Reference to existing related entity in YAML file

Question

I'm setting a YAML file for an entity, and there are some related fields that are already populated in database, so I want to reference those values in the current YAML file.

For example, status field in next sample should load an App\Entity\Status that already exists in database (1 to 3 are existing IDs, but it fails):

App\Entity\Dummy:
    dummy_{1..10}:
        name: '<firstName()>'
        surnames: '<lastName()>'
        email (unique): '<email()>'
        startDate: '<dateTimeBetween("-200 days", "now")>'
        subject: '<sentence()>'
        status: '<numberBetween(1, 3)>'

When loading this file with --append option, I get this error:

Invalid value given for the property "status" of the object "dummy_1" (class: App\Entity\Dummy)

Expected argument of type "?App\Entity\Status", "int" given at property path "status".

How can I reference a pre-existing entity?

About the "related" question, in that question the related entity is loaded in a separate YAML file (not my case, the related entity is already in database), and that question does not have an answer.

Answer 1

Straight from the docs:

Nelmio\Entity\Group:
    group1:
        owner: '@user<numberBetween(1, 200)>'

In your case, it would be:

App\Entity\Status:
   status_1
       name: "Foo"
   status_2
       name: "Bar"
   status_3
       name: "Baz"


App\Entity\Dummy:
    dummy_{1..10}:
        name: '<firstName()>'
        surnames: '<lastName()>'
        email (unique): '<email()>'
        startDate: '<dateTimeBetween("-200 days", "now")>'
        subject: '<sentence()>'
        status: '@status_<numberBetween(1, 3)>'

For pre-existing data, not coming from a fixture... you'll have more difficulties. I'd personally set up everything with the fixtures, which is their purpose. Saving on a few DB transactions is not worth the effort and the uncertainty.

Check this issue for more info and approaches.