Symfony2 DateTime null accept

Question

So, I want to be able send a null option to my DOB field.

Here is my form builder:

->add('birthDate', DateType::class, array(
                'widget' => 'single_text',
                'format' => 'yyyy-MM-dd'))

And here is those field in my entity

 /**
     * @ORM\Column(
     *     type="date",
     *     nullable=true
     * )
     * @JMS\Groups("single")
     *
     * @var \DateTime
     */
    protected $birthDate;

When I`m trying to send a null I got an error msg

Expected argument of type "DateTime", "NULL" given

any ideas?

CRITICAL - Uncaught PHP Exception Symfony\Component\PropertyAccess\Exception\InvalidArgumentException: "Expected argument of type "DateTime", "NULL" given" at /var/www/server.local/vendor/symfony/symfony/src/Symfony/Component/PropertyAccess/PropertyAccessor.php line 253 



  $type = $trace[$i]['args'][0];
    $type = is_object($type) ? get_class($type) : gettype($type);
    throw new InvalidArgumentException(sprintf('Expected argument of type "%s", "%s" given', substr($message, $pos, strpos($message, ',', $pos) - $pos), $type));
}

}

and also have you made sure that the DB schema is in sync with the entity ? — Vamsi Krishna B
– Vamsi Krishna B, Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 12:56
Does the setter for your $birthDate look like this: setBirthDate(\DateTime $value)? If yes, change it to setBirthDate(\DateTime $value = null) — Emanuel Oster
– Emanuel Oster, Commented Apr 13, 2016 at 13:54

Emanuel Oster · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-13 14:25:25Z

22

In this case, the problem was caused by PHP type hinting. If you use type hinting (for instance setBirthDate(\DateTime $value)) then PHP forces you that you actually provide a DateTime object. Obviously, null is not such an object. To resolve this problem, it is possible to give $value a default value like this: setBirthDate(\DateTime $value = null).

This is documented behavior and explained in the PHP Documentation (http://php.net/manual/en/functions.arguments.php#functions.arguments.type-declaration).

Relevant passage:

To specify a type declaration, the type name should be added before the parameter name. The declaration can be made to accept NULL values if the default value of the parameter is set to NULL.

answered Apr 13, 2016 at 14:25

Emanuel Oster

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1 Comment

Yep_It's_Me Over a year ago

Note: For PHP 7.1 you can also type hint it as optional nullable: setBirthDate(?\DateTime $value)

Aistis · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-07 12:04:53Z

5

The problem occurs due type-hinted setter as it is mentioned in the comments. There are two solutions:

1. Use 'by_reference' => true on your form:

$builder->add(
    'birthDate',
    DateType::class,
    [
        'widget' => 'single_text',
        'format' => 'yyyy-MM-dd',
        'by_reference' => true,
    ]
);

2. Let your setter accept null:

public function setBirthDate(\DateTime $value = null)
{
   .....
}

edited May 7, 2018 at 12:04

answered Sep 29, 2016 at 8:01

Aistis

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1 Comment

Liju P M Over a year ago

Your first solution makes more sense. 2nd one is also working, but that will make the field hold unwanted data(null)

LMS94 · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-13 12:55:49Z

3

Don't pass any values to it. Make the field not required by doing this:

->add(
    'birthDate', 
    DateType::class, 
    array(
        'required' => false,
        'widget' => 'single_text',
        'format' => 'yyyy-MM-dd'
    )
)

answered Apr 13, 2016 at 12:55

LMS94

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7 Comments

LMS94 Over a year ago

How are you setting the form data? ->handleRequest($request); ?

Majesty Over a year ago

No. As you see I'm using ORM annotations, so that's why your solution doesn't work for me, that's how I think

LMS94 Over a year ago

ORM annotations do nothing for validation, they're mapping to the database. If you were using @Assert\Datetime or @Assert\NotNull then I could understand the validation failure. Please use Symfony's recommended way of form submissions, here

Majesty Over a year ago

It`s to late to use recommended way, because I already have a big working project.

LMS94 Over a year ago

Okay, so how are you setting the form data?

|

Ramkumar · Accepted Answer · 2016-04-13 13:23:51Z

0

I have been using DOB field in my project. Try this. My ORM file looks like this <field name="dob" type="date" column="dob" nullable="true"/>

->add('dob','birthday',array(
            'widget' => 'single_text',
            'format' => 'dd-MM-yyyy',
            'required' => false,
            'attr' => array('class' => 'datepicker',
                'data-provide' => 'datepicker','data-date-format' => 'dd-mm-yyyy')
        ))

answered Apr 13, 2016 at 13:23

Ramkumar

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1 Comment

Majesty Over a year ago

It`s not so simple for me. I have created a angular directive, that consist of 3 dropdown inputs for day, date and year

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