Symfony2 forms - Setting several fields using one method - symfony

Question

Let's say that I have an entity.
This entity has two field that should be changed only through one function, because of domain logic
How could I make the form framework to set the values using one method call.
What I've read about data transformers, lead me to the impression that it can not be used to this propose.
Next is form events, this are the available events
PRE_BIND
BIND
POST_BIND
PRE_SET_DATA
POST_SET_DATA
BIND_CLIENT_DATA
BIND_NORM_DATA
SET_DATA
but the documentation about this is very scarce.
This is a sample entity
<?php
namespace X3\TestBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* Test
*
* #ORM\Table()
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="X3\TestBundle\Entity\TestRepository")
*/
class Test
{
/**
* #var integer
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255)
*/
private $name;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="firstValue", type="string", length=255)
*/
private $firstValue;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="secondValue", type="string", length=255)
*/
private $secondValue;
/**
* Get id
*
* #return integer
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->id;
}
/**
* Set name
*
* #param string $name
* #return Test
*/
public function setName($name)
{
$this->name = $name;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get name
*
* #return string
*/
public function getName()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* Set firstValue
*
* #param string $firstValue
* #return Test
*/
protected function setFirstValue($firstValue)
{
$this->firstValue = $firstValue;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get firstValue
*
* #return string
*/
public function getFirstValue()
{
return $this->firstValue;
}
/**
* Set secondValue
*
* #param string $secondValue
* #return Test
*/
protected function setSecondValue($secondValue)
{
$this->secondValue = $secondValue;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get secondValue
*
* #return string
*/
public function getSecondValue()
{
return $this->secondValue;
}
//
// The objective here is that the form use this function
// to set the two values in one call
//
protected function setValues($firstValue, $secondValue)
{
$this->firstValue = $firstValue;
$this->secondValue = $secondValue;
return $this;
}
}
Do note that setFirstValue($firstValue) and setSecondValue($secondValue) are protected, the values should be set using the method setValues($firstValue, $secondValue)
Is there an event I can use, to retrieve the firstValue and secondValue and set it using setValues($firstValue, $secondValue) and avoid the form component to complain about Method "setFirstValue()" is not public in class...?
Some code or link to it, would be a bonus.

Answer 1

Extending the form framework would not be easy, even if using some of form events.
One possible solution would be simply create values property in the entity which isn't mapped to any database field, and its setter and getter. Then the setValues function can do whatever needed to set firstValue and secondValue.

Answer 2

You may want to use DataTransformer. It allows you to control the transformation of data in both directions. Anyway you need to add values field to form, that will transformed to two fields and saved as one field.