Why is my Symfony2 @UniqueEntity constraint not working at all?

I have the following entity class in my application:


<?php

namespace ...;

// use ...
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;
use Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Validator\Constraints\UniqueEntity;;
// ...

/**
* @ORM\Table(name="sc_user")
* @ORM\Entity(repositoryClass="...\UserRepository")
* @ORM\HasLifecycleCallbacks()
* @UniqueEntity(fields={"email", "username"})
*/
class User implements UserInterface, \Serializable, EquatableInterface
{
/**
* @var integer $id
*
* @ORM\Column(name="id", type="integer")
* @ORM\Id
* @ORM\GeneratedValue(strategy="AUTO")
*/
private $id;

/**
* @var string $email
*
* @ORM\Column(name="email", type="string", length=255, unique=true)
*
* @Assert\NotBlank(groups={"registration"})
* @Assert\Email(groups={"registration"})
*/
private $email;

/**
* @var string $username
*
* @ORM\Column(name="username", type="string", length=32, unique=true)
*
* @Assert\NotBlank(groups={"registration"})
*/
private $username;

// ...
}

The @UniqueEntity constraint is being ignored. I tried different flavors including:

@UniqueEntity(fields={"email", "username"})

and

@UniqueEntity(fields={"email"})
@UniqueEntity(fields={"username"})

and, as per the Symfony2 documentation here: [

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][1]

@UniqueEntity("email")
@UniqueEntity("username")

Nothing I do, works. Instead of getting a form validation error as expected, I am getting the following exception:

> SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1062 Duplicate entry
> '[email protected]' for key 'UNIQ_D8183973E7927C74'

This is just wrong! Does anyone know how to fix this issue?

[1]:

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Try to add

framework:
validation:
enable_annotations: true

to your app configuration

The problem was solved as follows:

@UniqueEntity(fields={"email"}, groups={"registration"})
@UniqueEntity(fields={"username"}, groups={"registration"})

The registration groups were missing, and I needed to separate them into two separate annotations.

Please note ignoreNull

For example to work correctly with pid (can be null):

constraints:
- Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Validator\Constraints\UniqueEntity:
fields: [page, pid, position]
errorPath: page
groups: [Menu]
message: "Page already exists with that parent"
ignoreNull: false

Another reason for this issue is if you are using form collections and include a sub-form which handles an associated entity, you have to set `cascade_validation` to `true` in the root and all sub-forms.

See the hint in the [Symfony documentation](

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):
> To activate validation on CategoryType, add the `cascade_validation` option to `TaskType`:

public function setDefaultOptions(OptionsResolverInterface $resolver)
{
$resolver->setDefaults(array(
'data_class' => 'Acme\TaskBundle\Entity\Task',
'cascade_validation' => true,
));
}

**Update:**

To ensure that your child entities are validated there is even a better way. Symfony provides the `Valid` constraint for exactly this reason. From [documentation][1]:

> **Valid**
> This constraint is used to enable validation on objects that are embedded as properties on an object being validated. This allows you to validate an object and all sub-objects associated with it.


[1]:

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