Override / remove server-side validation in Symfony2.5 - validation

Question

Say I have the following form builder buildForm method:
/**
* #param FormBuilderInterface $builder
* #param array $options
*/
public function buildForm(FormBuilderInterface $builder, array $options)
{
$builder
->add(
'travelTime',
'datetime',
array(
'label' => 'Time',
'date_widget' => 'single_text',
'time_widget' => 'single_text',
'invalid_message' => 'Please enter a valid date and time',
)
)
->add(
'acmeEntity',
'entity',
array(
'label' => 'Acme Entity:',
'class' => 'AcmeBundle:MyEntity',
'expanded' => false,
'multiple' => false,
)
)
}
How can I override (or remove) validation for the 'acmeEntity' form field (and only that field) so that if I call:
$form->handleRequest($request);
$form->isValid();
in a Controller, then acmeEntity will not be included in the validation that determines whether $form->isValid() returns true? I've tried adding constraints => false, to the field options, but I'm receiving this error message:
Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /var/www/vendor/symfony/symfony/src/Symfony/Component/Form/Extension/Validator/Constraints/FormValidator.php line 67
Does anyone know the proper way to disable server-side validation for a Symfony form field?
EDIT:
Note that I am not looking for how to disable validation completely. This can be done by adding:
// Disable form validation
$builder->addEventListener(FormEvents::POST_SUBMIT, function ($event) {
$event->stopPropagation();
}, 900); // Always set a higher priority than ValidationListener
to the bottom of a form builder.
Rather, I want to know how to completely disable validation for a single form field. Thanks everyone and good hunting!

Answer 1

You can define a custom form type for your entity and use the 'validation_groups' => false. This should disable the validation only for this field.
The custom form type may look like that:
// .../Your/OwnBundle/Form/Type/AcmeEntityType.php
namespace Acme\DemoBundle\Form\Type;
use Symfony\Component\Form\AbstractType;
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;
class AcmeEntityType extends AbstractType
{
public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults(array(
'validation_groups' => false
));
}
public function getParent()
{
return 'entity';
}
public function getName()
{
return 'acme_entity';
}
}
You can then use:
$builder
->add(
'travelTime',
'datetime',
array(
'label' => 'Time',
'date_widget' => 'single_text',
'time_widget' => 'single_text',
'invalid_message' => 'Please enter a valid date and time',
)
)
->add(
'acmeEntity',
'acme_entity',
array(
'label' => 'Acme Entity:',
'class' => 'AcmeBundle:MyEntity',
'expanded' => false,
'multiple' => false,
)
)
}

Answer 2

I assume that you call buildForm() from MyEntityType extending AbstractType so just use the options resolver by adding the function setDefaultOptions() in your type as said in the symphony doc here
use Symfony\Component\OptionsResolver\OptionsResolverInterface;
public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults(array(
'validation_groups' => false,
));
}

Answer 3

You can try this, I have used it in the past :
Create a validation group for your MainEntity
Add this validation group to your form
Do not add this validation group to AcmeEntity