How to serialize an entity in Symfony2 with dependent objects

Question

I have a Product entity, and a ProductList entity.

Is it possible to serialize (and deserialize) a ProductList object to json in a way that the json contains the Product objects related to that ProductList?

The expected output is:

[{
    'product_list_name': 'List',
    'product_list_created': '2013-07-04',
    'products' : {
        'product': {...},
        'product': {...},
        'product': {...},
        'product': {...}
}]

I'm using the Symfony2 built-in serializer and JMS\Serializer but I am not having any luck.

Any way to do this?

You want to serialize a entity collection like that ? : [{ 'product_list': { 'product': {...}, 'product': {...}, 'product': {...} }] — rpg600
Can you add your entities with your config (annotations / yml / xml) - are they actually linked via a relationship ? im using the JMSSerializer and its working fine for me — Manse
@Ren Kind of. [{'product_list_name': 'List', 'product_list_created': '2013-07-04', 'products' {'product': {...}, 'product': {...}, 'product': {...}, 'product': {...} }] — gomman
@ManseUK Did not do it for space saving, they are well linked, ManyToMany relationship, I load fixtures and create lists, add products, etc, no problem. Is serializing that bothers me. — gomman
Ok on your ProductList class try to add the XmlList annotation to his Product attribute, look here jmsyst.com/libs/serializer/master/reference/annotations#xmllist, also add a XmlRoot annotation to tell that ProductList is the parent object. — rpg600

Nicodemuz Nicodemuz · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-05T05:50:38

If you are using YML, ensure you have a YML file for both Product and ProductList.

Entity.ProductList.yml

AppBundle\Entity\ProductList:
    exclusion_policy: ALL
    properties:
        products:
            expose: true

Entity.Product.yml

AppBundle\Entity\Product:
    exclusion_policy: ALL
    properties:
        id:
            expose: true

How to serialize an entity in Symfony2 with dependent objects

1 Answers