Symfony2 doctrine FindOneOrCreate - symfony

Question

With propel we have findOneOrCreate()
Example.
$bookTag = BookTagQuery::create()
->filterByBook($book)
->findOneOrCreate();
In doctrine anywhere in the controller We can do something like that.
...................
$filename='something';
$document_exists = $em->getRepository('DemoBundle:Document')
->findOneBy(array('filename' => $filename));
if (null === $document_exists) {
$document = new Document();
$document->setFilename($filename);
$em->persist($document);
$em->flush();
}
Is there another way to achieve this in Doctrine?
Is it OK to call the Entity Manager inside the Entity Repository?
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Easiest way is to extend the base repository:
// src/Acme/YourBundle/Entity/YourRepository.php
namespace Acme\YourBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;
class YourRepository extends EntityRepository
{
public function findOneOrCreate(array $criteria)
{
$entity = $this->findOneBy($criteria);
if (null === $entity)
{
$entity = new $this->getClassName();
$entity->setTheDataSomehow($criteria);
$this->_em->persist($entity);
$this->_em->flush();
}
return $entity
}
}
Then tell your entity to use this repository or extend in even further for specific entities:
// src/Acme/StoreBundle/Entity/Product.php
namespace Acme\StoreBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="Acme\YourBundle\Entity\YourRepository")
*/
class Product
{
//...
}
and use it in your controller:
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$product = $em->getRepository('AcmeStoreBundle:Product')
->findOrCreate(array('foo' => 'Bar'));
Source: http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/doctrine.html#custom-repository-classes
Just be aware of that flush inside the repository as it would flush all unsaved changes in the EntityManager this way.

Answer 2

Have a look at the constructor of Doctrine\ORM\Repository here.
The EntityManager is mandatory for constructing a repository. The manager can - by default - not be accessed directly from a repository object because the property _em and the getter function getEntityManager are protected.
but ... yes, sure it is "OK" to call the EntityManager via the _em property inside a repository. All the other methods like findBy, ... etc. use it aswell and need the entity-manager to work actually :)
/**
* #var EntityManager
*/
protected $_em;
public function __construct($em, Mapping\ClassMetadata $class)
{
$this->_entityName = $class->name;
$this->_em = $em;
$this->_class = $class;
}
/**
* #return EntityManager
*/
protected function getEntityManager()
{
return $this->_em;
}
You can easily add a findOneOrCreate method to your entity repository or create a generic extended repository including that method.
then you can extend this new base repository whenever you need the method in a concrete entity repository.