This post will put some light over the shed of extension installation and mapping configuration of Doctrine2. It does not require any additional dependencies and gives you full power over management of extensions.

Symfony2 application

First of all, we will need a symfony2 startup application, lets say symfony-standard edition with composer. Follow the standard setup:

• git clone git://github.com/KnpLabs/symfony-with-composer.git example
• cd example && rm -rf .git && php bin/vendors install
• ensure your application loads and meet requirements, by following the url: http://your_virtual_host/app_dev.php

Now lets add the gedmo/doctrine-extensions into composer.json

{
    "require": {
        "php":              ">=5.3.2",
        "symfony/symfony":  ">=2.0.9,<2.1.0-dev",
        "doctrine/orm":     ">=2.1.0,<2.2.0-dev",
        "twig/extensions":  "*",

        "symfony/assetic-bundle":         "*",
        "sensio/generator-bundle":        "2.0.*",
        "sensio/framework-extra-bundle":  "2.0.*",
        "sensio/distribution-bundle":     "2.0.*",
        "jms/security-extra-bundle":      "1.0.*",
        "gedmo/doctrine-extensions":      "master-dev"
    },

    "autoload": {
        "psr-0": {
            "Acme": "src/"
        }
    }
}

Update vendors, run: php bin/vendors update Initially in this package you have doctrine2 orm included, so we will base our setup and configuration for this specific connection. Do not forget to configure your database connection parameters, edit app/config/parameters.ini

Mapping

Lets start from the mapping, in case if you use translatable, tree or loggable extension you will need to map those abstract mappedsuperclasses for you ORM to be aware of. To do so, add some mapping info to your doctrine.orm configuration, edit app/config.yml:

doctrine:
    dbal:
# your dbal config here

    orm:
        auto_generate_proxy_classes: %kernel.debug%
        auto_mapping: true
# only these lines are added additionally 
        mappings:
            translatable:
                type: annotation
                alias: Gedmo
                prefix: Gedmo\Translatable\Entity
                # make sure vendor library location is correct
                dir: "%kernel.root_dir%/../vendor/gedmo/doctrine-extensions/lib/Gedmo/Translatable/Entity"

After that, running php app/console doctrine:mapping:info you should see the output:

Found 3 entities mapped in entity manager default:
[OK]   Gedmo\Translatable\Entity\MappedSuperclass\AbstractPersonalTranslation
[OK]   Gedmo\Translatable\Entity\MappedSuperclass\AbstractTranslation
[OK]   Gedmo\Translatable\Entity\Translation

Well we mapped only translatable for now, it really depends on your needs, which extensions your application uses.

Note: there is Gedmo\Translatable\Entity\Translation which is not a super class, in that case if you create doctrine schema, it will add ext_translations table, which might not be useful to you also. To skip mapping of these entities, you can map only superclasses

mappings:
    translatable:
        type: annotation
        alias: Gedmo
        prefix: Gedmo\Translatable\Entity
        # make sure vendor library location is correct
        dir: "%kernel.root_dir%/../vendor/gedmo/doctrine-extensions/lib/Gedmo/Translatable/Entity/MappedSuperclass"

The configuration above, adds a /MappedSuperclass into directory depth, after running php app/console doctrine:mapping:info you should only see now:

Found 2 entities mapped in entity manager default:
[OK]   Gedmo\Translatable\Entity\MappedSuperclass\AbstractPersonalTranslation
[OK]   Gedmo\Translatable\Entity\MappedSuperclass\AbstractTranslation

This is very useful for advanced requirements and quite simple to understand. So lets map now everything extensions provide:

# only orm config branch of doctrine
orm:
    auto_generate_proxy_classes: %kernel.debug%
    auto_mapping: true
# only these lines are added additionally 
    mappings:
        translatable:
            type: annotation
            alias: Gedmo
            prefix: Gedmo\Translatable\Entity
            # make sure vendor library location is correct
            dir: "%kernel.root_dir%/../vendor/gedmo/doctrine-extensions/lib/Gedmo/Translatable/Entity"
        loggable:
            type: annotation
            alias: Gedmo
            prefix: Gedmo\Loggable\Entity
            dir: "%kernel.root_dir%/../vendor/gedmo/doctrine-extensions/lib/Gedmo/Loggable/Entity"
        tree:
            type: annotation
            alias: Gedmo
            prefix: Gedmo\Tree\Entity
            dir: "%kernel.root_dir%/../vendor/gedmo/doctrine-extensions/lib/Gedmo/Tree/Entity"

Doctrine extension listener services

Next, the heart of extensions are behavioral listeners which pours all the sugar. We will create a yml service file in our config directory. The setup can be different and located in the bundle, it depends what you prefer, edit app/config/doctrine_extensions.yml

# services to handle doctrine extensions
# import it in config.yml
services:
    # KernelRequest listener
    extension.listener:
        class: Acme\DemoBundle\Listener\DoctrineExtensionListener
        calls:
            - [ setContainer, [ @service_container ] ]
        tags:
            # translatable sets locale after router processing
            - { name: kernel.event_listener, event: kernel.request, method: onLateKernelRequest, priority: -10 }
            # loggable hooks user username if one is in security context
            - { name: kernel.event_listener, event: kernel.request, method: onKernelRequest }


    # Doctrine Extension listeners to handle behaviors
    gedmo.listener.tree:
        class: Gedmo\Tree\TreeListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]

    gedmo.listener.translatable:
        class: Gedmo\Translatable\TranslatableListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]
            - [ setDefaultLocale, [ %locale% ] ]
            - [ setTranslationFallback, [ false ] ]

    gedmo.listener.timestampable:
        class: Gedmo\Timestampable\TimestampableListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]

    gedmo.listener.sluggable:
        class: Gedmo\Sluggable\SluggableListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]

    gedmo.listener.sortable:
        class: Gedmo\Sortable\SortableListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]

    gedmo.listener.loggable:
        class: Gedmo\Loggable\LoggableListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]

So what it includes in general? Well it creates services for all extension listeners. You can remove some which you do not use or change at will. Translatable for instance, sets default locale to %locale% parameter, you can configure it differently.

Note: if you noticed, theres Acme\DemoBundle\Listener\DoctrineExtensionListener you will need to create this listener class if you use loggable or translatable behaviors. This listener will set the locale used from request and username to loggable. So, to finish the setup create Acme\DemoBundle\Listener\DoctrineExtensionListener

<?php

// file: src/Acme/DemoBundle/Listener/DoctrineExtensionListener.php

namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Listener;

use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Event\GetResponseEvent;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerAwareInterface;
use Symfony\Component\DependencyInjection\ContainerInterface;

class DoctrineExtensionListener implements ContainerAwareInterface
{
    /**
     * @var ContainerInterface
     */
    protected $container;

    public function setContainer(ContainerInterface $container = null)
    {
        $this->container = $container;
    }

    public function onLateKernelRequest(GetResponseEvent $event)
    {
        $translatable = $this->container->get('gedmo.listener.translatable');
        $translatable->setTranslatableLocale($event->getRequest()->getLocale());
    }

    public function onKernelRequest(GetResponseEvent $event)
    {
        $securityContext = $this->container->get('security.context', ContainerInterface::NULL_ON_INVALID_REFERENCE);
        if (null !== $securityContext && null !== $securityContext->getToken() && $securityContext->isGranted('IS_AUTHENTICATED_REMEMBERED')) {
            $loggable = $this->container->get('gedmo.listener.loggable');
            $loggable->setUsername($securityContext->getToken()->getUsername());
        }
    }
}

Do not forget to import doctrine_extensions.yml in your app/config/config.yml etc.:

# file: app/config/config.yml
imports:
    - { resource: parameters.ini }
    - { resource: security.yml }
    - { resource: doctrine_extensions.yml }

# ... configuration follows

Well after that, you have your extensions setup and ready to be used! Too easy right? Well if you do not believe me, lets create a simple entity in our Acme project:

<?php

// file: src/Acme/DemoBundle/Entity/BlogPost.php

namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Entity;

use Gedmo\Mapping\Annotation as Gedmo; // gedmo annotations
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM; // doctrine orm annotations

/**
 * @ORM\Entity
 */
class BlogPost
{
    /**
     * @Gedmo\Slug(fields={"title"}, updatable=false, separator="_")
     * @ORM\Id
     * @ORM\Column(length=32, unique=true)
     */
    private $id;

    /**
     * @Gedmo\Translatable
     * @ORM\Column(length=64)
     */
    private $title;

    /**
     * @Gedmo\Timestampable(on="create")
     * @ORM\Column(name="created", type="datetime")
     */
    private $created;

    /**
     * @ORM\Column(name="updated", type="datetime")
     * @Gedmo\Timestampable(on="update")
     */
    private $updated;

    public function getId()
    {
        return $this->id;
    }

    public function setTitle($title)
    {
        $this->title = $title;
    }

    public function getTitle()
    {
        return $this->title;
    }

    public function getCreated()
    {
        return $this->created;
    }

    public function getUpdated()
    {
        return $this->updated;
    }
}

Now, lets have some fun:

• if you have not created database yet, run php app/console doctrine:database:create
• create the schema php app/console doctrine:schema:create

Well, everything will work just fine, you can modify the Acme\DemoBundle\Controller\DemoController and add an action to test how it works:

// file: src/Acme/DemoBundle/Controller/DemoController.php
// include this code portion

/**
 * @Route("/posts", name="_demo_posts")
 */
public function postsAction()
{
    $em = $this->getDoctrine()->getEntityManager();
    $repository = $em->getRepository('AcmeDemoBundle:BlogPost');
    // create some posts in case if there aren't any
    if (!$repository->findOneById('hello_world')) {
        $post = new \Acme\DemoBundle\Entity\BlogPost();
        $post->setTitle('Hello world');

        $next = new \Acme\DemoBundle\Entity\BlogPost();
        $next->setTitle('Doctrine extensions');

        $em->persist($post);
        $em->persist($next);
        $em->flush();
    }
    $posts = $em
        ->createQuery('SELECT p FROM AcmeDemoBundle:BlogPost p')
        ->getArrayResult()
    ;
    die(var_dump($posts));
}

Now if you follow the url: http://your_virtual_host/app_dev.php/demo/posts you should see a print of posts, this is only an extension demo, we will not create template.

More tips

Regarding, the setup, I do not think its too complicated to use, in general it is simple enough, and lets you understand at least small parts on how you can hook mapping into doctrine, how easily extension services are added. This configuration does not hide anything behind curtains and allows you to modify the configuration as you require.

Multiple entity managers

If you use more than one entity manager, you can simply tag the listener with other manager name:

services:
    # tree behavior
    gedmo.listener.tree:
        class: Gedmo\Tree\TreeListener
        tags:
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: default }
            # additional ORM subscriber
            - { name: doctrine.event_subscriber, connection: other_connection }
            # ODM MongoDb subscriber, where **default** is manager name
            - { name: doctrine.odm.mongodb.default_event_subscriber }
        calls:
            - [ setAnnotationReader, [ @annotation_reader ] ]

Well regarding, mapping of ODM mongodb, its basically the same:

doctrine_mongodb:
    default_database: 'my_database'
    default_connection: 'default'
    default_document_manager: 'default'
    connections:
        default: ~
    document_managers:
        default:
            connection: 'default'
            auto_mapping: true
            mappings:
                translatable:
                    type: annotation
                    alias: GedmoDocument
                    prefix: Gedmo\Translatable\Document
                    # make sure vendor library location is correct
                    dir: "%kernel.root_dir%/../vendor/gedmo/doctrine-extensions/lib/Gedmo/Translatable/Document"

This also shows, how to make mappings based on single manager. All what differs is Document instead of Entity used. Haven't tested it with mongo though.

Note: extension repository contains all documentation you may need to understand how you can use it in your projects.

Do not forget - extensions will make your life easy :) and we are always happy to hear you out.