Hmm, I’m not sure. The form code in a controller suffers from 2 issues: it is a bit verbose, but more importantly, the flow confuses beginners (especially since we typically put both the GET and POST in one controller). By making people do ‘if $form->isSubmitted() && $form->isValid()’, it made things more clear, but uglier.

In other words, I’d like to solve this issue, but I don’t think this is it. Perhaps changing the recommendation to split forms into 2 different controllers but adding some shortcuts (if needed) to help with this is a better thing to investigate. Also, see what other libs do.

shall we close then?

Unless @lyrixx has some counter argument, +1 for closing

Actually, I like this PR. It makes usage of form simpler.

And doing 2 controller for handling a form is wrong IMHO because it leads to code duplication.

I'm always in favor of simplifying things and making code as concise as possible ... but I don't like this proposal for two reasons:

• It introduces an alternative way to do something. That requires documenting, teaching and learning the new way. That's why I only like alternative ways when the new way is 10x better than the older one. (See Allow imports in string format for YAML symfony-docs#8159 for an example of a new feature introduced as an alternative way of doing something ... but we don't even document it because it's not that great and explaining it complicates things).
• It hides a lot of things. The new way is just ->isFormValid() ... but internally you are processing/handling the form, checking if it was submitted or not, etc.)

It introduces an alternative way to do something. That requires documenting, teaching and learning the new way.

It's not an alternative way, it's a shortcut. This is really different. All method in this trait are shortcut. And they are here just to ease our life.

That's why I only like alternative ways when the new way is 10x better than the older one

indeed, it's not 10x better, it's 2.6x better

$before = strlen('$form->handleRequest($request)->isSubmitted() && $form->isValid()');

$after = strlen('$this->formIsValid($form)');

dump($before/$after);

It hides a lot of things.

Indeed. That's not the primary goal, but it's a side effect.
Writing the same line again and again is really boring.
And it's the same for the forward for example

Hmm, I just don’t like it. It’s shorter, but way less clear. From training, I already need to explain how handleRequest() only handles the request in submit. But at least it’s mostly descriptive.

I can’t think of a better alternative. It really does need to be descriptive and short. Maybe:

if ($this->submit($form) && $form->isValid())

... where the submit() method would call $form->handleRequest() and then return $form->isSubmitted() ?

if ($this->isFormSubmittedAndValid($form)) { }

?

I still want some line that looks like we’re doing an action (i.e. submitting the form). That looks like we’re simply checking something. That’s why I suggested $this->submit(). It’s still in the if statement, but hopefully looks like we’re doing something, not just checking :)

There are too many 👎 from the core team. I have to close this PR
But I would be very happy if someone find an easy (short) solution to submit + validate form.

@lyrixx Can you reopen so we can reconsider this PR given the comments in #27638?

@xabbuh Done ✅

Not sure why discussion on #27638 would influence the decision on this PR. I don't have any strong opinion on the matter (even if I prefer explicitness whenever possible). Let's do a vote in the core team and take a decision once and for all:

1/ Merge as is
2/ Acknowledge that we need to find a "shortcurt" but not the one in this PR
3/ Close this PR and the issue

/cc @symfony/deciders

3/ due to #27638 (comment)

I have rebased and added the check ($form->isSubmitted())

given this some more thought, i think using the base controller as a one-size-fits-all solution is a dead-end eventually. It does too much IMHO, and only enables multiple ways of doing things.

While valid by design, i hope long-term we'd strive for standalone solutions, e.g. #29574 instead of approaches like this PR or #28875.

my2cnt :)

Thank you @lyrixx.

I really liked the "old" way of submitting forms. It was making clear that there was involved a $request and a $form. Two different things that should not be mixed.

This feature allows to do something as:

public function myAction() 
{
    $form = // create form
    if ($this->isFormValid($form)) {
      // something
    }
}

The trait hides the $request object making the isFormValid look as magic and because of if, it seems that $form already contains the request data.
The previous approach was forcing users to learn about the $request object, IMO a fundamental piece of the symfony success.

Im not really against having this method in the trait, but in my opinion the $request parameter should be mandatory.

Is there any chance to rever this or at lease make the $request required?

I love this new isFormValid() shortcut ... but I think I agree with @goetas and we should probably make $request mandatory (we'll do that in the Symfony Docs at least). The Request object is too important here to ignore it and get it indirectly.

I also agree we should make the request mandatory. I will open a new PR