Doctrine 2 Modular App With Entity Replacement - entity-framework

Question

I'm building an application using ZF2 and Doctrine2.
The ideia is to have a base app entity (lets call it UserEntity).
But in one Module A, I will have another UserEntity-like entity that will "upgrade" the base one, with new fields. And another Module B that will add more fields.
Ex:
BaseUserEntity {
protected $id;
// ...
}
ModuleAUserEntity extends BaseUserEntity {
protected moduleAId;
}
ModuleBUserEntity extends BaseUserEntity {
protected moduleBUserName;
}
Is it possible, somehow, to get a method so when I call UserEntity, it will return the full, upgraded-by-module, entity? Ex:
UserEntity {
protected $id;
// ...
protected moduleAId;
protected moduleBUserName;
}
Is there another way to achieve something like this? The possibility to "extension" of an entity?

Answer 1

I have 2 different approaches:
1.First one:
you should take a look at:
http://docs.doctrine-project.org/en/latest/reference/inheritance-mapping.html
thats the legitimate and recommend by doctrine way of doing this.
2. Second one
If you dont want doctrine to mess with the database, you can use a different aproach:
Create an interface that defines the common behavior of all classes
Write your base class, implementing that behavior.
write your child classes, implementing the interface, containing the new methods, and wrapping an instance of the base class
You implement the methods that are defined in the interface, but since they are already implemented in the parent class, you just bypass the call to the wrapped object.
So, you are using composition over inheritance to avoid doctrine (and probably you) to get crazy
In order to have a really clean behavior with doctrine, the database that i imagine is:
a table with the parent entity
a table with the child entity, containing
a foreign key with the id of the related parent entity (this is, the row in the parent table that contains the values asociated to this, since the child has to have the parent and the child fields)
all the extra columns
For instance:
Interface:
namespace DBAL\Entity;
interface IProfesional
{
public function setName($name);
public function getName();
public function getId();
}
Parent class:
namespace DBAL\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use DBAL\Entity\User\IUserAware;
/**
* Profesional
*
* #ORM\Table(name="profesional")
* #ORM\Entity
*/
class Profesional implements IProfesional
{
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=45, nullable=true)
*/
private $name;
/**
* #var integer
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="IDENTITY")
*/
private $id;
/**
* Set nombre
*
* #param string $nombre
* #return Profesional
*/
public function setName($nombre)
{
$this->name = $nombre;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get nombre
*
* #return string
*/
public function getNombre()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* Get id
*
* #return integer
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->id;
}
}
child class:
namespace DBAL\Entity;
use DBAL\Entity\User\IUserAware;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* Jugador
*
* #ORM\Table(name="jugador")
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="DBAL\Repository\JugadorRepository")
*/
class Player implements IProfesional
{
/**
* #var integer
*
* #ORM\Column(name="profesional_id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="IDENTITY")
*/
private $id;
/**
* #var \Profesional
*
* #ORM\OneToOne(targetEntity="Profesional")
* #ORM\JoinColumns({
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="profesional_id", referencedColumnName="id", unique=true)
* })
*/
private $profesional;
/**
* Constructor: you create an empty Profesional,
so you are sure you will never use a reference to an in-existent object.
But anyways, if this is an entity loaded from the database by doctrine,
doctrine will fill that field whith an actual professional from the parent table,
based in the foreign key id
*/
public function __construct()
{
if(!isset($id)){
$this->profesional=new Profesional();
}
}
/**
* Set profesional
*
* #param \Profesional $profesional
* #return Jugador
*/
public function setProfesional( Profesional $profesional = null)
{
$this->profesional = $profesional;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get profesional
*
* #return \Profesional
*/
public function getProfesional()
{
return $this->profesional;
}
/**
* Get id
*
* #return integer
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->profesional->getId();
}
///New fields, for instance:
/**
* #var integer
*
* #ORM\Column(name="height", type="integer", nullable=true)
*/
private $height;
public function getHeight()
{
return $this->height;
}
public function setHeight($h)
{
$this->height=$h;
}
}