Symfony API with FOSRestBundle : circular reference has been detected - api

Question

I'm working on a symfony project to build a rest API, I have 4 entities related to each other like that :
I've installed FOSRestBundle to build just a GET web service, when i want to get a resource for example :
http://evaluation.dev/app_dev.php/api/families
I got this error :
message: "A circular reference has been detected (configured
limit:1).",
this is my controller :
<?php
namespace API\APIBundle\Controller;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\Controller;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\JsonResponse;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use FOS\RestBundle\Controller\Annotations as Rest;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\GetSetMethodNormalizer;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Serializer;
class CartographyController extends Controller
{
/**
* #Rest\View()
* #Rest\Get("/posts")
* #param Request $request
* #return Response
*/
public function getPostsAction(Request $request)
{
$encoder = new JsonEncoder();
$normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer();
$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
$posts = $this->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager')
->getRepository('EvalBundle:Post')
->findAll();
return new Response($serializer->serialize($posts, 'json'));
}
/**
* #Rest\View()
* #Rest\Get("/employments")
* #param Request $request
* #return Response
*/
public function geEmploymentAction(Request $request)
{
$encoder = new JsonEncoder();
$normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer();
$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
$employments = $this->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager')
->getRepository('EvalBundle:Employment')
->findAll();
return new Response($serializer->serialize($employments, 'json'));
}
/**
* #Rest\View()
* #Rest\Get("/professions")
* #param Request $request
* #return Response
*/
public function geProfessionsAction(Request $request)
{
$encoder = new JsonEncoder();
$normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer();
$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
$professions = $this->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager')
->getRepository('EvalBundle:Profession')
->findAll();
return new Response($serializer->serialize($professions, 'json')); }
/**
* #Rest\View()
* #Rest\Get("/families")
* #param Request $request
* #return Response
*/
public function geFamiliesAction(Request $request)
{
$encoder = new JsonEncoder();
$normalizer = new GetSetMethodNormalizer();
$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array($encoder));
$families = $this->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager')
->getRepository('EvalBundle:Family')
->findAll();
return new Response($serializer->serialize($families, 'json'));
}
}
Family entity :
<?php
namespace EvalBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use JMS\Serializer\Annotation as JMS;
/**
* Family
*
* #ORM\Table(name="family")
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="EvalBundle\Repository\FamilyRepository")
*/
class Family
{
/**
* #var int
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255, unique=true)
*/
private $name;
/**
* One Family has Many Professions.
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Profession", mappedBy="family",orphanRemoval=true,cascade={"persist", "remove"},fetch="EAGER")
*/
protected $professions;
/**
* Get id
*
* #return int
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->id;
}
/**
* Set name
*
* #param string $name
*
* #return Family
*/
public function setName($name)
{
$this->name = $name;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get name
*
* #return string
*/
public function getName()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getProfessions()
{
return $this->professions;
}
/**
* #param mixed $professions
*/
public function setProfessions($professions)
{
$this->professions = $professions;
}
public function __toString() {
return $this->name;
}
}
Profession entity :
<?php
namespace EvalBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* Profession
*
* #ORM\Table(name="profession")
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="EvalBundle\Repository\ProfessionRepository")
*/
class Profession
{
/**
* #var int
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255, unique=true)
*/
private $name;
/**
* Many professions have One Family.
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Family", inversedBy="professions",cascade={"persist", "remove"})
*/
public $family;
/**
* One Profession has Many Employment.
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Employment", mappedBy="profession",cascade={"persist", "remove"}, orphanRemoval=true,fetch="EAGER")
*/
private $employments;
/**
* Get id
*
* #return int
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->id;
}
/**
* Set name
*
* #param string $name
*
* #return Profession
*/
public function setName($name)
{
$this->name = $name;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get name
*
* #return string
*/
public function getName()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getEmployments()
{
return $this->employments;
}
/**
* #param mixed $employments
*/
public function setEmployments($employments)
{
$this->employments = $employments;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getFamily()
{
return $this->family;
}
/**
* #param mixed $family
*/
public function setFamily($family)
{
$this->family = $family;
}
public function __toString() {
return $this->name;
}
}
Post entity
<?php
namespace EvalBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* Post
*
* #ORM\Table(name="post")
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="EvalBundle\Repository\PostRepository")
*/
class Post
{
/**
* #var int
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255, unique=true)
*/
private $name;
/**
* Many Posts have One Employment.
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Employment", inversedBy="posts", fetch="EAGER")
* #ORM\JoinColumn(name="employment_id", referencedColumnName="id",nullable=false)
*/
public $employment;
/**
* One Post has Many LevelRequired.
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="RequiredLevel", mappedBy="post")
*/
private $requiredLevels;
/**
* One Post has Many PostEvaluation.
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="PostEvaluation", mappedBy="post")
*/
private $postEvaluations;
/**
* Get id
*
* #return int
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->id;
}
/**
* Set name
*
* #param string $name
*
* #return Post
*/
public function setName($name)
{
$this->name = $name;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get name
*
* #return string
*/
public function getName()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getEmployment()
{
return $this->employment;
}
public function getProfession(){
return $this->employment->profession;
}
public function getFamily(){
return $this->employment->profession->family;
}
/**
* #param mixed $employment
*/
public function setEmployment($employment)
{
$this->employment = $employment;
}
public function __toString() {
return $this->name;
}
}
employment entity
<?php
namespace EvalBundle\Entity;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
/**
* Employment
*
* #ORM\Table(name="employment")
* #ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="EvalBundle\Repository\EmploymentRepository")
*/
class Employment
{
/**
* #var int
*
* #ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* #ORM\Id
* #ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;
/**
* #var string
*
* #ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=255, unique=true)
*/
private $name;
/**
* Many Employments have One Profession.
* #ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Profession", inversedBy="employments",fetch="EAGER")
*/
public $profession;
/**
* One Employment has Many post.
* #ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Post", mappedBy="employment",cascade={"persist", "remove"}, orphanRemoval=true,cascade={"persist", "remove"})
*/
private $posts;
/**
* One Employment has One Grid.
* #ORM\OneToOne(targetEntity="Grid", mappedBy="employment")
*/
private $grid;
/**
* Get id
*
* #return int
*/
public function getId()
{
return $this->id;
}
/**
* Set name
*
* #param string $name
*
* #return Employment
*/
public function setName($name)
{
$this->name = $name;
return $this;
}
/**
* Get name
*
* #return string
*/
public function getName()
{
return $this->name;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getProfession()
{
return $this->profession;
}
/**
* #param mixed $profession
*/
public function setProfession($profession)
{
$this->profession = $profession;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getPosts()
{
return $this->posts;
}
/**
* #param mixed $posts
*/
public function setPosts($posts)
{
$this->posts = $posts;
}
/**
* #return mixed
*/
public function getGrid()
{
return $this->grid;
}
/**
* #param mixed $grid
*/
public function setGrid($grid)
{
$this->grid = $grid;
}
public function __toString() {
return $this->name;
}
}
any solution please ?

Answer 1

For you example, you can avoid the CircularReference like this
$normalizer = new ObjectNormalizer();
$normalizer->setCircularReferenceLimit(1);
$normalizer->setCircularReferenceHandler(function ($object) {
return $object->getName();
});
$serializer = new Serializer(array($normalizer), array(new JsonEncoder()));
var_dump($serializer->serialize($org, 'json'));
But in your example, you don't use the FOSRestBundle for the view in your controller. The FOSRestController give you a handleView() and a view() method. Like this
class CartographyController extends FOSRestController
{
public function getPostsAction(Request $request)
{
$posts = $this->get('doctrine.orm.entity_manager')
->getRepository('EvalBundle:Post')
->findAll();
$view = $this->view($posts, 200);
return $this->handleView($view);
}
In this case, the serialiser is a service, this service is activated in config.yml :
In your app/config/config.yml
framework:
serializer: { enabled: true }
In order to avoid circularReference, you can do this.
In your app/config/services.yml
circular_reference_handler:
public: false
class: callback
factory: [AppBundle\Serializer\CircularHandlerFactory, getId]
serializer.normalizer.object:
class: Symfony\Component\Serializer\Normalizer\ObjectNormalizer
arguments: ["#serializer.mapping.class_metadata_factory", null, "#serializer.property_accessor"]
public: false
tags: [serializer.normalizer]
calls:
- method: setCircularReferenceLimit
arguments: [1]
- method: setCircularReferenceHandler
arguments: ["#circular_reference_handler"]
The factory can be like this:
namespace AppBundle\Serializer;
class CircularHandlerFactory
{
/**
* #return \Closure
*/
public static function getId()
{
return function ($object) {
return $object->getId();
};
}
}
Another idea is to use the GROUPS for the serializer. There is an annotation given by FosRestBundle :
#Rest\View(serializerGroups={"user"})
More information here:
https://symfony.com/doc/current/serializer.html#using-serialization-groups-annotations
Symfony2, FOSRestBundle. How to use group with JMSSerializerBundle?