Not possible to create Many-to-One embedded entities that have constructor

[maks-rafalko]

Let's consider the example from Behat tests of this repository.

We have VoDummyCar that has a collection of VoDummyInspection[] entities (with constructor public function __construct(bool $accepted, VoDummyCar $car...).

We already have separate tests that create VoDummyCar and VoDymmyInspection for particular car

POST /vo_dummy_car

core/features/serializer/vo_relations.feature

Lines 9 to 25 in f8693d1

	And I send a "POST" request to "/vo_dummy_cars" with body:
	"""
	{
	"mileage": 1500,
	"bodyType": "suv",
	"make": "CustomCar",
	"insuranceCompany": {
	"name": "Safe Drive Company"
	},
	"drivers": [
	{
	"firstName": "John",
	"lastName": "Doe"
	}
	]
	}
	"""

POST /vo_dummy_inspections

core/features/serializer/vo_relations.feature

Lines 56 to 61 in f8693d1

	And I send a "POST" request to "/vo_dummy_inspections" with body:
	"""
	{
	"accepted": true,
	"car": "/vo_dummy_cars/1"
	}

What does not work?

Someone might want to create VoDummyInspection entities at the same time when VoDummyCar is being created, providing a nested array.

It turned out, that such request does not work with ApiPlatform:

{
    "mileage": 1500,
    "bodyType": "suv",
    "make": "CustomCar",
    "insuranceCompany": {
        "name": "Safe Drive Company"
    },
    "drivers": [],
    "inspections": [
        {
            "performed": "2018-08-24 00:00:00",
            "accepted": false
        }
    ]
}

Expected result

Running the query above, I expect new VoDummyCar to be created as well as new VoDummyInspections to be created for this VoDummyCar (in this case - just one entity).

Actual Result

1. When I modify existing tests - nothing happens. inspections key from JSON is ignored (I have added addInspection and removeInspection methods to make this property writable, but it didn't help).

2. In my project, I get an error something like Cannot create an instance of VoDummyInspection from serialized data because its constructor requires parameter \"car\" to be present.

---

Any suggestions about possible implementation?

[karser]

1. This is a serializer issue, an array of objects is not deserialized properly. My PR fixes it [Hackday][Serializer] Deserialization ignores argument type hint from phpdoc for array in constructor argument symfony/symfony#29513
   It's merged but not tagged yet, so use branches, e.g 4.1.x-dev or 4.2.x-dev, etc.
2. I used to have a similar issue but it's gone when I switched to api-platform: dev-master

[maks-rafalko]

Thanks for taking the time and commenting. However, this is not the same issue.

If I rewrite the bug with entities from your PR, the issue is with the not setting Zoo to Animals constructor

class Animal {
    /** @var Zoo */
    private $zoo;

    /** @var string */
    private $name;

    public function __construct(Zoo $zoo, string $name) {...}
}

and POST /zoos

{
    "animals": [
        {"name": "Bug"}
    ]
}

So the issue is that api-platform can't deserialize Animal and pass Zoo instance to when one-to-many is used.

[soyuka]

This looks really specific though and I'd create a custom DataPersister for such need. Are you sure that the normalizer doesn't work properly with Dtos? About constructors the support has been added in recent version, lmk if I need to reopen this. Thanks for your support all these years though :).

[maks-rafalko]

Having the same issue right now in 2022, and found my own issue :)

@soyuka probably you have a new recommendations now with new versions of APIP for this problem?

[NikDevPHP]

Hello @soyuka any updates on this ?