Getting Started

Minimal Steps to Begin

Installation
```
composer require aitradeinc/symfony-entity-generator
```
Ensure your project uses Symfony 5.0+ (or 4.0 for legacy support).
Basic Command Generate entities from an existing database table:
```
php bin/console make:entity --db-connection=default --table-name=users
```
- Replace default with your Doctrine connection name.
- Replace users with your target table.

Configuration Create a YAML config file (e.g., config/entity_generator.yaml) to customize generation:

aitradeinc_entity_generator:
    groups: ['User', 'Admin']  # Optional: Group fields by entity
    namespace: 'App\Entity'    # Target namespace

First Use Case Generate a User entity with all columns from the users table:
```
php bin/console make:entity --db-connection=default --table-name=users --entity-name=User
```
Outputs a fully typed User.php in src/Entity/ with:
- Properties (e.g., id, email, isActive).
- Getters/setters (e.g., getEmail(), setIsActive(bool)).
- Doctrine annotations (e.g., @ORM\Column(type="boolean")).

Implementation Patterns

Workflows

Database-First Development
- Generate entities from existing tables to bootstrap a project:
```
php bin/console make:entity --db-connection=mysql --table-name=products --entity-name=Product
```
- Regenerate after schema changes (e.g., adding a created_at column).
Grouping Fields Use YAML config to organize fields into logical groups (e.g., User vs. Admin):
```
aitradeinc_entity_generator:
    groups:
        User: [id, email, password]
        Admin: [role, permissions]
```
- Run with --group=User to generate only User-related fields.

Custom Templates Override Twig templates (located in vendor/aitradeinc/symfony-entity-generator/Resources/views/) to modify output (e.g., add custom annotations):

{# src/Resources/views/Entity/fields.twig #}
{% for field in fields %}
    /**
     * @Assert\NotBlank(groups={{ group }})
     */
    private {{ field.type }} ${{ field.name }};
{% endfor %}

Integration with Migrations
- Generate entities after running migrations to ensure schema parity.
- Use --force to overwrite existing files:
```
php bin/console make:entity --table-name=orders --force
```

Partial Generation Generate only specific columns (e.g., for a new feature):

php bin/console make:entity --table-name=posts --columns=title,content,author_id

Tips for Laravel Adoption

Doctrine Bridge: Use doctrine/orm in Laravel via laravel-doctrine to leverage this package.

Artisan Alias: Add a custom Artisan command in app/Console/Kernel.php:

protected $commands = [
    \Aitradeinc\EntityGenerator\Command\MakeEntityCommand::class,
];

IDE Integration: Regenerate entities before commits to keep IDE autocompletion (e.g., PHPStorm) accurate.

Gotchas and Tips

Pitfalls

Boolean Field Naming
- The generator prefixes boolean getters with get (e.g., getIsActive()), not is (e.g., isActive()).
- Fix: Manually rename methods or patch the Twig template (getter.twig).
JSON Column Handling
- Older versions had issues with json Doctrine types. Ensure your composer.json includes:
```
"doctrine/dbal": "^3.0"
```
- Workaround: Explicitly cast JSON fields in the entity:
```
private ?array $metadata = null;
public function getMetadata(): ?array { return json_decode($this->metadata, true); }
```
Namespace Conflicts
- The generator uses the short namespace (e.g., App\Entity\User) by default.
- Fix: Set a full namespace in config:
```
aitradeinc_entity_generator:
    namespace: 'App\\Entity'
```
YAML Parsing Errors
- Config files must use Symfony YAML syntax (e.g., groups: [User, Admin]).
- Debug: Run with --debug to see parsed config:
```
php bin/console debug:config aitradeinc_entity_generator
```
File Overwrite Behavior
- By default, the generator skips existing files. Use --force to overwrite:
```
php bin/console make:entity --table-name=users --force
```
- Risk: Loses manual changes (e.g., custom logic in getters).
PHP 8 Typed Properties
- The generator supports PHP 8’s typed properties (e.g., private ?string $email).
- Legacy Support: For PHP 7.4, remove ? from nullable fields manually.

Debugging

Dry Run: Use --dry-run to preview changes without writing files:
```
php bin/console make:entity --table-name=users --dry-run
```

Log Output: Enable debug mode for verbose logs:

php bin/console make:entity --table-name=users --env=dev

SQL Parsing Errors: If the generator fails to parse a table, check for:
- Reserved keywords (e.g., order, group) in column names.
- Fix: Quote column names in the database or rename them.

Extension Points

Custom Field Mappings Override the FieldTypeMapper service to map database columns to custom PHP types:

# config/services.yaml
Aitradeinc\EntityGenerator\FieldTypeMapper:
    arguments:
        $customMappings:
            enum: 'App\Enum\StatusEnum'

Post-Generation Hooks Use Symfony’s event system to modify entities after generation. Example:

// src/EventSubscriber/EntityGeneratorSubscriber.php
namespace App\EventSubscriber;

use Aitradeinc\EntityGenerator\Event\EntityGeneratedEvent;
use Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface;

class EntityGeneratorSubscriber implements EventSubscriberInterface
{
    public static function getSubscribedEvents()
    {
        return [
            EntityGeneratedEvent::NAME => 'onEntityGenerated',
        ];
    }

    public function onEntityGenerated(EntityGeneratedEvent $event)
    {
        $entity = $event->getEntity();
        $entity->addMethod('toArray()'); // Inject custom method
    }
}

Template Inheritance Extend Twig templates by copying them to templates/AitradeincEntityGenerator/ and modifying:
- fields.twig: Add custom annotations.
- getter.twig: Change boolean getter naming.

Database Connection Flexibility

Use environment variables for connection DSN:

aitradeinc_entity_generator:
    db_connection: '%env(DATABASE_URL)%'

Laravel: Set DATABASE_URL in .env:

DATABASE_URL="mysql://user:[email protected]/db_name"

Symfony Entity Generator Laravel Package