Doctrine2 getters for associations

Question

I have 2 classes: Company:

class ComCompany
{
    /**
     * @var integer
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="cmp_id", type="integer")
     * @ORM\Id
     * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="IDENTITY")
     */
    private $cmpId;

    /**
     * @var string
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="cmp_name", type="string", length=100, nullable=true)
     */
    private $cmpName;

    /**
     * @var integer
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="cmp_code", type="integer", nullable=true)
     */
    private $cmpCode;

     /**
     * @var \Catalog\WebBundle\Entity\ComCity
     *
     * @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Catalog\WebBundle\Entity\ComCity")
     * @ORM\JoinColumns({
     *   @ORM\JoinColumn(name="cmp_city", referencedColumnName="cit_id")
     * })
     */

    private $cmpCity;

    public function getCmpName()
    {
      return $this->cmpName;
    }

    public function getCmpCode()
    {
      return $this->cmpCode;
    }

    public function getCmpCity()
    {
      return $this->cmpCity;
    }

}

And city

class ComCity
{
    /**
     * @var integer
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="cit_id", type="integer")
     * @ORM\Id
     * @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="IDENTITY")
     */
    private $citId;

    /**
     * @var string
     *
     * @ORM\Column(name="cit_name", type="string", length=255, nullable=true)
     */
    private $citName;

    public function getCitId()
    {
    return $this->citId;
    }

    public function getCitName()
    {
    return $this->citName;
    }

}

This 2 tables have associations Company.comCity = City.citId

How to add getter method to ComCompany class to get City.citName ?

I have foreign keys and Entity is generated properly, but there not method for get citName from Company class

Answer 1

Just add the following code to your ComCompany class

public function getCityName()
{
    return $this->cmpCity->getCitName();
}

Answer 2

You don't need no this getter method while you already have it in ComCity class. Because adding it (like answer suggested) is making duplicate code. You should use

$company->getCmpCity()->getCitName() 

instead

And also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_repeat_yourself

Answer 3

Both answers provided are absolutely correct. However, take into account that if you're using lazy loading an extra query will be triggered each time you call getCityName unless you use a JOIN in your DQL/Query Builder.

This can have terrible performance issues if you call getCityName in a loop so I thought it was worth mentioning it.