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Data Extract Bundle

Symfony2 Bundle to assist with (meta)data extraction from entities. Data can be extracted from Doctrine entities using annotations, data from other objects can be extracted using tagged services. When parsing entities and tagged services a dictionary is build that can be used to inform the user which data is available.

Author

This Symfony2 bundle is provided for free by VisualMedia a dutch web development, web design and internet marketing company.

Feature overview

• Available data is configured using annotations
• Tagged service interface for extra (not annotated) data
• Dictionary with available data

Requirements

• PHP 5.4+
• Symfony v2.4+
• Doctrine ORM v1.2+
• Doctrine Bundle v2.4+

Use Case

The content in every application contains valuable information that can be used in (meta)tags, search indexers, etc. This information can be link within program code, but this prevents marketeers to use the information without stepping to a developer. Within our application we use an easy to use expression language that has access to the extracted data, enabling marketeers to create new and dynamic tags based on information contained in the application. The dictionary shows them which information is available.

Design considirations

No MetaData inheritance

When scanning for available (meta)data only the entity classes are considered, this is by design and prevents unintentional inheritance for non relevant data. In the future a new annotation could be added that indicates how deep the system should scan for annotations

Only annotations based

At the moment only annotations are used for providing meta(data) configuration, this is done becouse VisualMedia works with annotations for configuring columns, etc. XML and/or YAML configuration files could be implemented.

No global (meta)data

The bundle only extracts (meta)data from objects and has no way to provide global (meta)data like an analytics code eg. This is by design as this is a whole new use case.

Installation

Add the following dependencies to your projects composer.json file:

"require": {
    # ..
    "visualmedia/data_extract_bundle": "~1.0"
    # ..
}

Enable VisualMDataExtractBundle in your AppKernel:

<?php
// app/AppKernel.php

public function registerBundles()
{
    $bundles = array(
        // ...
        new VisualM\DataExtractBundle\VisualMDataExtractBundle(),
    );
}

Usage

Add Annotations to Doctrine Entities

Trough this annotations the Bundle (DictionaryCollector) can scan for available (meta)data in Doctrine Entities

<?php

use VisualM\DataExtractBundle\Annotation\DataElement;

// ...

/** 
 * @ORM\Entity()
 * 
 * @DataElement(fields="title, page.title", getter="getTitle")
 * @DataElement(fields="meta_description, page.meta_description", getter="getMetaDescription")
 * @DataElement(fields="page.changed", getter="getChanged", type="datetime")
 * @DataElement(fields="page.changed", getter="getChangedFormatted")
 */
class Page
{

// ...

Use the DictionaryCollector to list available fields

With the DictionaryCollector it is possible to list all fields that are provided by Entities and DataProviders (see Advanced usage section). This list can be used to show the user a list of available fields.

<?php

$dictionary_collector = $this->container->get('visualm.data.dictionary_collector');

// List all available field 
var_dump($dict_collector->getAvailableFields());

// Returns:
//
// array
//   0 => string 'meta_description'
//   1 => string 'title'
//   2 => string 'page.changed'
//   3 => string 'page.meta_description'
//   4 => string 'page.title'

// List fields of specific type(s)
var_dump($dict_collector->getAvailableFields([ TypeEnum::DATETIME ]));

// Returns:
//
// array
//   0 => string 'page.changed'

Get (meta)data for a specific object/entity

With the DataCollector it is possible to extract data from a specific object/entitiy without storing it into the DataCollector. When retrieving (meta)data it is possible to indicate which data can be handled (default is only STRING). When indicating more then one type, the order determines which data is returned when multiple types of data are available

<?php

$page = $page_repository->getPageBySlug('test');

$data_collector = $this->get('visualm.data.data_collector');

// Get all data from single entity of type DATETIME and STRING, prevering DATETIME
$data = $data_collector->getForSingleObject($page, [ TypeEnum::DATETIME, TypeEnum::STRING ]);
var_dump($data);

// Returns:
// array
//   'title' => string 'Test'
//   'page' => 
//     array
//       'title' => string 'Test'
//       'changed' => 
//         object(DateTime)[617]
//           public 'date' => string '2014-08-01 12:00:00'
//           public 'timezone_type' => int 3
//           public 'timezone' => string 'Europe/Berlin'

// Get all data from single entity of type DATETIME and STRING, prevering STRING
$data = $data_collector->getForSingleObject($page, [ TypeEnum::STRING, TypeEnum::DATETIME ]);
var_dump($data);

// Returns:
// array
//   'title' => string 'Test'
//   'page' => 
//     array
//       'title' => string 'Test'
//       'changed' => string '2014-08-01 12:00:00'

Get (meta)data for multiple objects/entities

With the DataCollector it is possible to extract data from multiple objects/entities, the DataCollector remembers which data it extracted from the different objects and allows collection of one aggregrated set. When retrieving (meta)data it is possible to indicate which data can be handled (default is only STRING). When indicating more then one type, the order determines which data is returned when multiple types of data are available.

<?php

$page = $page_repository->getPageBySlug('test');
$page2 = $page_repository->getPageBySlug('test2');  

$data_collector = $this->get('visualm.data.data_collector');

// Push objects into collector
$data_collector->pushObject($page);
$data_collector->pushObject($page2);

// Get all collected data of type DATETIME and STRING, prevering DATETIME
$data = $data_collector->getCollected($page, [ TypeEnum::DATETIME, TypeEnum::STRING ]);
var_dump($data);

// Returns:
// array
//   'title' => string 'Test2'
//   'page' => 
//     array
//       'title' => string 'Test2'
//       'changed' => 
//         object(DateTime)[617]
//           public 'date' => string '2014-08-01 12:00:00'
//           public 'timezone_type' => int 3
//           public 'timezone' => string 'Europe/Berlin'

// Get all collected data of type DATETIME and STRING, prevering STRING
$data = $data_collector->getCollected($page, [ TypeEnum::STRING, TypeEnum::DATETIME ]);
var_dump($data);

// Returns:
// array
//   'title' => string 'Test2'
//   'page' => 
//     array
//       'title' => string 'Test2'
//       'changed' => string '2014-08-01 12:00:00'

Advanced Usage

DataProviderInterface

A DataProvider can be used to extract data from object that cannot be provided using the annotation system, for instance becouse it uses an service not available within the entity (say Routing)

Create the DataProvider class

A DataProvider must implement the DataProviderInterface. This Interface requires two functions, the first function getProvidedFields() indicates to the DictionaryCollector which fields it provides. The second function extractData($object) is responsible for extracting the data from the object. This function is responsible for checking if it can handle the object (using instanceOf for example).

<?php

use VisualM\DataExtractBundle\Data\CollectedData;
use VisualM\DataExtractBundle\Data\ProvidedField;
use VisualM\DataExtractBundle\Data\TypeEnum;
use VisualM\DataExtractBundle\Provider\DataProviderInterface;

// ...

class SlugDataProvider implements DataProviderInterface
{
    /*
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function extractData($object)
    {
        if ($object instanceof Page) {            
            return [
                (new CollectedData('slug'))->addData(TypeEnum::STRING, $object->getSlug()),
                (new CollectedData('page.slug'))->addData(TypeEnum::STRING, $object->getSlug())
            ];
        }        
        return [];
    }

    /*
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */ 
    public function getProvidedFields()
    {
        return [
            new ProvidedField('slug', TypeEnum::STRING),
            new ProvidedField('page.slug', TypeEnum::STRING)
        ];
    }

}

Add DataProvider to the container as tagged service

The Bundle scans for services with the visualm.data.data_provider tag and automaticly registers them with the DictionaryCollector for usage. When using the tag an optional attribute cacheable indicates if the fields that are returned by getProvidedFields() are cachable, the default is true.

# ... 
services:   
# ... 
    project.slug_data_provider:
        class: '...\...\SlugDataProvider'
        tags:
            - { name: visualm.data.data_provider, cachable : true }
# ...