在生产网站上提交表单时出现验证错误“此值不应为空”

Question

I'm developing a website using php 7.4, symfony 5.4 and twig . This website is deployed on several servers. On one of the servers (RedHat), a form cannot be submitted. I get the following error 4 times: " This value should not be blank. ". The messages appear on top of the form and aren't attached to a particular field.

I can't reproduce this error on another server, nor on my development environment...

The problem might comes from a validator but I'm not sure whether it's a symfony or a doctrine error.

The POST data is identical on production server and dev environment:

report_selection[iFrame]: 1
report_selection[dteFrom]: 2023-01-30 07:00
report_selection[dteTo]: 2023-01-31 07:00 
report_selection[reportType]: 1
report_selection[size]: 200
report_selection[product]: 1
report_selection[submit]:

I assume that the empty field submit is not a problem since other forms work fine while having the same field empty.

The database structure is the same on all servers.

Here is the form's code:

   public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options): void
    {
        $bDisplaySize = $options['bDisplaySize'];
        $bDisplayReportType = $options['bDisplayReportType'];
        $bDisplayProduct = $options['bDisplayProduct'];
        $defaultValue = $options['defaultValue'];
        $em = $options['entity_manager'];

        list($H, $m) = explode(":", $iShiftStart);
        $initialFromDate = (new DateTime())->modify('-'.$H.' hour');
        $initialFromDate = $initialFromDate->modify('-1 day');
        $initialFromDate->setTime((int)$iShiftStart, (int)$m, 0);
        $initialToDate = clone $initialFromDate;
        $initialToDate = $initialToDate->modify('+1 day');


        $builder->add(
            'iFrame',
            ChoiceType::class,
            array(
                'label' => 'master.preselection',
                'choices' => [
                    'master.yesterday' => false,
                    'master.today' => false,
                    'master.thisWeek' => false,
                    'master.lastWeek' => false,
                    'master.thisMonth' => false,
                    'master.lastMonth' => false,
                    'master.memomryDate' => false,
                ],
                'attr' => ['onchange' => 'refreshPreselectedChoices()'],
                'choice_attr' => [
                    'master.yesterday' => [],
                    'master.today' => ['selected' => 'selected'],
                    'master.thisWeek' => [],
                    'master.lastWeek' => [],
                    'master.thisMonth' => [],
                    'master.lastMonth' => [],
                    'master.memomryDate' => ['disabled' => true],
                ],

            )
        );

        $builder->add(
            'dteFrom',
            TextType::class,
            array(
                'label' => 'form.from',
                'data' => $initialFromDate->format('Y-m-d H:i'),
                'attr' => array(
                    'style' => 'width:150px;',
                    'oninput' => 'dteFromToCustom()',
                    'onchange' => 'dteFromToCustom()',
                ),
            )
        );

        $builder->add(
            'dteTo',
            TextType::class,
            array(
                'label' => 'form.to',
                'data' => $initialToDate->format('Y-m-d H:i'),
                'attr' => array(
                    'label' => 'form.to',
                    'style' => 'width:150px;',
                    'oninput' => 'dteFromToCustom()',
                    'onchange' => 'dteFromToCustom()',
                ),
            )
        );

        if ($bDisplayReportType) {
            $builder->add(
                'reportType',
                ChoiceType::class,
                array(
                    'label' => 'summaryReport.data',
                    'choices' => array(
                        'summaryReport.type1' => '1',
                        'summaryReport.type2' => '2',
                    ),
                )
            );
        }

        if ($bDisplaySize) {
            $builder->add(
                'size',
                EntityType::class,
                array(
                    'class' => ProductsSizeSpecs::class,
                    'choice_label' => 'rSize',
                    'choice_value' => 'rSize',
                    'placeholder' => '',
                    'label' => 'form.size',
                    'required' => false,
                    'mapped' => false,
                    'query_builder' => function (EntityRepository $er) {
                        return $er->createQueryBuilder('e')
                            ->groupBy('e.rSize')
                            ->orderBy('e.rSize', 'ASC');
                    },

                )
            );
        }

        if ($bDisplayProduct) {
            $builder->add(
                'product',
                EntityType::class,
                array(
                    'class' => Products::class,
                    'choice_label' => 'sNumber',
                    'choice_value' => 'sNumber',
                    'placeholder' => '',
                    'label' => 'master.product',
                    'required' => false,
                    'query_builder' => function (EntityRepository $er) {
                        return $er->createQueryBuilder('e')
                            ->groupBy('e.sNumber')
                            ->orderBy('e.sNumber', 'ASC');
                    },

                )
            );
        }

        $builder->add(
            'submit',
            SubmitType::class,
            array(
                'label' => 'form.submit',
                'attr' => array('class' => 'btn btn-primary'),
            )
        );
    }

Other forms use the exact same code with more or less options.

I search a way to debug this on the production server (list/dump of 'blank' fields?).

Any hint will be appreciated, thanks !

Answer 1

Indeed I had some @Assert\NotBlank on several columns of an Entity.

Why the error was only on this server:

• An instance (db record) of this Entity was NULL on those columns (which is an anormal behavior).
• All the instances where retrieved to populate the form's dropdowns (as 'default' data).
• It looks like the validator is checking the submitted 'data' AND those 'default' values since they are part of the form.
• There were 4 asserted columns, so that's why I had 4 errors messages.

What I've done to find this out:

• Added a dump($this->form->getErrors()) instruction on the callback processing the submitted form. It displayed the 4 entity's columns giving me hard time.
• Went into db to see the corrupted record, and deleted it.

To prevent this in the future I might change the default values of these columns from NULL to something else, a basic string or a 0 value, and search the process that led to this corrupted record in db.

Thanks for your hints guys !