Editing Symfony Forms Cookbook (section)

== Handling form submissions ==

In the controller, the form object translates user data submitted with the form.<ref>[http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/forms.html#handling-form-submissions Handling Form Submissions], Symfony forms documentation</ref>

<syntaxhighlight lang="php" highlight="12,14,16">
public function newAction(Request $request)
{
    // just setup a fresh $task object (remove the dummy data)
    $task = new Task();

    $form = $this->createFormBuilder($task)
        ->add('task', 'text')
        ->add('dueDate', 'date')
        ->add('save', 'submit', array('label' => 'Create Task'))
        ->getForm();

    $form->handleRequest($request);

    if ($form->isValid()) {

        // perform some action, such as saving the task to the database

        return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl('task_success'));
    }

    // ...
}
</syntaxhighlight>

# When the page is first loaded, the form is created and rendered. 
## `handleRequest()` recognizes that the form was not submitted and does nothing.
## `isValid()` returns `false` if the form was not submitted.
# When the form is submitted, `handleRequest()` translates the data 
## `handleRequest()` updates the corresponding properties of the entity object (`$task` in this case) with the form data.
## `isValid()` returns `false` if the form data isn't valid.
### Execution skips that block where the data would be processed, and instead goes to the original view, which is rendered with the submitted form data and error messages.

=== Multiple submit buttons ===

Add the buttons to the form builder in the controller:<ref>[http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/forms.html#submitting-forms-with-multiple-buttons Submitting Forms With Multiple Buttons], Symfony forms documentation</ref>

<syntaxhighlight lang="php" highlight="4-5">
$form = $this->createFormBuilder($task)
    ->add('task', 'text')
    ->add('dueDate', 'date')
    ->add('save', 'submit', array('label' => 'Create Task'))
    ->add('saveAndAdd', 'submit', array('label' => 'Save and Add'))
    ->getForm();
</syntaxhighlight>

Test which button was clicked in the controller using the button's `isClicked()` method:

<syntaxhighlight lang="php" highlight="4-6">
if ($form->isValid()) {
    // ... perform some action, such as saving the task to the database

    $nextAction = $form->get('saveAndAdd')->isClicked()
        ? 'task_new'
        : 'task_success';

    return $this->redirect($this->generateUrl($nextAction));
}
</syntaxhighlight>

=== Form validation ===

With Symfony, it isn't the form that is validated, rather it is the entity object that is tested to confirm that it contains valid data. This is does by defining a set of rules, or constraints, for the entity class.<ref>[http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/forms.html#form-validation Form Validation], Symfony forms documentation</ref>

<syntaxhighlight lang="yaml">
# AppBundle/Resources/config/validation.yml
AppBundle\Entity\Task:
    properties:
        task:
            - NotBlank: ~
        dueDate:
            - NotBlank: ~
            - Type: \DateTime
</syntaxhighlight>

The above configuration specifies that the `task` field cannot be empty and the `dueDate` field cannot be empty and must be a valid DateTime object.

==== Validation groups ====

Different groups can be defined to validate the underlying object, either in the controller:

<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
$form = $this->createFormBuilder($users, array(
    'validation_groups' => array('registration'),
))->add(...);
</syntaxhighlight>

Or in a form class:

<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;

public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
    $resolver->setDefaults(array(
        'validation_groups' => array('registration'),
    ));
}
</syntaxhighlight>

==== Disabling validation ====

Set the `validation_groups` option to `false`:

<syntaxhighlight lang="php">
public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
    $resolver->setDefaults(array(
        'validation_groups' => false,
    ));
}
</syntaxhighlight>