMany(20);
}
}

Back in the terminal, load the fixtures again:

symfony console doctrine:fixtures:load

And over in the app, refresh and... check it out! A whole fleet of ships here now, and yep, they all have random data!

Now that the fake data is looking more real, it makes me wonder: what if our app was running on a huge star base with hundreds or thousands of ships? This would be a long page. Next, we'll paginate these results into smaller chunks.