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Loading references with Lookup

Doctrine ODM provides a way to load reference documents from other collections using the #[ReferenceOne] and #[ReferenceMany] annotations. This is perfect to keep independent document updates and avoid data duplication. But sometimes you need to load the referenced documents with the main document in a single query. This is where MongoDB's aggregation pipeline and the $lookup stage come into play.

By default, referenced documents are loaded with a separate query. When you access them. This is called lazy loading. However, when you know you will need the referenced documents, you can use the $lookup stage in MongoDB's aggregation pipeline. It's similar to a SQL join, without duplication of data in the result set when there is many references to load.

Example setup

For this example, we will use 3 collections: - users: contains the users who can pass orders - orders are affected to a user and contain a list of items - items: contains the products

The document classes User and Item contain only an id and a name.

1<?php #[Document] class User { #[Id] public string $id; public function __construct( #[Field(type: 'string')] public string $name, ) { } } #[Document] class Item { #[Id] public string $id; public function __construct( #[Field(type: 'string')] public ?string $name = null, ) { } }
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The Order class has references to one User, a list of Item, an id, and a date.

1#[Document] class Order { #[Id] public string $id; #[Field(type: 'date_immutable')] public DateTimeImmutable $date; /** @var Collection<Item> */ #[ReferenceMany( targetDocument: Item::class, cascade: 'all', storeAs: 'id', )] public Collection $items; #[ReferenceOne( targetDocument: User::class, cascade: 'all', storeAs: 'id', )] public User $user; public function __construct() { $this->date = new DateTimeImmutable(); $this->items = new ArrayCollection(); } }
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In order to make tests, you can import the following documents:

1<?php $items = array_map(function ($name) { $item = new Item($name); $this->dm->persist($item); return $item; }, ['Wheel', 'Gravel bike', 'Handlebars', 'Sattle', 'Pedals']); $user1 = new User('Jacques Anquetil'); $user2 = new User('Eddy Merckx'); $dm->persist($user1); $dm->persist($user2); $order = new Order(); $order->date = new DateTimeImmutable('1982-09-01'); $order->user = $user1; $order->items->add($items[0]); $order->items->add($items[2]); $order->items->add($items[4]); $dm->persist($order); // Empty order $order = new Order(); $order->date = new DateTimeImmutable('1974-07-01'); $order->user = $user1; $dm->persist($order); $order = new Order(); $order->date = new DateTimeImmutable('1965-05-01'); $order->user = $user2; $order->items->add($items[0]); $dm->persist($order); $dm->flush(); $dm->clear();
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If you run a simple query to get all orders, or an aggregation pipeline without stage, you will get the following documents with reference ids for user and items.

1<?php [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('-147398400000'), 'items' => [ MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613') ], 'user' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010619'), ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('141868800000'), 'items' => [], 'user' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061a'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('399686400000'), 'items' => [ MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010617'), MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010615'), ], 'user' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), ] ];
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Embed a list of referenced documents

Now, let's see how to load items with each order using an aggregation pipeline. MongoDB's $lookup stage requires a local field and a foreign field to match documents. In our case, these parameters are extracted automatically from the #[ReferenceMany] mapping. The alias is the name of the field in the resulting document. In this case, we replace the original list of references with a list of Item documents.

1<?php $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(Order::class) ->lookup('items') ->alias('items');
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The result is a list of Order documents, each one containing a list of Item documents.

1<?php [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('-147398400000'), 'items' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), 'name' => 'Wheel', ] ], 'user' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010619'), ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('141868800000'), 'items' => [], 'user' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061a'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('399686400000'), 'items' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010617'), 'name' => 'Pedals', ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), 'name' => 'Wheel', ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010615'), 'name' => 'Handlebars', ] ], 'user' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), ] ];
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Embed a single referenced document

To get the user, you can also use the $lookup stage. It will always return a list of documents. You need to add the $unwind stage to reduce to a single document.

1<?php $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(Order::class) ->lookup('user') ->alias('user') ->unwind('$user');
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1<?php [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('-147398400000'), 'items' => [ MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613') ], 'user' => [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010619'), 'name' => 'Eddy Merckx', ], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('141868800000'), 'items' => [], 'user' => [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), 'name' => 'Jacques Anquetil', ], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061a'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('399686400000'), 'items' => [ MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010617'), MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010615'), ], 'user' => [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), 'name' => 'Jacques Anquetil', ], ] ];
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Combine multiple lookups

Both $lookup stages can be combined in a single pipeline to get the full order document, with user and items.

1<?php $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(Order::class) ->lookup('items') ->alias('items') ->lookup('user') ->alias('user') ->unwind('$user');
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1<?php [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('-147398400000'), 'items' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), 'name' => 'Wheel', ] ], 'user' => [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010619'), 'name' => 'Eddy Merckx', ], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('141868800000'), 'items' => [], 'user' => [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), 'name' => 'Jacques Anquetil', ], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061a'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('399686400000'), 'items' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010617'), 'name' => 'Pedals', ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), 'name' => 'Wheel', ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010615'), 'name' => 'Handlebars', ] ], 'user' => [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), 'name' => 'Jacques Anquetil', ], ] ];
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The result is still an array. You may be tempted to hydrate the result into the Order class, but this will fail because the items and user fields contains embedded documents instead of reference ids as expected by the ReferenceMany and ReferenceOne mappings.

Hydrate the result into a custom class

You need to create a new class to hold the result of the aggregation.

1<?php #[QueryResultDocument] class OrderResult { #[Id] public string $id; #[Field(type: 'date_immutable')] public DateTimeImmutable $date; /** @var Collection<Item> */ #[EmbedMany(targetDocument: Item::class)] public Collection $items; #[EmbedOne(targetDocument: User::class)] public User $user; }
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You don't need to initialize the collections in the constructor, as the QueryResultDocument is only used to hydrate the results from the database and you should never instantiate this class directly.

Now, you can use the AggregationBuilder::hydrate() method to get the result as an array of OrderResult instances.

1<?php $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(Order::class) ->hydrate(OrderResult::class) ->lookup('items') ->alias('items') ->lookup('user') ->alias('user') ->unwind('$user');
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1<?php [ new OrderResult( id: MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), date: DateTimeImmutable('1965-05-01'), items: Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\PersistentCollection([ Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010613', name: 'Wheel', ), ]), user: User( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010619', name: 'Eddy Merckx', ), ), OrderResult( id: MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), date: DateTimeImmutable('1974-07-01'), items: Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\PersistentCollection([]), user: User( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010618', name: 'Jacques Anquetil', ), ), OrderResult( id: MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), date: DateTimeImmutable('1982-09-01'), items: Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\PersistentCollection([ Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010617', name: 'Pedals', ), Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010613', name: 'Wheel', ), Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010615', name: 'Handlebars', ), ]), user: User( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010618', name: 'Jacques Anquetil', ), ) ];
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Perfect, now you know how to load references with the $lookup and hydrate the result into a custom class as embedded documents.

Embed relations from another collection

Let's see how to embed relations in the inverse way: load users with their orders. Remember, it's the order documents that have a reference to the user. We now wish to load the users first and use $lookup to load the list of orders.

Since the User class does not have a reference to the Order class, we need to specify all the parameters of the $lookup stage.

1<?php $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(User::class) ->sort('name', 'asc') ->lookup('Order') ->alias('orders') ->localField('_id') ->foreignField('user');
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You get the list of users, with an additional field orders containing the list of order documents.

1[ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010619'), 'name' => 'Eddy Merckx', 'orders' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), // all other fields ] ], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), 'name' => 'Jacques Anquetil', 'orders' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), // all other fields ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), // all other fields ] ], ] ]
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Embed two levels of references in a single query

It becomes more complex when you want to load the items of each order. You need to $unwind all the orders in separate results, then $lookup the items for each order, and finally $group the orders back to the user.

1<?php $aggregation = $this->dm->createAggregationBuilder(User::class) // Lookup for the orders of the user ->lookup('Order') ->alias('orders') ->localField('_id') ->foreignField('user') // Unwind orders so we can use $lookup on the order items ->unwind('$orders') ->preserveNullAndEmptyArrays(true) // Look up the order's items, replacing the references in the order ->lookup('Item') ->alias('orders.items') ->localField('orders.items') ->foreignField('_id') // Group the orders back by user ->group() ->field('id')->expression('$_id') ->field('root')->first('$$ROOT') ->field('orders')->push('$orders') // Use $mergeObjects to merge all fields from the document with the // order list (with looked up items) ->replaceRoot() ->mergeObjects([ '$root', ['orders' => '$orders'], ]);
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The result contains all the users, with the list of orders, and each order contains the list of items.

1[ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010619'), 'name' => 'Eddy Merckx', 'orders' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('-147398400000'), 'items' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), 'name' => 'Wheel', ] ], ] ], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010618'), 'name' => 'Jacques Anquetil', 'orders' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061b'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('141868800000'), 'items' => [], ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe601061c'), 'date' => MongoDB\BSON\UTCDateTime('399686400000'), 'items' => [ [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010617'), 'name' => 'Pedals', ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010613'), 'name' => 'Wheel', ], [ '_id' => MongoDB\BSON\ObjectId('667b034c75590cbbe6010615'), 'name' => 'Handlebars', ] ], ] ], ] ]
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The last challenge is to hydrate the result into a custom class. You need to create two classes: one for the user UserResult that can embed an order list, and one for the order UserOrderResult that embeds the items list but not the user.

1<?php #[QueryResultDocument] class UserResult { #[Id] public string $id; #[Field(type: 'string')] public string $name; /** @var Collection<UserOrderResult> */ #[EmbedMany(targetDocument: UserOrderResult::class)] public Collection $orders; } #[QueryResultDocument] class UserOrderResult { #[Id] public string $id; #[Field(type: 'date_immutable')] public DateTimeImmutable $date; /** @var Collection<Item> */ #[EmbedMany(targetDocument: Item::class)] public Collection $items; }
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Adding ->hydrate(UserResult::class) to the previous aggregation builder will return the result as an array of UserResult instances.

1[ UserResult( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010619', name: 'Eddy Merckx', orders: [ UserOrderResult( id: '667b034c75590cbbe601061c', date: DateTimeImmutable('1965-05-01'), items: [ Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010613', name: 'Wheel', ), ], ] ], ), UserResult( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010618', name: 'Jacques Anquetil', orders: [ [ id: '667b034c75590cbbe601061b', date: DateTimeImmutable('1974-07-01'), items: [], ], [ id: '667b034c75590cbbe601061c', date: DateTimeImmutable('1982-09-01'), items: [ Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010617', name: 'Pedals', ), Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010613', name: 'Wheel', ), Item( id: '667b034c75590cbbe6010615', name: 'Handlebars', )] ], ] ], ] ]
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That's it! You now know how to embed references with the $lookup stage and hydrate the result into custom classes.