Converting a Symfony2 PHP entity object for use within Javascript

Question

I'm attempting to open up data from a PHP Object (as shown below) but I'd like to be able to access this data within JavaScript to use in a graphing library.

Object in question:

What I need to be able to do is convert that into a JSON encoded object for use within Javascript.

I tried using twig within Symfony to do this via:

{% set playerStats = match.getStatsPlayers().getValues() }%
{% dump(playerStats) %} // This is what you see above

var playerStats = {{ playerStats|json_encode }};

console.log(playerStats);

The console shows this:

Which is where I'm banging my head against the wall. Where can I access the values of these properties?

As an inefficient way, I've managed to get it into a JavaScript object by doing:

{% for p in playerStats %}
    playerStats.push({ 'id': {{p.playerID}}, 'playerName': '{{p.playerName}}', 'playerOutfit': {{p.playerOutfit}}, 'playerFaction': {{p.playerFaction}}, 'playerKills': {{p.playerKills}}, 'playerDeaths': {{p.playerDeaths}}, 'playerTeamKills': {{p.playerTeamKills}}, 'playerSuicides': {{p.playerSuicides}} });
{% endfor %}

I feel kinda dirty for doing that. There must be a better way to do this surely?

Thanks in advance!

Nico Kaag · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-21 15:42:31Z

8

You can use the Symfony Serializer. http://symfony.com/doc/current/components/serializer.html

You might want to write your own Twig extension to do this from within your template.

Your code will look something like this:

use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\GetSetMethodNormalizer;

$encoders = array(new JsonEncoder());
$normalizers = array(new GetSetMethodNormalizer());

$serializer = new Serializer($normalizers, $encoders);

$jsonContent = $serializer->serialize($object, 'json');

When you put that string into your javascript, you should have a normal JS object where you can find everything you want.

You might want to use the JMSSerializerBundle, as it already has a Twig extension, and is easier to use in general.

https://github.com/schmittjoh/JMSSerializerBundle/blob/master/Resources/doc/index.rst

An update to give a quick overview of what is in the comments.

Both the Symfony Serializer as the JMSSerializerBundle seem to have a hard time coping with Bi-directional relations (most likely Doctrine). This will result in errors like "Out of memory" or something mentioning "Self-referencing" objects / infinite loops.

To solve this, you can ignore the attribute with the Normalizer. Which will look something like:

use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\GetSetMethodNormalizer;

$normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer();
$normalizer->setIgnoredAttributes(array('match')); //Replace match with the parent attribute
$encoder = new JsonEncoder();

$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
$serializer->serialize($object, 'json');

edited Jan 21, 2015 at 15:42

answered Jan 21, 2015 at 13:32

Nico Kaag

1,88612 silver badges12 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

11 Comments

Matt Cavanagh Over a year ago

Thanks for the reply. I tried using the JMSSerializerBundle, using the following: var playerStats2 = {{ match.getStatsPlayers().getValues() | serialize('json') }} console.log(playerStats2); All I get unfortunately is a nginx error saying that the app ran out of memory.

Matt Cavanagh Over a year ago

Also tried using the symfony serializer. Got "A circular reference has been detected (configured limit: 1)." when trying to seralize this:

$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager(); 			$match = $em->getRepository('PSBAdminBundle:Matches')->find($matchID); 			 			$statsPlayers = $match->getStatsPlayers()->getValues();  			$encoders = array(new JsonEncoder()); 			$normalizers = array(new GetSetMethodNormalizer());  			$serializer = new Serializer($normalizers, $encoders);  			$jsonContent = $serializer->serialize($statsPlayers, 'json');

Nico Kaag Over a year ago

What is your ->getValues() actually returning? You might want to ignore entity references to the parent, to see if that solves anything? $normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer(); $normalizer->setIgnoredAttributes(array('match')); Also check the documentation for the setIgnoredAttributes.

Matt Cavanagh Over a year ago

The getValues() returns an ArrayCollection, (puu.sh/eP3QZ/e4289eb0d8.png). Would that change anything?

Nico Kaag Over a year ago

I think it might work when you ignore the 'match' attribute on each StatsPlayer when serializing it. (So you would have to serialize each object on it's own.) It might very well be that the serializer is trying to serialize the match object, which then will try to serialize all the StatsPlayer objects, creating in infinite loop.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Converting a Symfony2 PHP entity object for use within Javascript

1 Answer 1

11 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

11 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related