EmbedMany Strings in an MongoDB Document?

Question

I need to have a simple array/collection of strings in my Document, but cannot work out a way to acheive this with Doctrine ODM.

This is an example class/document, with $tags needing to be a simple array of strings:

namespace Acme\ExampleBundle\Document;
use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Mapping\Annotations as MongoDB;

/** @MongoDB\Document */
class MyDocument {

    /** @MongoDB\Id */
    protected $id;

    /** @MongoDB\String */
    protected $name;

    /** @MongoDB\EmbedMany */
    protected $tags = array();
}

I've tried different things like @MongoDB\EmbedMany or @MongoDB\EmbedMany(targetDocument="String") I know there is no reason for the last one to work, but I was just trying anything I could think of.

The end result in the Mongo DB as JSON is as simple as this:

{
    "_id": ObjectId("a0afa410caeea70de1000000"),
    "name": "Example Name",
    "tags": ["tag1", "example", "test tag"]
}

What I need help with is, how to have the @MongoDB\EmbedMany annotation to allow me to add only strings into the Collection, which will then look like the above JSON when persisted to the DB.

I hope someone can help, as I'm really stuck with this now. It feels like it should be so simple!

If the last one is supposed to be JSON then array would be [ ] not {} - the latter is a single embedded document for which this is not legal syntax. — Asya Kamsky, Nov 24 '12 at 15:27
Thanks for spotting that Asya. I've edited the question now. — Rob Holmes, Nov 24 '12 at 15:41
I think you have to define a new model for data validation of sub documents and then attach that model as a embedMany in its parent model, I think. — Sammaye, Nov 24 '12 at 23:15

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 25 '12 at 15:31

4

Doctrine MongoDB ODM calls the mapping type for arrays "Hash", which is a little confusing. Your class would look like this:

namespace Acme\ExampleBundle\Document;
use Doctrine\ODM\MongoDB\Mapping\Annotations as MongoDB;

/** @MongoDB\Document */
class MyDocument {

    // ...

    /** @MongoDB\Hash */
    protected $tags = array();
}

Flushing to MongoDB should result in an hash stored inside your collection as you described in your question.

For further reference, have a look at the HashType implementation

answered Nov 25 '12 at 15:31

Sgoettschkes

13,141
5
60
78

Yes that's it... Thank you so much! I've been trying to work this out for ages now. I had looked in the annotations folder, but completely missed the Hash type (I think I overlooked it because of the name). – Rob Holmes Nov 25 '12 at 21:18
The name is confusing. I have an open PR on the docs trying to solve this issue. – Sgoettschkes Nov 26 '12 at 10:48
The naming is stupid and is not even properly documented as far as I can tell. – Vahid Amiri Aug 01 '17 at 11:31

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 14 '17 at 19:24

also type="collection" works same way as hash

 /**
 * @MongoDB\Field(type="collection")
 */

protected $possibleTags;

/**
 * Set tags
 *
 * @param collection $possibleTags
 * @return $this
 */
public function setPossibleTags($possibleTags)
{
    $this->possibleTags = $possibleTags;
    return $this;
}

/**
 * Get tags
 *
 * @return collection $tags
 */
public function getPossibleTags()
{
    return $this->possibleTags;
}

EmbedMany Strings in an MongoDB Document?

2 Answers2