Pagination, session and a controller's action - Symfony2

Question

I have a list of friends which should be displayed 3 in a page. Each friend has a category and I also have a drop down menu to choose to view only the friends which are from the chosen category. They should also be display 3 in a page. The way in which filtered and not filtered friends are displayed is the same so I didn't want to have two almost actions in my controller and two identic templates, so I tried to make this in one controller's action and template, but there is a problem. I can't make the pagination for the second and following pages of the filtered friends. Pleae help! :( The problem is that I use a form and when I click on the second page, the variable which was filled in the form and binded, become undefined. Here is the code:

Controller's action

public function displayAction($page, Request $request)
{
    $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getEntityManager();
    $user = $this->get('security.context')->getToken()->getUser();

    $cat = new Category();

    $dd_form = $this->createForm(new ChooseCatType($user->getId()), $cat);

    if($request->get('_route')=='filter')
    {
        if($request->getMethod() == 'POST')
        {

            $dd_form->bindRequest($request);

            if($cat->getName() == null)
            {      
                return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('home_display'));
            }

            $filter = $cat->getName()->getId();
            if ($dd_form->isValid())
            {   
                $all_friends = $em->getRepository('EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend')
                                  ->filterFriends($filter);
                $result = count($all_friends);
                $FR_PER_PAGE = 3;
                $pages = $result/$FR_PER_PAGE;
                $friends = $em->getRepository('EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend')
                              ->getFilteredFriendsFromTo($filter, $FR_PER_PAGE, ($page-1)*$FR_PER_PAGE); 

                $link = 'filter';
            }
        }
    }

    else
    {
        $all_friends = $user->getFriends();

        $result = count($all_friends);
        $FR_PER_PAGE = 3;
        $pages = $result/$FR_PER_PAGE;

        $friends = $em->getRepository('EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend')
                      ->getFriendsFromTo($user->getId(), $FR_PER_PAGE, ($page-1)*$FR_PER_PAGE); 

        $link = 'home_display';
    }

    // Birthdays
    $birthdays = null;
    $now = new \DateTime();
    $now_day = $now->format('d');
    $now_month = $now->format('m');

    foreach ($all_friends as $fr)
    {
        if($fr->getBirthday() != null)
        {    
            if($fr->getBirthday()->format('d') == $now_day && $fr->getBirthday()->format('m') == $now_month)
            {
                $birthdays[]=$fr;
                $fr->setYears();
            }
        }
    }

    // Search
    $search = new Search();
    $s_form = $this->createFormBuilder($search)
        ->add('words', 'text', array(
        'label' => 'Search: ',
        'error_bubbling' => true))
        ->getForm();


    // Renders the template
    return $this->render('EMMyFriendsBundle:Home:home.html.twig', array(
        'name' => $name, 'friends' => $friends, 'user' => $user, 'birthdays' => $birthdays, 'pages' => $pages, 'page' => $page, 'link' => $link,
        'dd_form' => $dd_form->createView(), 's_form' => $s_form->createView()));
}

Template

{% if birthdays != null %}
        <div>

            <img class="birthday" src="http://www.clker.com/cliparts/1/d/a/6/11970917161615154558carlitos_Balloons.svg.med.png">

            <div class="try"> 
                This friends have birthday today: 
                {% for bd in birthdays %}

                    <p>
                        <a href="{{ path('friend_id', {'id': bd.id}) }}">{{ bd.name }}</a>
                        <span class="years">
                            ({{ bd.years }} years)
                        </span>
                    </p>

                {% endfor %}
            </div>

        </div>
    {% endif %}

    {% for fr in friends %}

        {# TODO: Fix where are shown #}

        {% if fr.getWebPath()!=null %}
            <a href="{{ path('friend_id', {'id': fr.id}) }}">
                <img class="avatar" src="{{ fr.getWebPath }}">
            </a>
        {% endif %}

        {% if loop.index is odd %}
                <p class="list1">
            {% else %}
                <p class="list2">
        {% endif %}
                    <a class="friends" href="{{ path('friend_id', {'id': fr.id}) }}">{{ fr.name }}</a>
                </p>

    {% endfor %}

    {# TODO: Pagination #}
    {% if pages>1 %}
    <p>
    {% for i in 0..pages %}

            {% if page == loop.index %}
            <span class="pagination">{{ loop.index }}</span>

            {% else %}
            <span class="pagination"><a  href="{{ path(link, {'page': loop.index}) }}">{{ loop.index }}</a></span>
            {% endif %}

    {% endfor %}
    </P>
    {% endif %}

    <p>Choose category:</p>   
    <form class="search" action="{{ path('filter') }}" method="post" {{ form_enctype(s_form) }}> 
        {{ form_widget(dd_form.name) }}
        {{ form_rest(dd_form) }}
        <input type="submit" value="Show friends" />
    </form>

Repository

 class FriendRepository extends EntityRepository
{
    public function getFriendsFromTo ($user, $limit, $offset)
    {
         return $this->getEntityManager()
            ->createQuery('SELECT f FROM EMMyFriendsBundle:Friend f WHERE f.user='.$user. 'ORDER BY f.name ASC')
            ->setMaxResults($limit)
            ->setFirstResult($offset)
            ->getResult();
    }
public function filterFriends ($filter)
    {
        $q = $this->createQueryBuilder('f');

    $q->select('f')
      ->where('f.category = :filter')            
      ->setParameter('filter', $filter);

    return $q->getQuery()->getResult();
}

public function getFilteredFriendsFromTo ($filter, $limit, $offset)
{
    $q = $this->createQueryBuilder('f');

    $q->select('f')
      ->where('f.category = :filter')
            ->setMaxResults($limit)
        ->setFirstResult($offset)
      ->setParameter('filter', $filter);

    return $q->getQuery()->getResult();
}
}

I tried a lot of things, but there is always a problem. In this code it says that the variable $all_friends in the birthday for loop is not defined - and yes, it isn't. Maybe I have to store it in session and I tried this:

    $session = $this->getRequest()->getSession();

    $session->set('all_friends');

and then passing $friends=$session->get('all_friends'); to the for loop, but it doesn't work and isn't the variable $all_friends too big to store it?

Any ideas will be apreciated! Thank you for your time and effort!

EDIT

When I use the way with the session and

    $session = $this->getRequest()->getSession();

    $session->set('all_friends');

    $fri=$session->get('all_friends');

    foreach ($fri as $fr)
    { .... }

the error I get is

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\src\EM\MyFriendsBundle\Controller\HomeController.php line 100

and also

Warning: Missing argument 2 for Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Session::set(), called in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\src\EM\MyFriendsBundle\Controller\HomeController.php on line 71 and defined in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\app\cache\dev\classes.php line 148

When I don't use session I get

Notice: Undefined variable: all_friends in C:\xampp\htdocs\MyFriends\src\EM\MyFriendsBundle\Controller\HomeController.php line 100

when I choose a category to show the friends from it, and I click its second page.

P.S. The lines from the errors don't corespond to the lines in the code I pasted, bacause I skipped some parts of the action, repository and template, because they don't have a part in this problem and they work correctly. If someone wishes, I can send him or update here all the code.

can you post the error message so i can check where it occurs — Wearybands
the line 100 is in your if condition where you get $all_friends or in else ? — Wearybands
The line 100 is foreach ($all_friends as $fr) It's some lines below //Birthdays — Faery

sf_tristanb sf_tristanb · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-03T14:09:55

You are setting nothing on session :

$session->set('all_friends');

You should be doing this instead:

$session->set('all_friends', $data);

You should really start respecting Symfony2 coding standards too.

My eyes are melting when I try to read your code. You should read this and don't forget to create form class instead of creating form in your controller.

EDIT: If your $data is a result from a Doctrine2 query, I suggest that you store only the entity id and the entity class in order to fetch them later when you need it.

EDIT2: Here's some code that might help you saving on session filters data. PS, don't forget to add the missing use ....

/**
 * Set filters
 *
 * @param array  $filters Filters
 * @param string $type    Type
 */
public function setFilters($name, array $filters = array())
{
    foreach ($filters as $key => $value) {
        // Transform entities objects into a pair of class/id
        if (is_object($value)) {
            if ($value instanceof ArrayCollection) {
                if (count($value)) {
                    $filters[$key] = array(
                        'class' => get_class($value->first()),
                        'ids' => array()
                    );
                    foreach ($value as $v) {
                        $identifier = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($v);
                        $filters[$key]['ids'][] = $identifier['id'];
                    }
                } else {
                    unset($filters[$key]);
                }
            } elseif (!$value instanceof \DateTime) {
                $filters[$key] = array(
                    'class' => get_class($value),
                    'id'    => $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->getUnitOfWork()->getEntityIdentifier($value)
                );
            }
        }
    }

    $this->getRequest()->getSession()->set(
        $name,
        $filters
    );
}

/**
 * Get Filters
 *
 * @param array $filters Filters
 * @param type  $type    Type
 *
 * @return array
 */
public function getFilters($name, array $filters = array())
{
    $filters = array_merge(
        $this->getRequest()->getSession()->get(
            $name,
            array()
        ),
        $filters
    );

    foreach ($filters as $key => $value) {
        // Get entities from pair of class/id
        if (is_array($value) && isset($value['class'])) {
            if (isset($value['id'])) {
                $filters[$key] = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->find($value['class'], $value['id']);
            } elseif (isset($value['ids'])) {
                $data = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager()->getRepository($value['class'])->findBy(array('id' => $value['ids']));
                $filters[$key] = new ArrayCollection($data);
            }
        }
    }

    return $filters;
}

EDIT3: Why you're not using KnpPaginatorBundle for pagination ?

Pagination, session and a controller's action - Symfony2

1 Answers