PHP find variable type from property through annotation

Question

I'm developing a web application with Symfony 3 from an existing project for over 8 years. Therefore I inherit an existing model.

Some entities have this field

/**
 * @var integer
 *
 * @ORM\Column(name="FourID_Site", type="bigint", nullable=true)
 */
private $fouridSite;

And some other have

/**
 * @var \FourListe
 *
 * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="FourListe")
 * @ORM\JoinColumns({
 *   @ORM\JoinColumn(name="FourID_Site", referencedColumnName="FourID")
 * })
 */
private $fouridSite;

I have a method which is called before all persist and flush doctrine method for update automatically some fields.

    if (property_exists(get_class($entity), 'fouridSite')) {
        $entity->setFouridSite($this->current_user->getFouridSiteutilisateur());
    }
    if (property_exists(get_class($entity), 'majlogin')) {
        $entity->setMajlogin($this->current_user->getLogin());
    }
    if (property_exists(get_class($entity), 'majdate')) {
        $entity->setMajdate(new \DateTime());
    }

Issue : This code throw an error when $fouridSite is an integer because I can't assign an entity ($this->current_user->getFouridSiteutilisateur() return a FourListe entity) when doctrine want an integer. And it is normal.

The native php method get type() can't be used in this case because it return NULL.

https://php.net/gettype

So, there is a way maybe, through annotation, to know if $fourisSite will be an entity or an integer ?

Thanks for ideas or potentials any suggestions?

Answer 1

Depending on where your update hook is located, you can use this to know the type of your column:

$em = $this->get('doctrine')->getManager();
$metadata = $em->getClassMetadata(get_class($entity));
$fieldMetadata = $metadata->fieldMappings['fouridSite'];

// Catch the type
$fieldType = $fieldMetadata['type'];

Then add some checks on this type to register the good value.
Hope you can access the doctrine service from your method.