Using EntityManager on the server

Although Flextrine allows database changes to be executed from the client-side, there are many situations where for reasons of application architecture or security you want to encapsulate these database operations on the PHP side instead. Flextrine provides support for this via Doctrine 2 and the callRemoteFlushMethod.

Flushing on the server

It is very simple to use the Doctrine 2 EntityManager on the server, as long as you follow these rules:

• If you pass entities as arguments to callRemoteFlushMethod they will arrive as DETACHED entities. In almost all cases it is better to pass the entity identifier and then use $this->em->find($id) to retrieve the entity.
• Do not use $this->em->flush(); instead use $this->flush(), and return the result.
• At present you may only ever use a single $this->em->flush() per callRemoteFlushMethod

Here is an example of using callRemoteFlushMethod to create some entities on the server. Note that this example assumes the existence of some setter methods in the Doctor and Patient entities:

em.callRemoteFlushMethod("addPatientToDoctor", 1);

<?php
public function addPatientToDoctor($doctorId) {
  $d1 = $this->em->getRepository('Doctor')->find($doctorId);
  
  $p1 = new Patient();
  $p1->setName("Patient 1");
  
  $p2 = new Patient();
  $p2->setName("Patient 2");

  $p1->setDoctor($d1); $d1->addPatient($p1);
  $p2->setDoctor($d1); $d1->addPatient($p2);

  $this->em->persist($p1);
  $this->em->persist($p2);

  return $this->flush();
}

The result of the callRemoteFlushMethod will be as in you had performed the same operations in AS3; the local Patient EntityRepository will contain the 2 new Patient entities, and the new associations between the Doctors and Patients will be created and maintained. Furthermore the new Patient entities will be MANAGED and automatically watched for changes by Flextrine.

Persisting on the server

<?php
function persistEntity() {
  $d1 = new Doctor();
  $this->em->persist($d1);
  return $this->flush();
}

Persisting new entities in a callRemoteFlushMethod has the following effects on the client:

• The persisted entities are added to the relevant repositories
• The persisted entities become MANAGED

Removing on the server

<?php
function removeEntity() {
  $d1 = $this->em->getRepository('Doctor')->find(1);
  $this->em->remove($d1);
  return $this->flush();
}

Removing an entity in a callRemoteFlushMethod has the following effects on the client:

• If the removed entity is in a repository it is removed
• If the removed entity is not in a repository there is no effect

Updating on the server

<?php
function updateEntity() {
  $d1 = $this->em->getRepository('Doctor')->find(1);
  $d1->setName("A different name");
  return $this->flush();
}

Updating an entity in a callRemoteFlushMethod has the following effects on the client:

• If the updated entity is in a repository it is updated within Flex
• If the updated entity is not in a repository it is added to the appropriate repository

callRemoteFlushMethod will be available from Flextrine 0.9.1 onwards