Leveraging forms and validation with Symfony

Forms are everywhere and they are key elements for interacting with applications users. Unfortunately, designing forms is a very tedious task. Indeed, forms may contain complex behaviors and business logic to validate data. This talk will explain how to bring the Symfony forms and validation components into PHP applications to ease forms management.

1. Leveraging forms and validation with Symfony. Hugo HAMON – Confoo - Montreal 2013
2. About me… Hugo HAMON Head of training at SensioLabs Book author Speaker at conferences Symfony contributor @hhamon
3. SensioLabs We’re hiring Symfony and PHP top stars.
4. Introduction Forms & Validation
5. Why is form handling complex?
6. Forms Architecture
8. Form engine Core CSRF DI Doctrine Propel Twig PHP Smarty … Zend … Rendering Extensions Foundation
9. Bootstrapping { "require": { "doctrine/common": "2.*", "symfony/form": "2.2.*", "symfony/yaml": "2.2.*", "symfony/http-foundation": "2.2.*", "symfony/validator": "2.2.*", "symfony/config": "2.2.*", "symfony/translation": "2.2.*", "symfony/twig-bridge": "2.2.*" } }
10. use Symfony\Bridge\Twig\Form\TwigRendererEngine; use Symfony\Component\Form\Forms; use Symfony\Bridge\Twig\Extension\FormExtension; use Symfony\Bridge\Twig\Form\TwigRenderer; // Define some constants to the main resources define('VENDOR_DIR', realpath(__DIR__ . '/../vendor')); define('DEFAULT_FORM_THEME', 'form_div_layout.html.twig'); define('VENDOR_TWIG_BRIDGE_DIR', VENDOR_DIR . '/symfony/twig-bridge/Symfony/Bridge/Twig'); define('VIEWS_DIR', realpath(__DIR__ . '/../views')); // Initialize a Twig compatible rendering engine $twig = new Twig_Environment(new Twig_Loader_Filesystem(array( VIEWS_DIR, VENDOR_TWIG_BRIDGE_DIR . '/Resources/views/Form', ))); $formEngine = new TwigRendererEngine(array(DEFAULT_FORM_THEME)); $formEngine->setEnvironment($twig); // Register the Twig Form extension $twig->addExtension(new FormExtension(new TwigRenderer($formEngine))); // Set up the Form component $formFactoryBuilder = Forms::createFormFactoryBuilder(); $formFactory = $formFactoryBuilder->getFormFactory();
11. Forms The Basics
12. Creating a simple form $form = $formFactory ->createBuilder() ->add('name') ->add('bio', 'textarea') ->add('gender', 'choice', array( 'choices' => array( 'm' => 'Male', 'f' => 'Female' ), )) ->getForm();
13. Creating a simple form
14. The form tree form   form bio   textarea name   text gender   choice Field name   Field type  
15. Form handling $name = $form->getName(); if (!empty($_POST[$name])) { $form->bind($_POST[$name]); $data = $form->getData(); print_r($data); }
16. Array mapping $data['name'] $data['bio'] $data['gender']
17. Prepolutation $form->setData(array( 'name' => 'Jane Smith', 'bio' => 'I do great things!', 'gender' => 'f', ));
18. Prepolutation Jane Smith I do great things! Female
19. Forms Core field types
20. Core field types §  Birthday §  Checkbox §  Choice §  Collection* §  Country §  Date §  DateTime §  File §  Hidden §  Integer §  Language §  Locale §  Money §  Number §  Password §  Percent §  Radio §  Repeated* §  Search §  Textarea §  Text §  Time §  Timezone §  Url
21. Native form types Text Choice Password File Form Date Country Language Timezone Birthday DateTime …
22. The repeated type $builder ->add('name') ->add('password', 'repeated', array( 'type' => 'password', 'invalid_message' => 'Passwords are not same.', 'first_options' => array('label' => 'Password'), 'second_options' => array('label' => 'Confirmation'), )) ->add('bio', 'textarea') // [...] ->getForm() ;  
23. The repeated eld is rendered as two same password elds.
24. Forms Rendering
25. Rendering a form // PHP rendering echo $engine->render('profile.php', array( 'form' => $form->createView(), )); // Twig rendering echo $twig->render('profile.twig', array( 'form' => $form->createView(), ));
26. Prototyping (PHP) <form action="#" method="post"> <fieldset> <legend>Your profile</legend> <?php echo $view['form']->widget($form) ?> </fieldset> <div class="form-actions"> <button type="submit">Save changes</button> <button type="button">Cancel</button> </div> </form>
27. Prototyping (Twig) <form action="#" method="post"> <fieldset> <legend>Your profile</legend> {{ form_widget(form) }} </fieldset> <div class="form-actions"> <button type="submit">Save changes</button> <button type="button">Cancel</button> </div> </form>
28. <div> <label for="form_name" class="required">Name</label> <input type="text" id="form_name" name="form[name]" required="required" value="Jane Smith" /> </div> Prototyping
29. // Form rendering <?php echo $view['form']->enctype($form) ?> <?php echo $view['form']->widget($form) ?> <?php echo $view['form']->errors($form) ?> <?php echo $view['form']->rest($form) ?> // Field rendering <?php echo $view['form']->row($form['bio']) ?> <?php echo $view['form']->errors($form['bio']) ?> <?php echo $view['form']->label($form['bio']) ?> <?php echo $view['form']->widget($form['bio'], array( 'attr' => array('class' => 'editor'), )) ?> Piece by piece rendering (PHP)
30. {# General rendering #} {{ form_enctype(form) }} {{ form_widget(form) }} {{ form_errors(form) }} {{ form_rest(form) }} {# Field rendering #} {{ form_row(form.bio) }} {{ form_errors(form.bio) }} {{ form_label(form.bio, 'Biography') }} {{ form_widget(form.bio, { 'attr': { 'class': 'editor' }}) }} Piece by piece rendering (Twig)
31. Forms Object mapping
32. Public properties mapping class Person { public $name; public $password; public $bio; public $gender; }
33. Public properties mapping $person = new Person(); $person->name = 'John Doe'; $person->password = 'S3cR3T$1337'; $person->bio = 'Born in 1970...'; $person->gender = 'm'; $person->active = true; // The form reads & writes // the person object $form->setData($person);
34. Private properties mapping class Person { private $name; // ... function setName($name) { $this->name = $name; } function getName() { return $this->name; } }
35. Private properties mapping class Person { private $active; // ... public function isActive() { return $this->active; } }
36. Private properties mapping $person = new Person(); $person->setName('John Doe'); $person->setPassword('S3cR3T$1337'); $person->setBio('Born in 1970...'); $person->setGender('m'); $person->setActive(true); // The form reads & writes // the person object $form->setData($person);
37. Private properties mapping $form = $formFactory ->createBuilder('form', $person, array( 'data_class' => 'Person', )) // ... ->getForm() ;
38. Forms CSRF Protection
39. Enabling CSRF protection # bootstrap.php // ... use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Csrf\CsrfExtension; use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Csrf\CsrfProvider\DefaultCsrfProvider; use Symfony\Bridge\Twig\Form\TwigRenderer; define('CSRF_SECRET', 'c2ioeEU1n48QF2WsHGWd2HmiuUUT6dxr'); // Set up the CSRF provider $csrfProvider = new DefaultCsrfProvider(CSRF_SECRET); $renderer = new TwigRenderer($formEngine, $csrfProvider); // ... $formFactory = $formFactoryBuilder ->addExtension(new CsrfExtension($csrfProvider)) ->getFormFactory();
40. Enabling CSRF protection <form method="post" action="#"> <fieldset> <legend>Your profile</legend> <div id="form"> <!-- ... fields ... --> <input type="hidden" value="0219d[…]61d69" name="form[_token]"> </div> </fieldset> <div class="form-actions"> <button type="submit">Save changes</button> <button type="button">Cancel</button> </div> </form>
41. Forms Custom form class
42. Creating a custom type use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType; use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface; class PersonType extends AbstractType { public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) { $resolver->setDefaults(array('data_class' => 'Person')); } public function getName() { return 'person'; } }
43. // ... use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilderInterface; class PersonType extends AbstractType { public function buildForm( FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options ) { $builder ->add('name') ->add('password', 'repeated', array(...)) ->add('bio', 'textarea') ->add('gender', 'choice', array(...)) ->add('active', 'checkbox') ; } }
44. Creating a custom type $person = new Person(); $person->setName('John Doe'); // ... $options = array('trim' => true); $form = $formFactory ->create(new PersonType(), $person, $options) ;
45. Register new custom types # in your code... $form = $formFactory->create('person', $person); # bootstrap.php $formFactory = Forms::createFormFactoryBuilder() // [...] ->addType(new PersonType(), 'person') ->getFormFactory() ;
46. Forms File upload
47. Handling file uploads # bootstrap.php // ... use Symfony\…\HttpFoundation\HttpFoundationExtension; $formFactoryBuilder = Forms::createFormFactoryBuilder() $formFactory = $formFactoryBuilder ->addExtension(new HttpFoundationExtension()) // [...] ->getFormFactory() ;
48. Handling file uploads class PersonType extends AbstractType { function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, …) { $builder // […] ->add('picture', 'file', array( 'required' => false, )) ->add('active', 'checkbox') ; } }
49. Rendering the enctype attribute <form {{ form_enctype(form) }} …> <!-- render fields --> </form>
50. Handling the form use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request; $request = Request::createFromGlobals() $request->overrideGlobals(); if ($request->isMethod('post')) { $form->bind($request); var_dump($form->getData()); }
51. Handling the form object(Person) private 'name' => 'John Doe' private 'picture' => object(Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\File\UploadedFile) private 'test' => false private 'originalName' => '445.jpg' private 'mimeType' => 'image/jpeg' private 'size' => 21645 private 'error' => 0 private 'password' => 'secret' private 'bio' => 'Famous actor!' private 'gender' => 'm' private 'active' => true
52. Handling the form $file = $form->get('picture')->getData(); $target = __DIR__. '/uploads'; if ($file->isValid()) { $new = $file->move($target, 'jdoe.jpg'); }
53. Forms Unmapped fields
54. Unmapping fields $builder ->add('rules', 'checkbox', array( 'mapped' => false, )) ;
55. array( 'name' => 'John Doe' 'password' => 'secret' 'bio' => 'Actor!' 'gender' => 'm' 'picture' => null 'active' => true ) Unmapping fields No « rules » data
56. Forms Collections
57. Embedding a fields collection $builder // ... ->add('hobbies', 'collection', array( 'allow_add' => true, 'allow_delete' => true, )) // ... ;
58. Embedding a fields collection $person = new Person(); $person->setName('John Doe'); $person->addHobby('music'); $person->addHobby('movies'); $person->addHobby('travels');
59. Embedding a fields collection
60. Coding conventions class Person { public function addHobby($hobby) { $this->hobbies[] = $hobby; } public function removeHobby($hobby) { $key = array_search($hobby, $this->hobbies); if (false !== $key) { unset($this->hobbies[$key]); } } }
61. Data prototype
62. Forms Embedded forms
63. Embedding a form into another class Address { private $street; private $zipCode; private $city; private $state; private $country; // ... }
64. class AddressType extends AbstractType { public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options) { $builder ->add('street', 'textarea') ->add('zipCode') ->add('city') ->add('state') ->add('country', 'country') ; } public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) { $resolver->setDefaults(array('data_class' => 'Address')); } public function getName() { return 'address'; } }
65. Embedding a form into another class PersonType extends AbstractType { function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, …) { $builder // ... ->add('address', new AddressType()) ; } }
66. Embedding a form into another class PersonType extends AbstractType { function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, …) { $builder // ... ->add('address', 'address') ; } }
67. Embedding a form into another $formBuilder = Forms::createFormFactoryBuilder(); $formFactory = $formBuilder // ... ->addType(new AddressType(), 'address') ->addType(new PersonType(), 'person') ->getFormFactory() ;
68. The form tree form   form bio   textarea name   text …   ... Field   Type   address   Address zipCode   text address   textarea city   text country   country state   text
69. Person Object ( [name] => Hugo Hamon [picture] => [username] => hhamon [password] => secret [address] => Address Object ( [street] => 42 Sunshine Street [zipCode] => 12345 [city] => Miami [state] => Florida [country] => US ) [bio] => Speaker at conference [gender] => m [active] => 1 [hobbies] => Array ( [1] => movies [2] => travels [3] => conferences ) )
70. Forms I18N & L10N
71. $builder ->add('birthdate', 'birthday', array('format' => 'd/M/y')) ->add('salary', 'money', array('currency' => 'EUR')) ->add('language', 'language', array( 'preferred_choices' => array('fr'), ) ->add('country', 'country', array( 'preferred_choices' => array('FR'), ) ->add('timezone', 'timezone', array( 'preferred_choices' => array('Europe/Paris') ) ; Localized fields
72. Locale: fr_FR Locale: en_US
73. Forms Theming
74. {% form_theme form _self %} {% block password_widget %} <div class="input-append"> {{ block('field_widget') }} <span class="add-on"> <i class="icon-lock"></i> </span> </div> {% endblock password_widget %} Changing all password fields
75. {% form_theme form _self %} {% block _person_username_widget %} <div class="input-append"> {{ block('field_widget') }} <span class="add-on"> <i class="icon-user"></i> </span> </div> {% endblock _person_username_widget %} Changing one single field
76. Custom fields rendering
77. Validation The Validator
78. // ... use Symfony\Component\Validator\Validation; use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Validator\ValidatorExtension; $validator = Validation::createValidatorBuilder() ->getValidator() ; $formFactoryBuilder = Forms::createFormFactoryBuilder() $formFactory = $formFactoryBuilder // ... ->addExtension(new ValidatorExtension($validator)) ->getFormFactory() ; Configuring the validator
79. Constraint & Validator For each validation rule, the component ships a Constraint class and its associated Validator class. The Constraint object describes the rule to check and the Validator implementation runs that validation logic.
80. // ... use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\NotBlank as Assert; class PersonType extends AbstractType { public function buildForm(...) { $builder->add('name', 'text', array( 'constraints' => array( new Assert\NotBlank(), new Assert\Length(array('min' => 5, 'max' => 40)), ), )); // ... } } Field constraints mapping
81. $genders = array('m' => 'Male', 'f' => 'Female'); $builder->add('gender', 'choice', array( 'choices' => $genders, 'constraints' => array( new Assert\NotBlank(), new Assert\Choice(array( 'choices' => array_keys($genders), 'message' => 'Alien genders are not supported.', )), ), )); Field constraints mapping
82. Validating the form $request = Request::createFromGlobals(); $request->overrideGlobals(); if ($request->isMethod('POST')) { $form->bind($request); if ($form->isValid()) { $data = $form->getData(); // ... handle sanitized data } }
83. Validating the form
84. Core constraints §  All §  Blank §  Callback §  Choice §  Collection §  Count §  Country §  Date §  DateTime §  Email §  False §  File §  Image §  Ip §  Language §  Length §  Locale §  NotBlank §  NotNull §  Null §  Range §  Regex §  Time §  True §  Type §  Url §  Valid…
85. Validation Configuration formats
86. # bootstrap.php // ... $validator = Validation::createValidatorBuilder() ->addMethodMapping('loadValidatorMetadata') ->addXmlMapping(__DIR__.'/config/validation.xml') ->addYamlMapping(__DIR__.'/config/validation.yml') ->enableAnnotationMapping() ->getValidator() ; Configuring the validator
87. use Symfony\Component\Validator\Mapping\ClassMetadata; use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\NotBlank; use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\Length; class Person { private $name; // ... public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata) { $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('name', new NotBlank()); $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('name', new Length(array( 'min' => 5, 'max' => 40, ))); // ... } } PHP validation mapping
88. # src/config/validation.yml Person: properties: name: - NotBlank: ~ - Length: { 'min': 5, 'max': 40 } # ... getters: # ... constraints: # ... YAML validation mapping
89. <!-- src/config/validation.xml --> <?xml version="1.0" ?> <constraint-mapping ...> <class name="Person"> <property name="name"> <constraint name="NotBlank"/> <constraint name="Length"> <option name="min">5</option> <option name="max">40</option> </constraint> </property> </class> </constraint-mapping> XML validation mapping
90. use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert; class Person { /** * @Assert\NotBlank() * @Assert\Length(min = 5, max = 40) */ private $name; // ... } Annotations validation mapping
91. Validation Adding constraints
92. Property constraints use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\Image; class Person { private $picture; // ... static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata) { $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('picture', new Image(array( 'minWidth' => 100, 'maxWidth' => 150, 'minHeight' => 100, 'maxHeight' => 150, ))); // ... } }
93. class Person { //... static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata) { $metadata->addConstraint(new Unique(array( 'field' => 'username', 'message' => 'This username already exist.', ))); //... } } Class constraints
94. use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints\True; class Person { private $username; private $password; public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata) { $metadata->addGetterConstraint('passwordValid', new True(array( 'message' => 'Password and username cannot be same.', ))); // ... } public function isPasswordValid() { return strtolower($this->username) !== strtolower($this->password); } } Method constraints
95. Method constraints The error message is not mapped to the password eld. It’s a global error…
96. class PersonType extends AbstractType { public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) { $resolver->setDefaults(array( 'data_class' => 'Person', 'error_mapping' => array('passwordValid' => 'password'), )); } } Method constraints
97. Method constraints The error message is now reaffected to the password concrete eld.
98. Validation Translating messages
99. use Symfony\Component\Translation\Translator; use Symfony\Component\Translation\Loader\XliffFileLoader; use Symfony\Bridge\Twig\Extension\TranslationExtension; $t = new Translator('fr'); $t->addLoader('xlf', new XliffFileLoader()); // Built in translations $t->addResource('xlf', FORM_DIR . '/Resources/translations/validators.fr.xlf', 'fr', 'validators'); $t->addResource('xlf', VALIDATOR_DIR . '/Resources/translations/validators.fr.xlf', 'fr', 'validators'); // Your translations $t->addResource('xlf', __DIR__. '/translations/validators.fr.xlf', 'fr', 'validators'); // ... $twig->addExtension(new TranslationExtension($t)); // ... Enabling translations
100. <?xml version="1.0"?> <xliff version="1.2" xmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2"> <file source-language="en" datatype="plaintext" original="file.ext"> <body> <trans-unit id="1"> <source>Password and username cannot be same.</source> <target>Le mot de passe et le nom d'utilisateur doivent être différents.</target> </trans-unit> </body> </file> </xliff> Translating messages
101. Validation Advanced configurations
102. Validation groups class Person { public static function loadValidatorMetadata(ClassMetadata $metadata) { $metadata->addPropertyConstraint('password', new NotBlank(array( 'groups' => array('Signup'), ))); $metadata->addGetterConstraint('passwordValid', new True(array( 'message' => 'Password and username cannot be same.', 'groups' => array('Signup', 'Profile'), ))); // ... } }
103. class RegistrationType extends AbstractType { public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) { $resolver->setDefaults(array( // ... 'validation_groups' => array('Signup'), )); } } class EditAccountType extends AbstractType { public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver) { $resolver->setDefaults(array( // ... 'validation_groups' => array('Profile'), )); } }
104. In the end
105. Official resources §  http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/forms.html §  http://symfony.com/doc/current/reference/forms/types.html §  http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/validation.html §  http://symfony.com/doc/current/reference/constraints.html §  http://symfony.com/doc/current/reference/forms/twig_reference.html §  https://github.com/bschussek/standalone-forms Useful resources
106. Thank you! Hugo Hamon hugo.hamon@sensiolabs.com @hhamon