How to proper relate(group) Entities in Symfony and api-platform - symfony

Question

Im getting the error:
Nested documents for attribute "players" are not allowed. Use IRIs instead.
So, I understand that I need to make groups with a serializer.
What im working with; I use symfony 5, doctrine(SQLite) and api-platform.
Im making a game and a game needs players. So when I add a game in the DB I also want to add players. Both have their own entity; Game.php and Player.php (Also both in the entity folder).
For some reason I cant proper link 2 entities, what am i doing wrong?
I use API-platform to execute this json;
{
"active": 0,
"hints": 0,
"players": [
{
"game": 1,
"nickname": "string",
"code": "string"
}
],
"price": "345",
"gameMap": "/api/game_maps/2",
"uidGame": "4",
"teamName": "3",
"secretKey": "fdgfdg",
"startTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45.923Z",
"lastActionOnTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45.923Z",
"endTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45.923Z",
"penaltyTime": "g",
"testGame": 0
}
The Game entity:
<?php
namespace App\Entity;
use App\Repository\GameRepository;
use ApiPlatform\Core\Annotation\ApiResource;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Annotation\Groups;
/**
* #ApiResource(normalizationContext={ "groups": {"boost"} })
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass=GameRepository::class)
*/
class Game
{
/**
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue
* #ORM\Column(type="integer")
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $id;
/**
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity=GameMap::class, inversedBy="games", cascade={"persist"})
* #ORM\JoinColumn(nullable=false)
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $game_map;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
*/
private $uid_game;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
*/
private $team_name;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
*/
private $secret_key;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="datetime")
*/
private $start_time;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="datetime")
*/
private $last_action_on_time;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="smallint")
*/
private $active;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="datetime")
*/
private $end_time;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="integer")
*/
private $hints;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="bigint")
*/
private $penalty_time;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="json")
*/
private $progress = [];
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
*/
private $price;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="smallint")
*/
private $test_game;
/**
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity=Player::class, mappedBy="game", orphanRemoval=true, cascade={"persist"})
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $players;
/**
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity=UserGame::class, mappedBy="game", orphanRemoval=true, cascade={"persist"})
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $userGames;
}
And the Player entity:
<?php
namespace App\Entity;
use App\Repository\PlayerRepository;
use ApiPlatform\Core\Annotation\ApiResource;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Annotation\Groups;
/**
* #ApiResource()
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass=PlayerRepository::class)
*/
class Player
{
/**
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue
* #ORM\Column(type="integer")
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $id;
/**
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity=Game::class, inversedBy="players")
* #ORM\JoinColumn(nullable=false)
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $game;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $nickname;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $code;
}

Answer 1

So, there are two different issues in your case.
Use different normalization and denormalization contexts. Add all needed fields in both Game and Player into the denormalization group:
/**
* #ApiResource(
* normalizationContext={ "groups": {"boost"} },
* denormalizationContext={ "groups": {"write"} }
* )
* #ORM\Entity()
*/
class Game
{
/**
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue
* #ORM\Column(type="integer")
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $id;
...
/**
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity=Player::class, mappedBy="game",
orphanRemoval=true, cascade={"persist"})
* #Groups({"boost", "write"})
*/
private $players;
}
And:
/**
* #ApiResource()
* #ORM\Entity()
*/
class Player
{
/**
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue
* #ORM\Column(type="integer")
*
* #Groups({"boost"})
*/
private $id;
/**
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity=Game::class, inversedBy="players")
* #ORM\JoinColumn(nullable=false)
*/
private $game;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
*
* #Groups({"boost", "write"})
*/
private $nickname;
/**
* #ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
*
* #Groups({"boost", "write"})
*/
private $code;
In your POST /api/games you use game: 1 in body request, in players nested collection. It's bad because you run create game requests actually. How in this case a player can be linked to an already existed game? The relationship between Game and Player is OneToMany. Do you see what I mean?
After these changes and POST /api/games the body
{
"active": 0,
"hints": 0,
"players": [
{
"nickname": "string",
"code": "string"
}
],
"price": "345",
"uidGame": "4",
"teamName": "3",
"secretKey": "fdgfdg",
"startTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45.923Z",
"lastActionOnTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45.923Z",
"endTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45.923Z",
"penaltyTime": "9",
"testGame": 0
}
I got the response on GET /api/games:
[
{
"id": 1,
"uidGame": "4",
"teamName": "3",
"secretKey": "fdgfdg",
"startTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45+00:00",
"lastActionOnTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45+00:00",
"active": 0,
"endTime": "2021-03-11T11:38:45+00:00",
"hints": 0,
"penaltyTime": "9",
"progress": [],
"price": "345",
"testGame": 0,
"players": [
{
"id": 1,
"nickname": "string",
"code": "string"
}
]
}
]
Is it expected for you?