New in Symfony 4.3: More Form improvements

Keep preferred choices order

Contributed by Valentin Udaltsov in #30985

The ChoiceType form field used to display select drop-downs, checkboxes and radio buttons defines an option called preferred_choices to display some options at the top of your list with a visual separator between them and the rest of the options:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\ChoiceType;
use Symfony\Component\Intl\Countries;

->add('country', ChoiceType::class, [
    'choices' => Countries::getNames(),
    'preferred_choices' => ['US', 'JP', 'CN'],
])

In previous Symfony versions, the preferred choices were sorted automatically as the rest of the options (in the previous example, they will be displayed in this order: CN, JP, US). In Symfony 4.3, these preferred options will be displayed in the exact same order as you defined in your code.

Improved the form debug command

Contributed by Yonel Ceruto in #31082

The handy debug:form command has improved in Symfony 4.3. If a form type defines options with OptionsResolver normalizers associated to them, the command now displays all of them:

Row attributes in form themes

Contributed by Alexander Schranz in #30320

In current Symfony versions, when you need to do minor customizations (e.g. adding a CSS class) to the form_row block in form themes you need to override the entire form_row block contents. In Symfony 4.3, thanks to a new row_attr option, you can do that as follows:

1
2
3
4

{% block form_row %}
    {% set row_attr = { class: 'some_custom_class' } %}
    {{ parent() }}
{% endblock %}

Custom errors in data mappers

Contributed by Maxime Steinhausser in #20978

Sometimes, when using data mappers with Symfony Forms, the generic error message shown when a data transformation fails is not clear enough. In Symfony 4.3 you'll be able to define a custom error message:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

class MoneyDataMapper implements DataMapperInterface
{
    public function mapDataToForms($data, $forms)
    {
        $forms = iterator_to_array($forms);
        $forms['amount']->setData($data ? $data->getAmount() : 0);
        $forms['currency']->setData($data ? $data->getCurrency() : 'EUR');
    }

    public function mapFormsToData($forms, &$data)
    {
        $forms = iterator_to_array($forms);

        $amount = $forms['amount']->getData();
        if (!is_numeric($amount)) {
            $failure = new TransformationFailedException('Expected numeric value');

            // 'setInvalidMessage()' method was introduced in Symfony 4.3
            $failure->setInvalidMessage('Money amount should be numeric. {{ amount }} is invalid.', [
                '{{ amount }}' => json_encode($amount)
            ]);

            throw $failure;
        }

        $data = new Money($forms['amount']->getData(), $forms['currency']->getData());
    }
}

Customizable percent symbol

Contributed by Oskar Stark in #30433

By default, Symfony uses % as the symbol displayed next to the values of PercentType form fields. In Symfony 4.3 this is configurable thanks to a new option called symbol. Set it to false to not display any symbol or set it to a string value (e.g. ‰) to display any symbol.

1
2
3
4
5

use Symfony\Component\Form\Extension\Core\Type\PercentType;

->add('salinity', PercentType::class, [
    'symbol' => '‰',
])