ZF2 doctrine OneToMany annotation form

Question

I have following entities:

1. User

   /**
    * Users
    *
    * @ORM\Table(name="users")
    * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="Users\Entity\Repository\UsersRepository")
    * @Annotation\Name("user")
    * @Annotation\Hydrator("Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ClassMethods")
    */
   class User
   {   
   /**
        * @var string
        *
        * @ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=100, nullable=false)
        * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StringTrim"})
        * @Annotation\Validator({"name":"StringLength", "options":{"min":2, "max":100}})
        * @Annotation\Attributes({"type":"text","class":"form-control"})
        * @Annotation\Options({"label":"Full name:"})
        */
       private $name;
   
   /**
        * @var User\Entity\UserItem
        *
        * @ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="User\Entity\UserItem", mappedBy="user")
        * @Annotation\Exclude()
        */
       private $items;
   
       /**
        * @var integer
        *
        * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
        * @ORM\Id
        * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
        * @Annotation\Exclude()
        */
       private $id;
   
   public function __construct()
       {
               $this->vessels = new ArrayCollection();
       }
   
    public function setName($name)
       {
           $this->name = $name;
   
           return $this;
       }
   
       public function getName()
       {
           return $this->name;
       }
   
    public function getId()
       {
           return $this->id;
       }
   
   public function getItems()
       {
               return $this->items
       }
   
       public function setItems($items)
       {
               $this->itemr = $items;
               return $this;
       }
   

2. Item

    /**
    * Items
    * @ORM\Entity
    * @ORM\Table(name="items")
    * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="User\Entity\Repository\ItemsRepository")
    * @Annotation\Name("item")
    * @Annotation\Hydrator("Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ClassMethods")
    */
     class Item
      {
       /**
        * @var string
        *
        * @ORM\Column(name="name", type="string", length=100, nullable=false)
        * @Annotation\Filter({"name":"StringTrim"})
        * @Annotation\Validator({"name":"StringLength", "options":{"min":2, "max":100}})
        * @Annotation\Attributes({"type":"text","class":"form-control"})
        * @Annotation\Options({"label":"Name:"})
        */
        private $name;
   
       /**
        * @var integer
        *
        * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
        * @ORM\Id
        * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
        * @Annotation\Exclude()
        */
        private $id;
   

3. And finally entity keepeing relation between those two UserItem

    /**
     * UserItem
     *
     * @ORM\Table(name="users_items")
     * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="User\Entity\Repository\UserItemsRepository")
     * @Annotation\Name("user_item")
     * @Annotation\Hydrator("Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ClassMethods")
     */
    class UserItem{    
        /**
         * @var Users\Entity\User
         *
         * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Users\Entity\User", inversedBy="items")
         * @ORM\JoinColumn(name="user_id", referencedColumnName="id")
         * @Annotation\Exclude()
         */
        private $user;
   
        /**
         * @var User\Entity\Item
         *
         * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="User\Entity\Item", inversedBy="users")
         * @ORM\JoinColumn(name="item_id", referencedColumnName="id")
         * @Annotation\Type("DoctrineModule\Form\Element\ObjectSelect")
         */
        private $item;
   
        /**
         * @var integer
         *
         * @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
         * @ORM\Id
         * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
         * @Annotation\Exclude()
         */
        private $id;
   

With this entities i can create and edit User and Item. Form are generated from annotations. My question is how can i generate form for assigning items to user. Preferably as select field(s) with multiple selection. And after submitting doctrine should save the relations.

I wrote this form to represent items to select:

class ItemsForm extends Form
{
    public function __construct($entityManager, $name = null)
    {
        parent::__construct('items');
        $this->setAttribute('method', 'post');
        $this->add(array(
            'type' => 'DoctrineModule\Form\Element\ObjectSelect',
            'name' => 'items',
            'attributes' => array(
                'id' => 'selectItems',
                'multiple' => true,
                'data-placeholder' => 'Items'
            ),
            'options' => array(
                'object_manager' => $entityManager,
                'target_class' => 'User\Entity\Item',
                'property' => 'name',
                ),
            )
        );        
    }
}

And now i do not know how to preselect items user has already assigned.

Answer 1

In select field in value you must have id from items. After submit you can do something like that

foreach($post['items'] as $itemId)
{
    $userItem = new UserItem();
    $userItem->user = $this->getEntityManager()->getReference('User', $userId);
    $userItem->item = $this->getEntityManager()->getReference('Item', $itemId);
    $this->getEntityManager()->save($userItem);
}