Symfony2 An exception has been thrown during the rendering of a template strtr() expects parameter 1 to be string, object given

Question

I am trying to get a Date type field from the entity and I encounter the following error:

An exception has been thrown during the rendering of a template ("Warning: strtr()
expects parameter 1 to be string, object given in /var/www/feedyourmind_symfony/vendor /symfony/src/Symfony/Component/Translation/IdentityTranslator.php line 62") in form_div_layout.html.twig at line 37.

I am fairly new to Symfony2 and can not seem to figure out why I would be getting this error. Perhaps there is something wrong with my Entities? I do not know and I would really like some assistance if possible.

Although the error points to an issue with the rendering of a template, I feel that the real error lies with the Entity and the date field not correctly functioning.

Here is the basic code in my Controller:

    public function addQuestionAction(Request $request){
    $question = new Question();
    $form = $this->createForm(new QuestionType(), $question);

    return $this->render('LaPorchettaWebBundle:Default:add_question.html.twig', array(
        'form'   => $form->createView(),
    ));
}

Here is the TWIG view:

{% extends "LaPorchettaWebBundle:Default:test.html.twig" %}
{% block pageTitle %}LaPorchetta Create A Question{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
<div id="outer">
<form name="petEntry" action="" method="post" enctype="multipart/form-data" >

  {{ form_errors(form) }}

    <div class="left">
      {{ form_label(form.survey) }}
    </div>
    <div class="right">
      {{ form_widget(form.survey) }}
      {{ form_errors(form.survey) }}
    </div>

    <div class="left">
      {{ form_label(form.section) }}
    </div>
    <div class="right">
      {{ form_widget(form.section) }}
      {{ form_errors(form.section) }}
    </div>

    <div class="left">
      {{ form_label(form.sub_section) }}
    </div>
    <div class="right">
      {{ form_widget(form.sub_section) }}
      {{ form_errors(form.sub_section) }}
    </div>

    <div class="left">
      {{ form_label(form.description) }}
    </div>
    <div class="right">
      {{ form_widget(form.description) }}
      {{ form_errors(form.description) }}
    </div>

    <div class="left">
      {{ form_label(form.points) }}
    </div>
    <div class="right">
      {{ form_widget(form.points) }}
      {{ form_errors(form.points) }}
    </div>
  <div id="inputs">
      <input type="button" id="btnCancel" name="cancel" value="Cancel"   
 onclick="window.location = '' " />
      <input id="update" type="submit" value="submit" />
  </div>
</div>
</form>
</div>
{% endblock %}

I have the following entities:

<?php
namespace LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

/**
 * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Repository\SurveyRepository")
 * @ORM\HasLifecycleCallbacks()
 * @ORM\Table(name="Surveys")
 */
class Survey {

public function __construct() {
    $this->question    = new ArrayCollection();
    $this->store       = new ArrayCollection();
}

/**
 * @ORM\Id @ORM\Column(type="integer")
 * @ORM\GeneratedValue
 */
protected $id;

/**
* @ORM\Column(type="date")
*/
protected $survey_date;

/**
* @ORM\OneToMany(targetEntity="Question", mappedBy="survey")
*/
protected $question = null;

/**
* @ORM\OneToOne(targetEntity="Store", inversedBy="survey")
*/
protected $store = null;

/**
 * Get id
 *
 * @return integer 
 */
public function getId()
{
    return $this->id;
}    

/**
* @ORM\prePersist
*/
public function setSurveyDate()
{
    $this->survey_date = new \DateTime();
}

/**
 * Get survey_date
 *
 * @return date 
 */
public function getSurveyDate()
{
    return $this->survey_date;
}

/**
 * Add question
 *
 * @param LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Question $question
 */
public function addQuestion(\LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Question $question)
{
    $this->question[] = $question;
}

/**
 * Get question
 *
 * @return Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection 
 */
public function getQuestion()
{
    return $this->question;
}

/**
 * Set store
 *
 * @param LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Store $store
 */
public function setStore(\LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Store $store)
{
    $this->store = $store;
}

/**
 * Get store
 *
 * @return LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Store 
 */
public function getStore()
{
    return $this->store;
}

/**
 * Get action_item
 *
 * @return Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection 
 */
public function getActionItem()
{
    return $this->action_item;
}

/**
 * Set action_item
 *
 * @param LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Question $actionItem
 */
public function setActionItem(\LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Question $actionItem)
{
    $this->action_item = $actionItem;
}
}

Entity Type -> Questions

<?php
namespace LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity;

use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Component\Validator\Constraints as Assert;

/**
 * @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Repository\QuestionRepository")
 * @ORM\Table(name="Questions")
 */
class Question {

/**
* @ORM\Id @ORM\Column(type="integer") @ORM\GeneratedValue
*/
protected $id;

/**
* @ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity="Survey", inversedBy="question")
*/
protected $survey;

/**
* @ORM\Column(type="string")
*/
protected $section;

/**
* @ORM\Column(type="string")
*/
protected $sub_section;

/**
* @ORM\Column(type="string")
*/    
protected $description;

/**
* @ORM\Column(type="integer")
*/
protected $points;


/**
 * Get id
 *
 * @return integer 
 */
public function getId()
{
    return $this->id;
}

/**
 * Set section
 *
 * @param string $section
 */
public function setSection($section)
{
    $this->section = $section;
}

/**
 * Get section
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getSection()
{
    return $this->section;
}

/**
 * Set sub_section
 *
 * @param string $subSection
 */
public function setSubSection($subSection)
{
    $this->sub_section = $subSection;
}

/**
 * Get sub_section
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getSubSection()
{
    return $this->sub_section;
}

/**
 * Set description
 *
 * @param string $description
 */
public function setDescription($description)
{
    $this->description = $description;
}

/**
 * Get description
 *
 * @return string 
 */
public function getDescription()
{
    return $this->description;
}

/**
 * Set survey
 *
 * @param LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey $survey
 */
public function setSurvey(\LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey $survey)
{
    $this->survey = $survey;
}

/**
 * Get survey
 *
 * @return LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey 
 */
public function getSurvey()
{
    return $this->survey;
}

/**
 * Set points
 *
 * @param integer $points
 */
public function setPoints($points)
{
    $this->points = $points;
}

/**
 * Get points
 *
 * @return integer 
 */
public function getPoints()
{
    return $this->points;
}
public function __construct()
{
    $this->action_item = new \Doctrine\Common\Collections\ArrayCollection();
}

/**
 * Add action_item
 *
 * @param LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey $actionItem
 */
public function addSurvey(\LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey $actionItem)
{
    $this->action_item[] = $actionItem;
}

/**
 * Get action_item
 *
 * @return Doctrine\Common\Collections\Collection 
 */
public function getActionItem()
{
    return $this->action_item;
}

/**
 * Set action_item
 *
 * @param LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey $actionItem
 */
public function setActionItem(\LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Entity\Survey $actionItem)
{
    $this->action_item = $actionItem;
}
}

I have the following QuestionType:

<?php
namespace LaPorchetta\WebBundle\Form;

use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\Form\FormBuilder;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityRepository;

class QuestionType extends AbstractType
{
public function buildForm(FormBuilder $builder, array $options)
{


    $builder
        ->add('survey', 'entity', array(
                                'class'=>'LaPorchettaWebBundle:Survey',
                                'property'=>'survey_date',
                                'multiple' => true,
                                'required'  => true,
                                'query_builder' => function(EntityRepository $er) {
                                    return  
$er->createQueryBuilder('s')->orderBy('s.survey_date', 'ASC');
                                }))
        ->add('section', 'text')
        ->add('sub_section', 'text')
        ->add('description', 'text')
        ->add('points', 'integer');
}
public function getName()
{
    return 'LaPorchetta_WebBundle_QuestionType';
}
}

Solution

Although not the most convenient way to achieve the desired results, I ended up constructing a form inside the Controller action and when it came to addressing the date field, I used it like so:

$surveys = $item_repo->findAll();
    foreach($surveys as $survey){
        array_push($dates, $survey->getSurveyDate()->format('d/m/Y') );
    }
    $question = array();
    $form = $this->createFormBuilder( $question )
        ->add('survey', 'choice', array(
                                'choices' => $dates ))   
        ->add('section', 'text', array('required' => true, 'trim' => true))
        ->add('sub_section', 'text', array('required' => true, 'trim' => true))
        ->add('description', 'text', array('required' => true, 'trim' => true))
        ->add('points', 'integer', array('required' => true, 'trim' => true))
        ->getForm();

In specifying the formatting of the Datetime object, like so (->format('d/m/Y') ), TWIG was able to process the data without any errors.