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Merge Entities

Entity merge is a complex solution that enables users to merge different entities into one. Usually entity merge is used to remove copies of an entity. EntityMergeBundle provides the functionality to select multiple entities from the grid and merge them in a wizard.

Main Entities

Entity merge consists of several related entities.

  • FieldMetadata - metadata information of field merging.

  • EntityMetadata - represents the list of metadata fields and entity merge metadata.

  • FieldData - contains entity that was selected as source value and merge strategy mode (replace/unite).

  • EntityData - contains the master record that will be the result of the merge and the list of field data.

  • Strategy - strategy for entity field merge. The default strategies are unite or replace:

    • UniteStrategy - merges field values into the master entity. It works only with fields that are represented by a list of entities.

    • ReplaceStrategy - replaces the master entity field value with the selected one.

  • Step - one of merge steps. By default, there are three steps: ValidateStep, MergeFieldsStep and RemoveEntitiesStep.

  • Accessor - provides access (get value/set value) for merge fields.

How It Works

  1. An entity has a merge configuration and a grid with the Merge mass action.

  2. A user selects records to merge on the grid and clicks on the Merge mass action.

  3. The user is redirected to the merge entities page with a wizard that enables them to set up the merge process by choosing the merge strategy and the preferred values. Here, they can merge several entities into one.

The Master Record setting in the wizard enables users to define which entity will contain the results of the merge. Other entities will be removed from the database. All doctrine references to the removed entities will be replaced with the master record.

Configuration

The entity can be configured on the entity and field levels.

Entity Level Configuration

entity_config:
    # Scope of entity merge
    merge:
        # Attributes applicable on entity level
        entity:
            items:
                # Options for rendering entity as string in the UI.
                # If these options are empty __toString will be used (if it's available).
                #
                # Method of entity to cast object to string
                cast_method: ~
                # Twig template to render object as string
                template: ~
                # Enable merge for this entity
                enable: ~
                # Max entities to merge
                max_entities_count: 5

Example:

@Config(
 ....
 defaultValues={
 ...
 "merge"={
 "enable"=true,
 "max_entities_count"=5
 }
 }
)

Fields Level Configuration

entity_config:
    # Scope of entity merge
    merge:
        # Attributes applicable on entity fields level
        field:
            items:
                # Label of field that should be displayed for this field in merge UI, value will be translated
                label: ~
                # Display merge form for this field
                display: ~
                # Make field read-only in merge
                readonly: ~
                # Mode of merge supports next values, value can be an array or single mode:
                #   replace - replace value with selected one
                #   unite   - merge all values into one (applicable for collections and lists)
                merge_modes: ~
                # Flag for collection fields. This fields will support unite mode by default
                is_collection: ~
                # Options for rendering field value in the UI
                #
                # Method will be used to cast value to string (applicable only for values that are objects)
                cast_method: ~
                # Template can be used to render value of field
                template: ~
                # Method for setting value to entity
                setter: ~
                # Method for getting value to entity
                getter: ~
                # Can be used if you want to be see merge form for this field for entity on other side of relation,
                # For example there is a Call entity with field referenced to Account using ManyToOne unidirectional relation.
                # As Account doesn't have access to collection of calls the only possible place to configure calls merging
                # for account is this field in Call entity
                inverse_display: ~
                # Same as merge_modes but used for relation entity
                inverse_merge_modes: ~
                # Same as label but used for relation entity
                inverse_label: ~
                # Same as cast_method but used for relation entity
                inverse_cast_method: ~
                # Localization number type.
                # Default localisation handler support:
                # decimal, currency, percent, default_style, scientific, ordinal, duration, spellout
                render_number_style: ~
                # Type of date formatting, one of the format type constants. Possible values:
                # NONE
                # FULL
                # LONG
                # MEDIUM
                # SHORT
                render_date_type: ~
                # Type of time formatting, one of the format type constants. Possible values:
                # NONE
                # FULL
                # LONG
                # MEDIUM
                # SHORT
                render_time_type: ~
                # Date Time pattern
                # Example m/d/Y
                render_datetime_pattern: ~
                # Control escaping of the value when rendered in Merge table.
                # Use 'false' to disable escaping for the field (i.e. RichText) or set a Twig 'escape' method to enable:
                # 'html' (or true), 'html_attr', 'css', 'js', 'url'
                autoescape: true

Example:

class Account
{
     ...

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(type="string", length=255)
     * @ConfigField(defaultValues={"merge"={"enable"=true}})
     */
    protected $name;

Mass Action Configuration

Example of merge mass action:

datagrids:
    accounts-grid:
        mass_actions:
            merge:
                type: merge
                entity_name: Oro\Bundle\AccountBundle\Entity\Account
                data_identifier: a.id

Other Configurations

You can define your own “Strategy”, “Steps”, “Accessor” in the DI by using tags with names “oro_entity_merge.strategy”, “oro_entity_merge.step”, “oro_entity_merge.accessor”.

Tagging merge strategy:

services:
    oro_entity_merge.strategy.replace:
        class: Oro\Bundle\EntityMergeBundle\Model\Strategy\ReplaceStrategy
        arguments:
            - '@oro_entity_merge.accessor.delegate'
        tags:
            - { name: oro_entity_merge.strategy, priority: 100 }

You can define a priority for the strategy which will work with the existing merge modes. Thr supported merge strategy with the greatest priority will be used for the merge.

Tagging merge step:

services:
    oro_entity_merge.step.validate:
        class: Oro\Bundle\EntityMergeBundle\Model\Step\ValidateStep
        arguments:
            - '@validator'
        tags:
            - { name: oro_entity_merge.step }

Tagging accessor:

services:
    oro_entity_merge.accessor.inverse_association:
        class: Oro\Bundle\EntityMergeBundle\Model\Accessor\InverseAssociationAccessor
        arguments:
            - '@oro_entity_merge.doctrine_helper'
        tags:
            - { name: oro_entity_merge.accessor }

Dependencies

Thr following diagram shows dependencies among EntityMergeBundle classes (click on the image to zoom):

Dependencies among EntityMergeBundle classes