How to re-save the entity as another row in Doctrine 2

Question

Let's say I have entity $e. Is there any generic way to store it as another row, which would have the same entity data but another primary key?

Why I need this: I'm implementing some sort of Temporal Database schema and instead of updating the row I just need to create another one.

Answer 1

Try cloning and add the following method to your entity

public function __clone() {
    $this->id = null;
}

You may need to detach the entity before persisting it. I don't have my dev machine handy to test this right now.

$f = clone $e;
$em->detach($f);
$em->persist($f);
$em->flush();

Update

Just tried using a simple SQLite demo. You shouldn't need to do anything. The following worked for me without adding a __clone() method or doing anything else out of the ordinary

$new = clone $old;
$em->persist($new);
$em->flush();

Once flushed, the $new entity had a new ID and was saved as a new row in the DB.

I would still null the ID property via the __clone() method as it makes sense from a pure model view.

Update 2

Digging into the Doctrine code, this is because the generated proxy classes implement __clone() with this important line

unset($this->_entityPersister, $this->_identifier);

Answer 2

I just do:

/**
 * __clone
 *
 * @return void
 */
public function __clone()
{
    $this->id = null;
}

More details here https://www.doctrine-project.org/projects/doctrine-orm/en/2.7/cookbook/implementing-wakeup-or-clone.html

Answer 3

Copying the data in a new Object of the same class and persisting it will do. Keep it simple!

Answer 4

Here's a simple strategy I used that doesn't involve excessive complexity:

$new->fromArray( $old->toArray() );
$new->id = NULL;