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Mandatory File

This chapter explains the situation where a file is mandatory to the entity.

Making a File Mandatory in an Entity​

To make a file mandatory in an entity, you simply need to type-hint the file property with FileInterface instead of ?FileInterface:

use Rekalogika\Contracts\File\FileInterface;
use Rekalogika\File\Association\Attribute\WithFileAssociation;
use Rekalogika\File\Association\Attribute\AsFileAssociation;

#[WithFileAssociation]
class Product
{
    #[AsFileAssociation]
    private FileInterface $image;
}

By doing so, the framework will consider that the property has to be filled with a FileInterface object, one way or another.

If The File That is Supposed to be Present is not Present...​

If the property is mandatory, but the actual file does not exist in the storage backend, the framework will substitute it with a MissingFile object. The situation is considered an error and will be logged as such. The administrator or the developer is expected to fix the problem.

The MissingFile object is an implementation of the null object pattern. It appears to your application like a normal file, and should not cause a fatal error; unless you are trying to operate on it that would cause a permanent effect, like saving it to an entity.

MissingFile is also an Exception, but is not thrown by the framework. You can treat it as a regular exception, including getting the stack trace from it.

For more information about NullFile in the framework, read the chapter Null File.

Mandatory File and Lazy-Loading Proxy​

If you are using a lazy-loading proxy, the property will always be filled by an instance of FileInterface. However, the framework does not check if the file exists in the storage backend until you first try to access the file. If you want a mandatory file, you have to do it yourself:

use Rekalogika\Contracts\File\FileInterface;
use Rekalogika\Contracts\File\FileProxy;
use Rekalogika\Domain\File\Null\NullFile;
use Rekalogika\File\Association\Attribute\AsFileAssociation;

#[WithFileAssociation]
class Product
{
    #[AsFileAssociation(fetch: 'LAZY')]
    private FileInterface $image;

    public function getImage(): FileInterface
    {
        return FileProxy::getFile($this->image) ?? new NullFile;
    }
}
Protip

You might want to make sure other methods in the entity don't use the property directly but use the getter instead.