Form errors that guide the next step — field note 1213
Good validation messages help people correct input quickly. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
ORM showcase
Lemonade Blog
A small blog powered by Doctrine ORM and SQLite.
Doctrine ORM · SQLite · ManyToMany
Live ORM result
Latest articles
1234 articles
Events for decoupled application work — field note 1214
Events publish facts without coupling every listener. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Configuration with clear defaults — field note 1215
Typed configuration keeps environment choices visible. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Testing a request boundary — field note 1216
Focused HTTP tests make middleware changes safer. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Performance budgets for web pages — field note 1217
Measure the work that affects a real response. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Secure headers as shared policy — field note 1218
Centralize defensive HTTP headers in middleware. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Filesystem paths owned by the app — field note 1219
Keep generated files under storage instead of source directories. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
A practical routing convention — field note 1220
Named routes make links resilient as an application grows. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Repository queries with Doctrine — field note 1221
Repositories keep ORM query intent close to the model. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Transactions around one connection — field note 1222
Do not assume separate database connections share atomic work. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
API validation before serialization — field note 1223
A clear boundary keeps response payloads predictable. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
Scheduled CLI work with a lock — field note 1224
A lock prevents overlapping maintenance commands. This deterministic field note expands the demo dataset.
How this blog works
Doctrine ORM integration behind the example
The paginated blog feed reads current-page IDs through toIterable(); a bounded graph batch then loads authors and tags without N+1 queries.
Provider wiring
DoctrineServiceProvider.php
Registers Doctrine as a regular application service through a Lemonade provider.
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace App\Providers;
use App\Repository\OrmDemoArticleRepository;
use App\Repository\OrmDemoAuthorRepository;
use App\Repository\OrmDemoTagRepository;
use App\Services\DoctrineEntityManagerFactory;
use App\Services\OrmDemoService;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManagerInterface;
use Lemonade\Framework\Container\ContainerInterface;
use Lemonade\Framework\Core\ServiceProviderInterface;
final class DoctrineServiceProvider implements ServiceProviderInterface
{
public function register(ContainerInterface $container): void
{
$container->singleton(DoctrineEntityManagerFactory::class, DoctrineEntityManagerFactory::class);
$container->singleton(
EntityManagerInterface::class,
static fn (ContainerInterface $container): EntityManagerInterface => $container
->get(DoctrineEntityManagerFactory::class)
->create(),
);
$container->set(OrmDemoArticleRepository::class, OrmDemoArticleRepository::class);
$container->set(OrmDemoTagRepository::class, OrmDemoTagRepository::class);
$container->set(OrmDemoAuthorRepository::class, OrmDemoAuthorRepository::class);
$container->singleton(OrmDemoService::class, OrmDemoService::class);
}
}
Article entity
OrmDemoArticle.php
Maps multiple authors and multiple tags through ManyToMany associations.
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace App\Entity;
use DateTimeImmutable;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use InvalidArgumentException;
#[ORM\Entity]
#[ORM\Table(name: 'orm_demo_articles')]
final class OrmDemoArticle
{
#[ORM\Id]
#[ORM\GeneratedValue]
#[ORM\Column(type: 'integer')]
private ?int $id = null;
#[ORM\Column(type: 'string', length: 255)]
private string $title;
#[ORM\Column(type: 'text')]
private string $perex;
/** @var Collection<int, OrmDemoAuthor> */
#[ORM\ManyToMany(targetEntity: OrmDemoAuthor::class, inversedBy: 'articles', cascade: ['persist'])]
#[ORM\JoinTable(name: 'orm_demo_article_authors')]
private Collection $authors;
#[ORM\Column(type: 'datetime_immutable')]
private DateTimeImmutable $createdAt;
/** @var Collection<int, OrmDemoTag> */
#[ORM\ManyToMany(targetEntity: OrmDemoTag::class, inversedBy: 'articles', cascade: ['persist'])]
#[ORM\JoinTable(name: 'orm_demo_article_tags')]
private Collection $tags;
/**
* @param non-empty-list<OrmDemoAuthor> $authors
*/
public function __construct(string $title, string $perex, array $authors, DateTimeImmutable $createdAt)
{
if ($authors === []) {
throw new InvalidArgumentException('An ORM demo article must have at least one author.');
}
$this->title = $title;
$this->perex = $perex;
$this->createdAt = $createdAt;
$this->authors = new ArrayCollection();
$this->tags = new ArrayCollection();
foreach ($authors as $author) {
$this->addAuthor($author);
}
}
public function id(): ?int
{
return $this->id;
}
public function title(): string
{
return $this->title;
}
public function perex(): string
{
return $this->perex;
}
/** @return list<OrmDemoAuthor> */
public function authors(): array
{
return $this->authors->toArray();
}
public function addAuthor(OrmDemoAuthor $author): void
{
if (!$this->authors->contains($author)) {
$this->authors->add($author);
}
}
public function createdAt(): DateTimeImmutable
{
return $this->createdAt;
}
/** @return Collection<int, OrmDemoTag> */
public function tags(): Collection
{
return $this->tags;
}
public function addTag(OrmDemoTag $tag): void
{
if (!$this->tags->contains($tag)) {
$this->tags->add($tag);
}
}
}
Author entity
OrmDemoAuthor.php
Authors are separate entities identified by a unique nickname.
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace App\Entity;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
#[ORM\Entity]
#[ORM\Table(name: 'orm_demo_authors')]
final class OrmDemoAuthor
{
#[ORM\Id]
#[ORM\GeneratedValue]
#[ORM\Column(type: 'integer')]
private ?int $id = null;
#[ORM\Column(type: 'string', length: 80, unique: true)]
private string $nickname;
/** @var Collection<int, OrmDemoArticle> */
#[ORM\ManyToMany(targetEntity: OrmDemoArticle::class, mappedBy: 'authors')]
private Collection $articles;
public function __construct(string $nickname)
{
$this->nickname = $nickname;
$this->articles = new ArrayCollection();
}
public function id(): ?int
{
return $this->id;
}
public function nickname(): string
{
return $this->nickname;
}
}
Tag entity
OrmDemoTag.php
Tags are shared entities connected to articles through a join table.
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace App\Entity;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
#[ORM\Entity]
#[ORM\Table(name: 'orm_demo_tags')]
final class OrmDemoTag
{
#[ORM\Id]
#[ORM\GeneratedValue]
#[ORM\Column(type: 'integer')]
private ?int $id = null;
#[ORM\Column(type: 'string', length: 80)]
private string $name;
#[ORM\Column(type: 'string', length: 80, unique: true)]
private string $slug;
/** @var Collection<int, OrmDemoArticle> */
#[ORM\ManyToMany(targetEntity: OrmDemoArticle::class, mappedBy: 'tags')]
private Collection $articles;
public function __construct(string $name, string $slug)
{
$this->name = $name;
$this->slug = $slug;
$this->articles = new ArrayCollection();
}
public function id(): ?int
{
return $this->id;
}
public function name(): string
{
return $this->name;
}
public function slug(): string
{
return $this->slug;
}
}
Repository and pagination
OrmDemoArticleRepository.php
Combines optional filters with SQL-level pagination and avoids N+1 queries.
<?php
declare(strict_types=1);
namespace App\Repository;
use App\Entity\OrmDemoArticle;
use App\Services\DoctrineEntityManagerFactory;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManagerInterface;
final class OrmDemoArticleRepository
{
private const GRAPH_BATCH_SIZE = 25;
public function __construct(private readonly DoctrineEntityManagerFactory $entityManagerFactory)
{
}
public function paginate(int $page, int $perPage, ?string $tag = null, ?string $author = null): OrmDemoArticlePage
{
$perPage = max(1, $perPage);
$count = $this->entityManager()
->createQueryBuilder()
->select('COUNT(DISTINCT article.id)')
->from(OrmDemoArticle::class, 'article');
if ($tag !== null) {
$count
->innerJoin('article.tags', 'tag')
->andWhere('tag.slug = :tag')
->setParameter('tag', $tag);
}
if ($author !== null) {
$count
->innerJoin('article.authors', 'author')
->andWhere('author.nickname = :author')
->setParameter('author', $author);
}
$total = (int) $count->getQuery()->getSingleScalarResult();
$page = min(max(1, $page), max(1, (int) ceil($total / $perPage)));
$idsQuery = $this->entityManager()
->createQueryBuilder()
->select('DISTINCT article.id AS id')
->from(OrmDemoArticle::class, 'article');
if ($tag !== null) {
$idsQuery
->innerJoin('article.tags', 'tag')
->andWhere('tag.slug = :tag')
->setParameter('tag', $tag);
}
if ($author !== null) {
$idsQuery
->innerJoin('article.authors', 'author')
->andWhere('author.nickname = :author')
->setParameter('author', $author);
}
$idsQuery
->orderBy('article.createdAt', 'DESC')
->addOrderBy('article.id', 'DESC')
->setFirstResult(($page - 1) * $perPage)
->setMaxResults($perPage);
$articles = (function () use ($idsQuery): iterable {
$entityManager = $this->entityManager();
$ids = [];
foreach ($idsQuery->getQuery()->toIterable() as $row) {
$ids[] = (int) $row['id'];
if (count($ids) === self::GRAPH_BATCH_SIZE) {
yield from $this->fetchGraphBatch($entityManager, $ids);
$ids = [];
$entityManager->clear();
}
}
if ($ids !== []) {
yield from $this->fetchGraphBatch($entityManager, $ids);
$entityManager->clear();
}
})();
return new OrmDemoArticlePage($articles, $total, $page);
}
/** @param list<int> $ids @return iterable<OrmDemoArticle> */
private function fetchGraphBatch(EntityManagerInterface $entityManager, array $ids): iterable
{
/** @var list<OrmDemoArticle> $fetched */
$fetched = $entityManager->createQueryBuilder()
->select('article, author, tag')
->from(OrmDemoArticle::class, 'article')
->leftJoin('article.authors', 'author')
->leftJoin('article.tags', 'tag')
->where('article.id IN (:ids)')
->setParameter('ids', $ids)
->getQuery()
->getResult();
$byId = [];
foreach ($fetched as $article) {
$byId[$article->id() ?? 0] = $article;
}
foreach ($ids as $id) {
if (isset($byId[$id])) {
yield $byId[$id];
}
}
}
public function hasArticles(): bool
{
return $this->entityManager()->getRepository(OrmDemoArticle::class)->count([]) > 0;
}
public function add(OrmDemoArticle $article): void
{
$this->entityManager()->persist($article);
$this->entityManager()->flush();
}
/** @param iterable<OrmDemoArticle> $articles */
public function addAll(iterable $articles, int $batchSize): void
{
$entityManager = $this->entityManager();
$processed = 0;
$batchSize = max(1, $batchSize);
foreach ($articles as $article) {
$entityManager->persist($article);
++$processed;
if ($processed % $batchSize === 0) {
$entityManager->flush();
}
}
$entityManager->flush();
}
private function entityManager(): EntityManagerInterface
{
return $this->entityManagerFactory->create();
}
}
How filtering works
Articles can have multiple authors and multiple tags. Both associations are mapped in Doctrine ORM as ManyToMany. When filtering by author, Doctrine connects articles through the join table orm_demo_article_authors and selects them by author.nickname. When filtering by tag, it uses the join table orm_demo_article_tags with a condition on tag.slug. Both filters can be combined.