getting-started.md

Getting Started

1. Basic Usage
2. Framework integration
   1. Symfony

Basic Usage

The easiest way to use this is to call the Nelmio\Alice\Loader\NativeLoader loader. It is ready to use and does not require any framework integration. It allows you to load any file or an array of data.

# Example of YAML file

Nelmio\Entity\User:
    user{1..10}:
        username: '<username()>'
        fullname: '<firstName()> <lastName()>'
        birthDate: '<date_create()>'
        email: '<email()>'
        favoriteNumber: '50%? <numberBetween(1, 200)>'

Nelmio\Entity\Group:
    group1:
        name: Admins
        owner: '@user1'
        members: '<numberBetween(1, 10)>x @user*'
        created: '<dateTimeBetween("-200 days", "now")>'
        updated: '<dateTimeBetween($created, "now")>'

<?php
// Example of PHP file

return [
    \Nelmio\Entity\User::class => [
        'user{1..10}' => [
            'username' => '<username()>',
            'fullname' => '<firstName()> <lastName()>',
            'birthDate' => '<date_create()>',
            'email' => '<email()>',
            'favoriteNumber' => '50%? <numberBetween(1, 200)>',
        ],
    ],
    \Nelmio\Entity\Group::class => [
        'group1' => [
            'name' => 'Admins',
            'owner' => '@user1',
            'members' => '<numberBetween(1, 10)>x @user*',
            'created' => '<dateTimeBetween("-200 days", "now")>',
            'updated' => '<dateTimeBetween($created, "now")>',
        ],
    ],
];

$loader = new Nelmio\Alice\Loader\NativeLoader();
$objectSet = $loader->loadFile(__DIR__.'/fixtures.yml');
// or
$objectSet = $loader->loadFile(__DIR__.'/fixtures.php');

$loader = new Nelmio\Alice\Loader\NativeLoader();
$objectSet = $loader->loadData([
    \Nelmio\Entity\User::class => [
        'user{1..10}' => [
            'username' => '<username()>',
            'fullname' => '<firstName()> <lastName()>',
            'birthDate' => '<date_create()>',
            'email' => '<email()>',
            'favoriteNumber' => '50%? <numberBetween(1, 200)>',
        ],
    ],
    \Nelmio\Entity\Group::class => [
        'group1' => [
            'name' => 'Admins',
            'owner' => '@user1',
            'members' => '<numberBetween(1, 10)>x @user*',
            'created' => '<dateTimeBetween("-200 days", "now")>',
            'updated' => '<dateTimeBetween($created, "now")>',
        ],
    ],
]);

When loading a file or an array of data, you can inject parameters and objects:

$loader = new Nelmio\Alice\Loader\NativeLoader();
$objectSet = $loader->loadData(
    [
        \Nelmio\Entity\Group::class => [
            'group1' => [
                'name' => '<{name}>',
                'owner' => '@user1',
            ],
        ],
    ],
    ['name' => 'Admins'],
    ['user1' => $user1]
);

This, among other things, allows you to load several files successively even if they are dependent (you can also make use of the include directive):

$loader = new Nelmio\Alice\Loader\NativeLoader();

$objectSet = $loader->loadFile(__DIR__.'/users.yml');
$objectSet = $loader->loadFile(
    __DIR__.'/groups.yml',
    $objectSet->getParameters(),
    $objectSet->getObjects()
);

Framework integration

Symfony

Alice comes with a Symfony Bundle NelmioAliceBundle. To enabled it, update your application kernel:

<?php
// app/AppKernel.php

public function registerBundles()
{
    //...
    if (in_array($this->getEnvironment(), ['dev', 'test'])) {
        //...
        $bundles[] = new Nelmio\Alice\Bridge\Symfony\NelmioAliceBundle();
    }

    return $bundles;
}

You can then configure the bundle to your needs:

# app/config/config_dev.yml

nelmio_alice:
    locale: 'en_US' # Default locale for the Faker Generator
    seed: 1 # Value used make sure Faker generates data consistently across
            # runs, set to null to disable.
    functions_blacklist: # Some Faker formatter may have the same name as PHP
        - 'current'      # native functions. PHP functions have the priority,
                         # so if you want to use a Faker formatter instead,
                         # blacklist this function here
    loading_limit: 5 # Alice may do some recursion to resolve certain values.
                     # This parameter defines a limit which will stop the
                     # resolution once reached.
    max_unique_values_retry: 150 # Maximum number of time Alice can try to
                                   # generate a unique value before stopping and
                                   # failing.

Note: When using <current()> with the Alice built-in provider, be sure current is in the functions_blacklist if you append more functions.

---

« Complete Reference • Installation »