Collection.rst

Collection

Validates array entries against different constraints.

- Collection:
    fields:
        key1:
            - NotNull: ~
        key2:
            - MinLength: 10

Options

• fields (required): An associative array of array keys and one or more constraints
• allowMissingFields: Whether some of the keys may not be present in the array. Default: false
• allowExtraFields: Whether the array may contain keys not present in the fields option. Default: false
• missingFieldsMessage: The error message if the allowMissingFields validation fails
• allowExtraFields: The error message if the allowExtraFields validation fails

Example:

Let's validate an array with two indexes firstName and lastName. The value of firstName must not be blank, while the value of lastName must not be blank with a minimum length of four characters. Furthermore, both keys may not exist in the array.

.. configuration-block::

    .. code-block:: yaml

        # src/Acme/HelloBundle/Resources/config/validation.yml
        Acme\HelloBundle\Author:
            properties:
                options:
                    - Collection:
                        fields:
                            firstName:
                                - NotBlank: ~
                            lastName:
                                - NotBlank: ~
                                - MinLength: 4
                        allowMissingFields: true

    .. code-block:: xml

        <!-- src/Acme/HelloBundle/Resources/config/validation.xml -->
        <class name="Acme\HelloBundle\Author">
            <property name="options">
                <constraint name="Collection">
                    <option name="fields">
                        <value key="firstName">
                            <constraint name="NotNull" />
                        </value>
                        <value key="lastName">
                            <constraint name="NotNull" />
                            <constraint name="MinLength">4</constraint>
                        </value>
                    </option>
                    <option name="allowMissingFields">true</option>
                </constraint>
            </property>
        </class>

    .. code-block:: php-annotations

        // src/Acme/HelloBundle/Author.php
        use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

        class Author
        {
            /**
             * @Assert\Collection(
             *   fields = {
             *     "firstName" = @Assert\NotNull(),
             *     "lastName" = { @Assert\NotBlank(), @Assert\MinLength(4) }
             *   },
             *   allowMissingFields = true
             * )
             */
            private $options = array();
        }

    .. code-block:: php

        // src/Acme/HelloBundle/Author.php
        use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata;
        use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\Collection;
        use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\NotNull;
        use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\NotBlank;
        use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\MinLength;

        class Author
        {
            private $options = array();

            public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata)
            {
                $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('options', new Collection(array(
                    'fields' => array(
                        'firstName' => new NotNull(),
                        'lastName' => array(new NotBlank(), new MinLength(4)),
                    ),
                    'allowMissingFields' => true,
                )));
            }
        }

The following object would fail the validation.

$author = new Author();
$author->options['firstName'] = null;
$author->options['lastName'] = 'foo';

print $validator->validate($author);

You should see the following error messages:

Acme\HelloBundle\Author.options[firstName]:
    This value should not be null
Acme\HelloBundle\Author.options[lastName]:
    This value is too short. It should have 4 characters or more