Assert an entity exists (or does not) with a Symfony constraint and Doctrine

Requirements

• PHP 8.1+
• Symfony 6.1, 7.x or 8.x (symfony/validator, symfony/dependency-injection)
• Doctrine ORM 2.13+ or 3.x

Installation

You can add this library as a local, per-project dependency to your project using Composer:

composer require k2gl/entity-exist

Configuration

Makes classes in src/ available to be used as services in services.yaml

services:
    K2gl\Component\Validator\Constraint\EntityExist\:
        resource: '../vendor/k2gl/entity-exist/src/'
        arguments: ['@doctrine.orm.entity_manager']
        tags:
            - { name: validator.constraint_validator }

Usage

AssertEntityNotExist

use K2gl\Component\Validator\Constraint\EntityExist\AssertEntityNotExist;

readonly class RegisterUserOrder
{
    public function __construct(
        #[Assert\NotBlank]
        #[Assert\Email]
        #[AssertEntityNotExist(
            entity: User::class,
            property: 'email',
            message: 'User with email "%value%" already registered.'
        )]
        public string $email,
    ) {
    }
}

AssertEntityExist

use K2gl\Component\Validator\Constraint\EntityExist\AssertEntityExist;

readonly class TransferUserToOtherUnitOrder
{
    public function __construct(
        #[Assert\NotBlank]
        #[AssertEntityExist(
            entity: User::class,
            property: 'uuid',
        )]
        public string $user,
        #[Assert\NotBlank]
        #[AssertEntityExist(
            entity: Unit::class,
            property: 'uuid',
        )]
        public string $unit,        
    ) {
    }
}

AssertCompositeEntityExist

A class-level constraint for when fields must reference an existing row as a combination — not each field independently. AssertEntityExist on warehouseId and on companyId separately would pass as long as each ID exists somewhere; it can't tell whether the two belong together.

use K2gl\Component\Validator\Constraint\EntityExist\AssertCompositeEntityExist;

#[AssertCompositeEntityExist(
    entity: WarehouseItem::class,
    fields: ['warehouseId', 'companyId'],
)]
readonly class MoveStockOrder
{
    public function __construct(
        public string $warehouseId,
        public string $companyId,
        public int $quantity,
    ) {
    }
}

The violation is attached to the first field in fields by default; pass errorPath to attach it elsewhere. Validation is skipped if any of the fields is null or an empty string, same as the single-field constraints.

Reads the fields directly off the validated object (public properties, as in the examples above); no extra service wiring needed — the services.yaml snippet above already covers it.

Violation codes

Each constraint declares the violation code it emits as a UUID constant on its own class (AssertEntityExist::NOT_EXIST, AssertEntityNotExist::EXIST, AssertCompositeEntityExist::NOT_EXIST). Reading those at the call site can be awkward — especially AssertEntityNotExist::EXIST, where the class name and the constant negate each other.

For nicer reading in error handling and tests, the same codes are also exposed under neutral names on ViolationCode:

use K2gl\Component\Validator\Constraint\EntityExist\ViolationCode;

foreach ($validator->validate($dto) as $violation) {
    if ($violation->getCode() === ViolationCode::ALREADY_EXIST) {
        // handle "entity already exists" case
    }

    if ($violation->getCode() === ViolationCode::NOT_EXIST) {
        // handle "entity not found" case
    }
}

ViolationCode constants are plain strings that reference the constraint constants — no duplication, no separate source of truth.

Pull requests are always welcome

Collaborate with pull requests