Symfony 1.4 Forms: Include Data from Relation to Form

Question

I have the following sample schema of 2 models OrderDetail and Item, many-to-one relationship:

OrderDetail:
  columns:
    invoice_id: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    item_id: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    quantity: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    transaction_price: { type: integer }
    currency: { type: string(50), default: peso }
  relations:
    Invoice: { type: one, local: invoice_id, foreign: invoice_id }
    Item: { type: one, local: item_id , foreign: item_id }
  indexes:
    invoice_to_item:
      fields: [item_id, invoice_id]
      type: unique

Item:
  actAs: { Timestampable: ~, SoftDelete: ~ }
  columns:
    item_id: { type: integer, autoincrement: true, primary: true }
    item_name: { type: string(100), notnull: true }
    description: { type: text, notnull: true }
    part_number: { type: string(50) }
    size: { type: string(50) }
    unit: { type: string(10) }
    in_stock: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    in_transit: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    released: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    borrowed: { type: integer, notnull: true }
    borrower_name: { type: string }
    item_type_id: { type: integer, notnull: true }
  relations:
    OrderDetails: { type: many, class: OrderDetail, local: item_id, foreign: item_id }
    Prices: { type: many, class: Price, local: item_id, foreign: item_id }

In my form, I want to include information from the Item table such as item_name and in_stock. What I simply want to do is that I want to display data from the Item table that is related to my form. I want to include this information in my form object for clarity and organization. I want to be able to do something like this in my form:

echo $form[$number]['Item']['part_number']->getValue()
// where $number is the index of the OrderDetail in the form and key 'Item' contains data for the Item related to this OrderDetail.

I tried embedding the Item relation in the OrderDetail such as:

class OrderDetailForm extends BaseOrderDetailForm {

    public function configure() {
        // some config here...

        $this->embedRelation('Item');
    }
}

The problem with this is when I save the form, the Item object is being validated and saved as well. I simply am using that information for display purposes. Here is a rough sample of how I want the form to be and what I wish to do:

OrderDetail: 1
Item: Headset
In Stock: 5pcs
Quantity: [input field here that can be changed by the user]

If there is anything unclear, please let me know. Also, if you can suggest a better approach, I'd really appreciate it.

Answer 1

If the OrderDetailForms are embedded inside the InvoiceForm and you want to access the Item object from these. Then I'd suggest you use something like this in your template:

// apps\myApp\modules\myModule\templates\editSuccess.php
$orderDetailForms = $invoiceForm->getEmbeddedForms();

foreach ($orderDetailForms as $key => $form) {
    $item = $form->getObject()->getItem();

    echo 'Item name: ' . $item->getItemName() . '<br />';
    echo 'In stock: ' . $item->getInStock() . '<br />';
    echo $form;
}

The thing to do here, is make sure your Item object is retrieved along with the OrderDetail objects when you do your query. Because that line ($form->getObject()->getItem()) would effectively perform a database query each time.