The controller must return a response (Object(AppBundle\\Entity\\User) given) - rest

Question

I got this message "The controller must return a response (Object(App Bundle\Entity\User) given)." when i try to PATCH with postman a user password or username ... please help
BUT the username or password change ... ! i don't know why but that's working just the message is not good ...
My Userscontroller :
use AppBundle\Entity\EntityMerger;
use AppBundle\Entity\User;
use AppBundle\Exception\ResourceValidationException;
use Lexik\Bundle\JWTAuthenticationBundle\Encoder\JWTEncoderInterface;
use Sensio\Bundle\FrameworkExtraBundle\Configuration\ParamConverter;
use Sensio\Bundle\FrameworkExtraBundle\Configuration\Security;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\NotFoundHttpException;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Encoder\UserPasswordEncoderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\ConstraintViolationListInterface;
use FOS\RestBundle\Controller\Annotations as Rest;
/**
* #Security("is_anonymous() or is_authenticated()")
*/
class UsersController extends AbstractController
{
/**
* #var UserPasswordEncoderInterface
*/
private $passwordEncoder;
/**
* #var JWTEncoderInterface
*/
private $jwtEncoder;
/**
* #var EntityMerger
*/
private $entityMerger;
/**
* UsersController constructor.
* #param UserPasswordEncoderInterface $passwordEncoder
* #param JWTEncoderInterface $jwtEncoder
* #param EntityMerger $entityMerger
*/
public function __construct(UserPasswordEncoderInterface $passwordEncoder, JWTEncoderInterface $jwtEncoder, EntityMerger $entityMerger)
{
$this->passwordEncoder = $passwordEncoder;
$this->jwtEncoder = $jwtEncoder;
$this->entityMerger = $entityMerger;
}
/**
* #Rest\View()
* #Security("is_granted('show', theUser)", message="Access denied")
*/
public function getUserAction(?User $theUser)
{
if (null === $theUser) {
throw new NotFoundHttpException();
}
return $theUser;
}
/**
*
* #Rest\Post(
* path = "/users",
* name = "users_add"
* )
* #Rest\View(StatusCode=201)
* #ParamConverter(
* "user",
* converter="fos_rest.request_body",
* options={"deserializationContent"={"groups"={"Deserialize"}}}
* )
*/
public function postUserAction(User $user,
ConstraintViolationListInterface $violations)
{
if (count($violations) > 0) {
$message = 'The user is not valid: ';
foreach ($violations as $violation) {
$message .= sprintf(
"Field %s: %s ",
$violation->getPropertyPath(),
$violation->getMessage()
);
}
throw new ResourceValidationException($message);
}
$this->encodePassword($user);
$user->setRoles([User::ROLE_USER]);
$this->persistUser($user);
return $user;
}
/**
* #Rest\Patch(
* path = "/users/{theUser}",
* name= "patch_user"
* )
* #ParamConverter(
* "modifiedUser",
* converter="fos_rest.request_body",
* options={
* "validator"={"groups"={"Patch"}},
* "deserializationContext"={"groups"={"Deserialize"}}
* }
* )
* #Security("is_granted('edit', theUser)", message="Access Denied")
*/
public function patchUserAction(?User $theUser, User $modifiedUser,
ConstraintViolationListInterface $violations)
{
if (null === $theUser) {
throw new NotFoundHttpException();
}
if (empty($modifiedUser->getPassword())) {
$modifiedUser->setPassword(null);
}
if (count($violations) > 0) {
$message = 'The user is not valid: ';
foreach ($violations as $violation) {
$message .= sprintf(
"Field %s: %s",
$violation->getPropertyPath(),
$violation->getMessage()
);
}
throw new ResourceValidationException($message);
}
$this->entityMerger->merge($theUser, $modifiedUser);
$this->encodePassword($theUser);
$this->persistUser($theUser);
return $theUser;
}
/**
* #param User $user
*/
protected function encodePassword(User $user): void
{
$user->setPassword(
$this->passwordEncoder->encodePassword(
$user,
$user->getPassword()
)
);
}
/**
* #param User $user
*/
protected function persistUser(User $user): void
{
$em = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$em->persist($user);
$em->flush();
}
}
My EntityMerger:
namespace AppBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\Common\Annotations\Reader as AnnotationReader;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Id;
class EntityMerger
{
/**
* #var AnnotationReader
*/
private $annotationReader;
public function __construct(AnnotationReader $annotationReader)
{
$this->annotationReader = $annotationReader;
}
/**
* #param $entity
* #param $changes
*/
public function merge($entity, $changes)
{
$entityClassName = get_class($entity);
if (false === $entityClassName) {
throw new \InvalidArgumentException('$entity is not a class');
}
$changesClassName = get_class($changes);
if (false == $changesClassName) {
throw new \InvalidArgumentException('$entity is not a class');
}
if (!is_a($changes, $entityClassName)) {
throw new \InvalidArgumentException("Cannot merge object of class $changesClassName with object of class $entityClassName");
}
$entityReflection = new \ReflectionObject($entity);
$changesReflection = new \ReflectionObject($changes);
foreach ($changesReflection->getProperties() as $changedProperty) {
$changedProperty->setAccessible(true);
$changedPropertyValue = $changedProperty->getValue($changes);
if(null === $changedPropertyValue) {
continue;
}
if (!$entityReflection->hasProperty($changedProperty->getName())) {
continue;
}
$entityProperty = $entityReflection->getProperty($changedProperty->getName());
$annotation = $this->annotationReader->getPropertyAnnotation($entityProperty, Id::class);
if (null !== $annotation) {
continue;
}
$entityProperty->setAccessible(true);
$entityProperty->setValue($entity, $changedPropertyValue);
}
}
}

Answer 1

The message correctly states that you are not returning a response object.
From the manual, The only requirement for a controller is to return a Response object
If you want to return an object you could return JSON:
return $this->json(['user' => $theUser]);
This is just a guess from your code, because your question does not state what you want to return.