console_command.rst

.. index::
   single: Console; Create commands

How to create a Console Command

The Console page of the Components section (:doc:`/components/console/introduction`) covers how to create a console command. This cookbook article covers the differences when creating console commands within the Symfony2 framework.

Automatically Registering Commands

To make the console commands available automatically with Symfony2, create a Command directory inside your bundle and create a PHP file suffixed with Command.php for each command that you want to provide. For example, if you want to extend the AcmeDemoBundle to greet you from the command line, create GreetCommand.php and add the following to it:

// src/Acme/DemoBundle/Command/GreetCommand.php
namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Command;

use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Command\ContainerAwareCommand;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputArgument;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Input\InputOption;
use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;

class GreetCommand extends ContainerAwareCommand
{
    protected function configure()
    {
        $this
            ->setName('demo:greet')
            ->setDescription('Greet someone')
            ->addArgument('name', InputArgument::OPTIONAL, 'Who do you want to greet?')
            ->addOption('yell', null, InputOption::VALUE_NONE, 'If set, the task will yell in uppercase letters')
        ;
    }

    protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
    {
        $name = $input->getArgument('name');
        if ($name) {
            $text = 'Hello '.$name;
        } else {
            $text = 'Hello';
        }

        if ($input->getOption('yell')) {
            $text = strtoupper($text);
        }

        $output->writeln($text);
    }
}

This command will now automatically be available to run:

$ app/console demo:greet Fabien

Getting Services from the Service Container

By using :class:`Symfony\\Bundle\\FrameworkBundle\\Command\\ContainerAwareCommand` as the base class for the command (instead of the more basic :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Command\\Command`), you have access to the service container. In other words, you have access to any configured service:

protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
{
    $name = $input->getArgument('name');
    $logger = $this->getContainer()->get('logger');

    $logger->info('Executing command for '.$name);
    // ...
}

However, due to the container scopes this code doesn't work for some services. For instance, if you try to get the request service or any other service related to it, you'll get the following error:

You cannot create a service ("request") of an inactive scope ("request").

Consider the following example that uses the translator service to translate some contents using a console command:

protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
{
    $name = $input->getArgument('name');
    $translator = $this->getContainer()->get('translator');
    if ($name) {
        $output->writeln($translator->trans('Hello %name%!', array('%name%' => $name)));
    } else {
        $output->writeln($translator->trans('Hello!'));
    }
}

If you dig into the Translator component classes, you'll see that the request service is required to get the locale into which the contents are translated:

// vendor/symfony/symfony/src/Symfony/Bundle/FrameworkBundle/Translation/Translator.php
public function getLocale()
{
    if (null === $this->locale && $this->container->isScopeActive('request')
        && $this->container->has('request')) {
        $this->locale = $this->container->get('request')->getLocale();
    }

    return $this->locale;
}

Therefore, when using the translator service inside a command, you'll get the previous "You cannot create a service of an inactive scope" error message. The solution in this case is as easy as setting the locale value explicitly before translating contents:

protected function execute(InputInterface $input, OutputInterface $output)
{
    $name = $input->getArgument('name');
    $locale = $input->getArgument('locale');

    $translator = $this->getContainer()->get('translator');
    $translator->setLocale($locale);

    if ($name) {
        $output->writeln($translator->trans('Hello %name%!', array('%name%' => $name)));
    } else {
        $output->writeln($translator->trans('Hello!'));
    }
}

However for other services the solution might be more complex. For more details, see :doc:`/cookbook/service_container/scopes`.

Testing Commands

When testing commands used as part of the full framework :class:`Symfony\\Bundle\\FrameworkBundle\\Console\\Application <Symfony\\Bundle\\FrameworkBundle\\Console\\Application>` should be used instead of :class:`Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Application <Symfony\\Component\\Console\\Application>`:

use Symfony\Component\Console\Tester\CommandTester;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Console\Application;
use Acme\DemoBundle\Command\GreetCommand;

class ListCommandTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
{
    public function testExecute()
    {
        // mock the Kernel or create one depending on your needs
        $application = new Application($kernel);
        $application->add(new GreetCommand());

        $command = $application->find('demo:greet');
        $commandTester = new CommandTester($command);
        $commandTester->execute(
            array(
                'command' => $command->getName(),
                'name'    => 'Fabien',
                '--yell'  => true,
            )
        );

        $this->assertRegExp('/.../', $commandTester->getDisplay());

        // ...
    }
}

Note

In the specific case above, the name parameter and the --yell option are not mandatory for the command to work, but are shown so you can see how to customize them when calling the command.

To be able to use the fully set up service container for your console tests you can extend your test from :class:`Symfony\\Bundle\\FrameworkBundle\\Test\\WebTestCase`:

use Symfony\Component\Console\Tester\CommandTester;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Console\Application;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Test\WebTestCase;
use Acme\DemoBundle\Command\GreetCommand;

class ListCommandTest extends WebTestCase
{
    public function testExecute()
    {
        $kernel = $this->createKernel();
        $kernel->boot();

        $application = new Application($kernel);
        $application->add(new GreetCommand());

        $command = $application->find('demo:greet');
        $commandTester = new CommandTester($command);
        $commandTester->execute(
            array(
                'command' => $command->getName(),
                'name'    => 'Fabien',
                '--yell'  => true,
            )
        );

        $this->assertRegExp('/.../', $commandTester->getDisplay());

        // ...
    }
}