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Attributes Reference

PHP 8 adds native support for metadata with its "Attributes" feature. Doctrine ORM provides support for mapping metadata using PHP attributes as of version 2.9.

The attributes metadata support is closely modelled after the already existing annotation metadata supported since the first version 2.0.

Reference

#[Column]

Marks an annotated instance variable as "persistent". It has to be inside the instance variables PHP DocBlock comment. Any value hold inside this variable will be saved to and loaded from the database as part of the lifecycle of the instance variables entity-class.

Required parameters:

  • type: Name of the DBAL Type which does the conversion between PHP and Database representation.

Optional parameters:

  • name: By default the property name is used for the database column name also, however the name attribute allows you to determine the column name.
  • length: Used by the string type to determine its maximum length in the database. Doctrine does not validate the length of a string value for you.
  • precision: The precision for a decimal (exact numeric) column (applies only for decimal column), which is the maximum number of digits that are stored for the values.
  • scale: The scale for a decimal (exact numeric) column (applies only for decimal column), which represents the number of digits to the right of the decimal point and must not be greater than precision.
  • unique: Boolean value to determine if the value of the column should be unique across all rows of the underlying entities table.
  • nullable: Determines if NULL values allowed for this column.
    If not specified, default value is false.
  • options: Array of additional options:

    • default: The default value to set for the column if no value is supplied.
    • unsigned: Boolean value to determine if the column should be capable of representing only non-negative integers (applies only for integer column and might not be supported by all vendors).
    • fixed: Boolean value to determine if the specified length of a string column should be fixed or varying (applies only for string/binary column and might not be supported by all vendors).
    • comment: The comment of the column in the schema (might not be supported by all vendors).
    • collation: The collation of the column (only supported by Mysql, PostgreSQL, Sqlite and SQLServer).
    • check: Adds a check constraint type to the column (might not be supported by all vendors).
  • columnDefinition: DDL SQL snippet that starts after the column name and specifies the complete (non-portable!) column definition. This attribute allows to make use of advanced RMDBS features. However you should make careful use of this feature and the consequences. SchemaTool will not detect changes on the column correctly anymore if you use columnDefinition.

    Additionally you should remember that the type attribute still handles the conversion between PHP and Database values. If you use this attribute on a column that is used for joins between tables you should also take a look at #[JoinColumn].

For more detailed information on each attribute, please refer to the DBAL Schema-Representation documentation.

Examples:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Column; #[Column(type: "string", length: 32, unique: true, nullable: false)] protected $username; #[Column(type: "string", columnDefinition: "CHAR(2) NOT NULL")] protected $country; #[Column(type: "decimal", precision: 2, scale: 1)] protected $height; #[Column(type: "string", length: 2, options: [ "fixed" => true, "comment" => "Initial letters of first and last name" ])] protected $initials; #[Column( type: "integer", name: "login_count", nullable: false, options: ["unsigned" => true, "default" => 0] )] protected $loginCount;
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#[Cache]

Add caching strategy to a root entity or a collection.

Optional parameters:

  • usage: One of READ_ONLY, READ_WRITE or NONSTRICT_READ_WRITE, By default this is READ_ONLY.
  • region: An specific region name

#[ChangeTrackingPolicy]

The Change Tracking Policy attribute allows to specify how the Doctrine ORM UnitOfWork should detect changes in properties of entities during flush. By default each entity is checked according to a deferred implicit strategy, which means upon flush UnitOfWork compares all the properties of an entity to a previously stored snapshot. This works out of the box, however you might want to tweak the flush performance where using another change tracking policy is an interesting option.

The details on all the available change tracking policies can be found in the configuration section.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ChangeTrackingPolicy; #[ Entity, ChangeTrackingPolicy("DEFERRED_IMPLICIT"), ChangeTrackingPolicy("DEFERRED_EXPLICIT"), ChangeTrackingPolicy("NOTIFY") ] class User {}
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#[CustomIdGenerator]

This attribute allows you to specify a user-provided class to generate identifiers. This attribute only works when both #[Id] and #[GeneratedValue(strategy: "CUSTOM")] are specified.

Required parameters:

  • class: name of the class which should extend DoctrineORMIdAbstractIdGenerator

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Id; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Column; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\GeneratedValue; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\CustomIdGenerator; use App\Doctrine\MyIdGenerator; #[Id] #[Column(type: "integer")] #[GeneratedValue(strategy: "CUSTOM")] #[CustomIdGenerator(class: MyIdGenerator::class)] public $id;
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#[DiscriminatorColumn]

This attribute is optional and set on the root entity class of an inheritance hierarchy. It specifies the details of the column which saves the name of the class, which the entity is actually instantiated as.

If this attribute is not specified, the discriminator column defaults to a string column of length 255 called dtype.

Required parameters:

  • name: The column name of the discriminator. This name is also used during Array hydration as key to specify the class-name.

Optional parameters:

  • type: By default this is string.
  • length: By default this is 255.

#[DiscriminatorMap]

The discriminator map is a required attribute on the root entity class in an inheritance hierarchy. Its only argument is an array which defines which class should be saved under which name in the database. Keys are the database value and values are the classes, either as fully- or as unqualified class names depending on whether the classes are in the namespace or not.

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\InheritanceType; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\DiscriminatorColumn; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\DiscriminatorMap; #[Entity] #[InheritanceType("JOINED")] #[DiscriminatorColumn(name: "discr", type: "string")] #[DiscriminatorMap(["person" => Person::class, "employee" => Employee::class])] class Person { // ... }
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#[Embeddable]

The embeddable attribute is required on a class, in order to make it embeddable inside an entity. It works together with the #[Embedded] attribute to establish the relationship between the two classes.

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Embeddable; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Embedded; #[Embeddable] class Address { /* .. */ } class User { #[Embedded(class: Address::class)] private $address;
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#[Embedded]

The embedded attribute is required on an entity's member variable, in order to specify that it is an embedded class.

Required parameters:

  • class: The embeddable class

#[Entity]

Required attribute to mark a PHP class as an entity. Doctrine manages the persistence of all classes marked as entities.

Optional parameters:

  • repositoryClass: Specifies the FQCN of a subclass of the EntityRepository. Use of repositories for entities is encouraged to keep specialized DQL and SQL operations separated from the Model/Domain Layer.
  • readOnly: Specifies that this entity is marked as read only and not considered for change-tracking. Entities of this type can be persisted and removed though.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use MyProject\Repository\UserRepository; #[Entity(repositoryClass: UserRepository::class, readOnly: false)] class User { // ... }
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#[GeneratedValue]

Specifies which strategy is used for identifier generation for an instance variable which is annotated by #[Id]. This attribute is optional and only has meaning when used in conjunction with #[Id].

If this attribute is not specified with #[Id] the NONE strategy is used as default.

Optional parameters:

  • strategy: Set the name of the identifier generation strategy. Valid values are AUTO, SEQUENCE, IDENTITY, UUID (deprecated), CUSTOM and NONE. If not specified, the default value is AUTO.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Column; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\GeneratedValue; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Id; #[Id, Column(type: "integer"), GeneratedValue(strategy: "IDENTITY")] protected $id = null;
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#[HasLifecycleCallbacks]

This attribute has to be set on the entity-class to notify Doctrine that this entity has entity lifecycle callback attributes set on at least one of its methods. Using #[PostLoad], #[PrePersist], #[PostPersist], #[PreRemove], #[PostRemove], #[PreUpdate] or #[PostUpdate] without this marker attribute will make Doctrine ignore the callbacks.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\HasLifecycleCallbacks; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\PostPersist; #[Entity, HasLifecycleCallbacks] class User { #[PostPersist] public function sendOptinMail() {} }
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#[Index]

Attribute is used on the entity-class level. It provides a hint to the SchemaTool to generate a database index on the specified table columns. It only has meaning in the SchemaTool schema generation context.

Required parameters:

  • name: Name of the Index
  • fields: Array of fields. Exactly one of fields, columns is required.
  • columns: Array of columns. Exactly one of fields, columns is required.

Optional parameters:

  • options: Array of platform specific options:

    • where: SQL WHERE condition to be used for partial indexes. It will only have effect on supported platforms.

Basic example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Index; #[Entity] #[Index(name: "category_idx", columns: ["category"])] #[Index(name: "brand_idx", fields: ["brand"])] class ECommerceProduct { }
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Example with partial indexes:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Index; #[Index(name: "search_idx", columns: {"category"}, options: [ "where": "((category IS NOT NULL))" ] )] class ECommerceProduct { }
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#[Id]

The annotated instance variable will be marked as entity identifier, the primary key in the database. This attribute is a marker only and has no required or optional attributes. For entities that have multiple identifier columns each column has to be marked with #[Id].

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Column; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Id; #[Id, Column(type: "integer")] protected $id = null;
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#[InheritanceType]

In an inheritance hierarchy you have to use this attribute on the topmost/super class to define which strategy should be used for inheritance. Currently Single Table and Class Table Inheritance are supported.

This attribute has always been used in conjunction with the #[DiscriminatorMap] and #[DiscriminatorColumn] attributes.

Examples:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\InheritanceType; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\DiscriminatorColumn; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\DiscriminatorMap; #[Entity] #[InheritanceType("SINGLE_TABLE")] #[DiscriminatorColumn(name: "discr", type: "string")] #[DiscriminatorMap({"person" = "Person", "employee" = "Employee"})] class Person { // ... } #[Entity] #[InheritanceType("JOINED")] #[DiscriminatorColumn(name: "discr", type: "string")] #[DiscriminatorMap({"person" = "Person", "employee" = "Employee"})] class Person { // ... }
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#[JoinColumn], #[InverseJoinColumn]

This attribute is used in the context of relations in #[ManyToOne], #[OneToOne] fields and in the Context of a #[ManyToMany]. If this attribute or both name and referencedColumnName are missing they will be computed considering the field's name and the current naming strategy.

The #[InverseJoinColumn] is the same as #[JoinColumn] and is used in the context of a #[ManyToMany] attribute declaration to specifiy the details of the join table's column information used for the join to the inverse entity.

Optional parameters:

  • name: Column name that holds the foreign key identifier for this relation. In the context of #[JoinTable] it specifies the column name in the join table.
  • referencedColumnName: Name of the primary key identifier that is used for joining of this relation. Defaults to id.
  • unique: Determines whether this relation is exclusive between the affected entities and should be enforced as such on the database constraint level. Defaults to false.
  • nullable: Determine whether the related entity is required, or if null is an allowed state for the relation. Defaults to true.
  • onDelete: Cascade Action (Database-level)
  • columnDefinition: DDL SQL snippet that starts after the column name and specifies the complete (non-portable!) column definition. This attribute enables the use of advanced RMDBS features. Using this attribute on #[JoinColumn] is necessary if you need slightly different column definitions for joining columns, for example regarding NULL/NOT NULL defaults. However by default a "columnDefinition" attribute on #[Column] also sets the related #[JoinColumn]'s columnDefinition. This is necessary to make foreign keys work.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\OneToOne; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\JoinColumn; #[OneToOne(targetEntity: Customer::class)] #[JoinColumn(name: "customer_id", referencedColumnName: "id")] private $customer;
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#[JoinTable]

Using #[ManytoMany] on the owning side of the relation requires to specify the #[JoinTable] attribute which describes the details of the database join table. If you do not specify #[JoinTable] on these relations reasonable mapping defaults apply using the affected table and the column names.

A notable difference to the annotation metadata support, #[JoinColumn] and #[InverseJoinColumn] are specified at the property level and are not nested within the #[JoinTable] attribute.

Required attribute:

  • name: Database name of the join-table

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ManyToMany; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\JoinTable; #[ManyToMany(targetEntity: "Phonenumber")] #[JoinTable(name: "users_phonenumbers")] public $phonenumbers;
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#[ManyToOne]

Defines that the annotated instance variable holds a reference that describes a many-to-one relationship between two entities.

Required parameters:

  • targetEntity: FQCN of the referenced target entity. Can be the unqualified class name if both classes are in the same namespace. IMPORTANT: No leading backslash!

Optional parameters:

  • cascade: Cascade Option
  • fetch: One of LAZY or EAGER
  • inversedBy - The inversedBy attribute designates the field in the entity that is the inverse side of the relationship.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ManyToOne; #[ManyToOne(targetEntity: "Cart", cascade: ["all"], fetch: "EAGER")] private $cart;
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#[ManyToMany]

Defines that the annotated instance variable holds a many-to-many relationship between two entities. #[JoinTable] is an additional, optional attribute that has reasonable default configuration values using the table and names of the two related entities.

Required parameters:

  • targetEntity: FQCN of the referenced target entity. Can be the unqualified class name if both classes are in the same namespace. IMPORTANT: No leading backslash!

Optional parameters:

  • mappedBy: This option specifies the property name on the targetEntity that is the owning side of this relation. It is a required attribute for the inverse side of a relationship.
  • inversedBy: The inversedBy attribute designates the field in the entity that is the inverse side of the relationship.
  • cascade: Cascade Option
  • fetch: One of LAZY, EXTRA_LAZY or EAGER
  • indexBy: Index the collection by a field on the target entity.

For ManyToMany bidirectional relationships either side may be the owning side (the side that defines the #[JoinTable] and/or does not make use of the mappedBy attribute, thus using a default join table).

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\ManyToMany; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\JoinColumn; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\InverseJoinColumn; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\JoinTable; /** Owning Side */ #[ManyToMany(targetEntity: "Group", inversedBy: "features")] #[JoinTable(name: "user_groups")] #[JoinColumn(name: "user_id", referencedColumnName: "id")] #[InverseJoinColumn(name: "group_id", referencedColumnName: "id")] private $groups; /** Inverse Side */ #[ManyToMany(targetEntity: "User", mappedBy: "groups")] private $features;
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#[MappedSuperclass]

A mapped superclass is an abstract or concrete class that provides persistent entity state and mapping information for its subclasses, but which is not itself an entity. This attribute is specified on the Class level and has no additional settings.

The #[MappedSuperclass] attribute cannot be used in conjunction with #[Entity]. See the Inheritance Mapping section for more details on the restrictions of mapped superclasses.

Optional parameters:

  • repositoryClass: Specifies the FQCN of a subclass of the EntityRepository. That will be inherited for all subclasses of that Mapped Superclass.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\MappedSuperclass; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; #[MappedSuperclass] abstract class BaseEntity { // ... fields and methods } #[Entity] class EntitySubClassFoo extends BaseEntity { // ... fields and methods }
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#[OneToOne]

The #[OneToOne] attribute works almost exactly as the #[ManyToOne] with one additional option which can be specified. When no #[JoinColumn] is specified it defaults to using the target entity table and primary key column names and the current naming strategy to determine a name for the join column.

Required parameters:

  • targetEntity: FQCN of the referenced target entity. Can be the unqualified class name if both classes are in the same namespace. IMPORTANT: No leading backslash!

Optional parameters:

  • cascade: Cascade Option
  • fetch: One of LAZY or EAGER
  • orphanRemoval: Boolean that specifies if orphans, inverse OneToOne entities that are not connected to any owning instance, should be removed by Doctrine. Defaults to false.
  • inversedBy: The inversedBy attribute designates the field in the entity that is the inverse side of the relationship.

Example:

1<?php #[OneToOne(targetEntity: "Customer")] #[JoinColumn(name: "customer_id", referencedColumnName: "id")] private $customer;
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#[OneToMany]

Required parameters:

  • targetEntity: FQCN of the referenced target entity. Can be the unqualified class name if both classes are in the same namespace. IMPORTANT: No leading backslash!

Optional parameters:

  • cascade: Cascade Option
  • orphanRemoval: Boolean that specifies if orphans, inverse OneToOne entities that are not connected to any owning instance, should be removed by Doctrine. Defaults to false.
  • mappedBy: This option specifies the property name on the targetEntity that is the owning side of this relation. Its a required attribute for the inverse side of a relationship.
  • fetch: One of LAZY, EXTRA_LAZY or EAGER.
  • indexBy: Index the collection by a field on the target entity.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\OneToMany; #[OneToMany( targetEntity: "Phonenumber", mappedBy: "user", cascade: ["persist", "remove", "merge"], orphanRemoval: true) ] public $phonenumbers;
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#[OrderBy]

Optional attribute that can be specified with a #[ManyToMany] or #[OneToMany] attribute to specify by which criteria the collection should be retrieved from the database by using an ORDER BY clause.

Example:

1<?php #[ManyToMany(targetEntity: "Group")] #[OrderBy(["name" => "ASC"])] private $groups;
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The key in OrderBy is only allowed to consist of unqualified, unquoted field names and of an optional ASC/DESC positional statement. Multiple Fields are separated by a comma (,). The referenced field names have to exist on the targetEntity class of the #[ManyToMany] or #[OneToMany] attribute.

#[PostLoad]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PostLoad] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[PostPersist]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PostPersist] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[PostRemove]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PostRemove] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[PostUpdate]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PostUpdate] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[PrePersist]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PrePersist] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[PreRemove]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PreRemove] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[PreUpdate]

Marks a method on the entity to be called as a #[PreUpdate] event. Only works with #[HasLifecycleCallbacks] in the entity class PHP level.

#[SequenceGenerator]

For use with #[GeneratedValue(strategy: "SEQUENCE")] this attribute allows to specify details about the sequence, such as the increment size and initial values of the sequence.

Required parameters:

  • sequenceName: Name of the sequence

Optional parameters:

  • allocationSize: Increment the sequence by the allocation size when its fetched. A value larger than 1 allows optimization for scenarios where you create more than one new entity per request. Defaults to 10
  • initialValue: Where the sequence starts, defaults to 1.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Id; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\GeneratedValue; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Column; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\SequenceGenerator; #[Id] #[GeneratedValue(strategy: "SEQUENCE")] #[Column(type: "integer")] #[SequenceGenerator(sequenceName: "tablename_seq", initialValue: 1, allocationSize: 100)] protected $id = null;
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#[Table]

Attribute describes the table an entity is persisted in. It is placed on the entity-class level and is optional. If it is not specified the table name will default to the entity's unqualified classname.

Required parameters:

  • name: Name of the table

Optional parameters:

  • schema: Name of the schema the table lies in.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Table; #[Entity] #[Table(name: "user", schema: "schema_name")] class User { }
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#[UniqueConstraint]

Attribute is used on the entity-class level. It allows to hint the SchemaTool to generate a database unique constraint on the specified table columns. It only has meaning in the SchemaTool schema generation context.

Required parameters:

  • name: Name of the Index
  • columns: Array of columns.

Optional parameters:

  • options: Array of platform specific options:

    • where: SQL WHERE condition to be used for partial indexes. It will only have effect on supported platforms.

Basic example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Entity; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\UniqueConstraint; #[Entity] #[UniqueConstraint(name: "ean", columns: ["ean"])] class ECommerceProduct { }
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#[Version]

Marker attribute that defines a specified column as version attribute used in an optimistic locking scenario. It only works on #[Column] attributes that have the type integer or datetime. Setting #[Version] on a property with #[Id is not supported.

Example:

1<?php use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Column; use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Version; #[Column(type: "integer")] #[Version] protected $version;
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