2.1. Step 1: Define SonataAdminBundle routes¶

To be able to access SonataAdminBundle’s pages, you need to add its routes to your application’s routing file:

At this point you can already access the (empty) admin dashboard by visiting the url: http://yoursite.local/admin/dashboard.

2.2. Step 2: Create an Admin class¶

SonataAdminBundle helps you manage your data using a graphic interface that will let you create, update or search your model’s instances. Those actions need to be configured, which is done using an Admin class.

An Admin class represents the mapping of your model to each administration action. In it, you decide which fields to show on a listing, which to use as filters or what to show in a creation or edition form.

The easiest way to create an Admin class for your model is to extend the Sonata\AdminBundle\Admin\Admin class.

Suppose your AcmeDemoBundle has a Post entity. This is how a basic Admin class for it could look like:

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<?php
// src/Acme/DemoBundle/Admin/PostAdmin.php

namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Admin;

use Sonata\AdminBundle\Admin\Admin;
use Sonata\AdminBundle\Datagrid\ListMapper;
use Sonata\AdminBundle\Datagrid\DatagridMapper;
use Sonata\AdminBundle\Form\FormMapper;

class PostAdmin extends Admin
{
    // Fields to be shown on create/edit forms
    protected function configureFormFields(FormMapper $formMapper)
    {
        $formMapper
            ->add('title', 'text', array('label' => 'Post Title'))
            ->add('author', 'entity', array('class' => 'Acme\DemoBundle\Entity\User'))
            ->add('body') //if no type is specified, SonataAdminBundle tries to guess it
        ;
    }

    // Fields to be shown on filter forms
    protected function configureDatagridFilters(DatagridMapper $datagridMapper)
    {
        $datagridMapper
            ->add('title')
            ->add('author')
        ;
    }

    // Fields to be shown on lists
    protected function configureListFields(ListMapper $listMapper)
    {
        $listMapper
            ->addIdentifier('title')
            ->add('slug')
            ->add('author')
        ;
    }
}

Implementing these three functions is the first step to creating an Admin class. Other options are available, that will let you further customize the way your model is shown and handled. Those will be covered in more advanced chapters of this manual.

2.3. Step 3: Create an Admin service¶

Now that you have created your Admin class, you need to create a service for it. This service needs to have the sonata.admin tag, which is your way of letting SonataAdminBundle know that this particular service represents an Admin class:

Create either a new admin.xml or admin.yml file inside the Acme/DemoBundle/Resources/config/ folder:

Example above assumes that you’re using SonataDoctrineORMAdminBundle. If you’re using SonataDoctrineMongoDBAdminBundle, SonataPropelAdminBundle or SonataDoctrinePhpcrAdminBundle instead, set manager_type option to doctrine_mongodb, propel or doctrine_phpcr respectively.

The basic configuration of an Admin service is quite simple. It creates a service instance based on the class you specified before, and accepts three arguments:

1. The Admin service’s code (defaults to the service’s name)
2. The model which this Admin class maps (required)
3. The controller that will handle the administration actions (defaults to SonataAdminBundle:CRUDController())

Usually you just need to specify the second argument, as the first and third’s default values will work for most scenarios.

The setTranslationDomain call lets you choose which translation domain to use when translating labels on the admin pages. More info on the symfony translations page.

Now that you have a configuration file with your admin service, you just need to tell Symfony2 to load it. There are two ways to do so:

2.4. Step 4: Configuration¶

At this point you have basic administration actions for your model. If you visit http://yoursite.local/admin/dashboard again, you should now see a panel with your mapped model. You can start creating, listing, editing and deleting instances.

You probably want to put your own project’s name and logo on the top bar.

Put your logo file here src/Acme/DemoBundle/Resources/public/img/fancy_acme_logo.png

Install your assets:

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$ php app/console assets:install

Now you can change your project’s main config.yml file:

2.5. Next steps - Security¶

As you probably noticed, you were able to access your dashboard and data by just typing in the URL. By default, the SonataAdminBundle does not come with any user management for ultimate flexibility. However, it is most likely that your application requires such a feature. The Sonata Project includes a SonataUserBundle which integrates the very popular FOSUserBundle. Please refer to the Security section of this documentation for more information.

Congratulations! You are ready to start using SonataAdminBundle. You can now map additional models or explore advanced functionalities. The following sections will each address a specific section or functionality of the bundle, giving deeper details on what can be configured and achieved with SonataAdminBundle.