• v2.0
    • Versions
    • master
    • v3.2
    • v3.1
    • v3.0
    • v2.3
    • v2.2
    • v2.1
    • v2.0
    • v1.7
    • v1.6
    • v1.5
    • v1.4
    • v1.3
    • v1.2
    • v1.1
    • v1.0
Caution! You are browsing the documentation for Akeneo in version 2.0, which is not maintained anymore.
Consider upgrading to the latest version.

 

  • Install Akeneo PIM
    • Install Akeneo PIM with Docker
    • Install Akeneo PIM manually
      • System Requirements
      • System installation on Debian 9 (Stretch)
      • System installation on Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus)
      • Installing Akeneo PIM Community Edition (CE) with the Archive
      • Installing Akeneo PIM Enterprise Edition (EE) with the Archive
      • Setting up the job queue daemon
    • How to customize the Dataset
    • How to Add Translation Packs
  • Migrate Akeneo PIM projects
  • Import and Export data
    • How import works
    • Understanding the Product Import
    • Understanding the Product Export
    • Formats
      • Localized labels
      • Scopable labels
      • Association types data structure
      • Attribute data structure
      • Category data structure
      • Family data structure
      • Family variant data structure
      • Group data structure
      • Options data structure
      • Product data structure
      • Product model data structure
    • Akeneo Connectors
    • How to Customize Import / Export
      • How to create a new Connector
      • How to import Products from a XML file
      • How to clean a CSV file during a Product import
      • How to automate imports/exports
  • Manipulate the Akeneo PIM data
    • How to Customize Mass Edit Operations
      • How to register a new bulk action
      • How to Register a New Mass Edit Action on Products
      • How to Avoid Rules Execution on Mass Edit Actions
    • How to Manipulate Products
      • How to Query Products
      • How to Create Products
      • How to Update Products
      • How to Validate Products
      • How to Save Products
      • How to Remove Products
    • How to Manipulate Non-Product Objects
      • How to Query Non-Product Objects
      • How to Create Non-Product Objects
      • How to Update Non-Product Objects
      • How to Validate Non-Product Objects
      • How to Save Non-Product Objects
      • How to Remove Non-Product Objects
    • How to add a custom action rule
      • General information about rule format
      • How to add a custom action in the rule engine
    • How to Define Access Control List
    • How to Customize the Catalog Structure
      • How to Create a Reference Data
      • How to add a custom unit of measure
      • How to Add New Properties to a Category
    • How to Customize Product Assets
      • How to Add a New Transformation
      • How to Add a Default Thumbnail For Unknown File Types
      • How to connect to an external server for storage
      • How to change the validation rule to match a reference file to an asset
      • How to Mass Import Assets
    • How To Customize Teamwork Assistant (Enterprise Edition)
      • Customize notifications
      • Add a calculation step
      • How to log calculation step
      • Remove projects impacted by a custom catalog update
  • Design the user interfaces
    • How to customize any frontend part of the application
    • How to add an action button or meta data to the product edit form
    • How to add a tab to a form
    • How to add a new tab in System / Configuration
    • How to add custom information to a field
    • How to add a new field type
    • Create a custom product export builder filter
    • How to create the UI to manage a Reference Data
    • How to add a new page
    • How to customize the main menu
    • Styleguide
  • Maintain Akeneo PIM projects
    • First aid kit
    • Bug qualification
    • Common issues
    • Scalability Guide
      • Audit with 3 Representative Catalogs
      • More than 10k attributes?
      • More than 10k families?
      • More than 10k categories?
      • More than 500 attributes usable in the product grids?
      • More than 100k products to export?
      • More than 1GB of product media to export?
    • How to purge history
      • How to Purge jobs executions
      • How to adapt the version purger to your needs
  • Contribute to Akeneo PIM
    • How to report an issue?
    • How to translate the user interface?
    • How to enhance the documentation?
    • How to contribute to a Connector?
    • How to submit a patch to the PIM?
    • How behavior tests are architectured in the PIM?
      • Establishing Decorator Pattern
      • Using Spin In Behat
  • Technical overview
    • Product Information
    • Teamwork Assistant (Enterprise Edition)
      • Project creation
      • Project completeness
      • Project Completeness widget
      • Catalog update impact
      • Scalability guide
      • Users permission summary for Behat tests
    • Collaborative workflow
      • Simple workflow
      • Partial workflow
  • Technical architecture
    • Best Practices
      • Create a project
      • Create a reusable bundle
      • Setup Behat
      • Code Conventions
      • Coding Standards
    • Bundles
    • Components
    • How to implement your business logic using the event system
    • Events
      • Storage events
      • Workflow events (Enterprise Edition only)
    • How to Localize your data
      • How to change the PIM locale
      • How to Use Localizers
      • How to use Presenters
    • How to Add a Notification
    • Performances Guide
      • Memory usage of rules execution (Enterprise Edition)
      • Memory leak fix in Rules Engine (ORM)
      • More than 100 WYSIWYG editors in a page
      • PHP7 and HHVM Compatibility?
    • How to Use the Web REST API
    • Standard format
      • Products
      • Other entities
      • Usage
    • Application Technical Information
      • Application Technical Dependencies
      • Server side set up for hosting
      • System Requirements
      • Recommended configuration
      • Client side configuration and compatibilities
      • Operation processes
      • Flow Matrix
  • Akeneo Cloud Edition
    • Flexibility Mode
      • Overview
      • Partners Starterkit
      • Environments Access
      • Composer settings
      • Periodic tasks / Crontab settings
      • PIM Application
      • PIM Updates and Migrations
      • Data File Transfer
      • Backups management
      • Partners
      • Queue management
      • System Components
      • Disk Usage
    • Serenity Mode
      • Overview
      • PIM Updates and Migrations

How to Create a Reference Data¶

What is a Reference Data?¶

Creating the Reference Data Entity¶

As Akeneo relies heavily on standard tools like Doctrine, creating the entity is quite straightforward for any developer with Doctrine experience.

To create a reference data, an Entity has to implement Pim\Component\ReferenceData\Model\ReferenceDataInterface. The best way (and the one we recommend) is to extend the abstract class Pim\Component\ReferenceData\Model\AbstractReferenceData.

<?php
// /src/Acme/Bundle/AppBundle/Entity/Color.php

namespace Acme\Bundle\AppBundle\Entity;

use Pim\Component\ReferenceData\Model\AbstractReferenceData;

/**
 * Acme Color entity
 */
class Color extends AbstractReferenceData
{
    /** @var string */
    protected $name;

    /** @var string */
    protected $hex;

    /** @var int */
    protected $red;

    /** @var int */
    protected $green;

    /** @var int */
    protected $blue;

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getName()
    {
        return $this->name;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $name
     */
    public function setName($name)
    {
        $this->name = $name;
    }

    /**
     * @return string
     */
    public function getHex()
    {
        return $this->hex;
    }

    /**
     * @param string $hex
     */
    public function setHex($hex)
    {
        $this->hex = $hex;
    }

    /**
     * @return int
     */
    public function getRed()
    {
        return $this->red;
    }

    /**
     * @param int $red
     */
    public function setRed($red)
    {
        $this->red = $red;
    }

    /**
     * @return int
     */
    public function getGreen()
    {
        return $this->green;
    }

    /**
     * @param int $green
     */
    public function setGreen($green)
    {
        $this->green = $green;
    }

    /**
     * @return int
     */
    public function getBlue()
    {
        return $this->blue;
    }

    /**
     * @param int $blue
     */
    public function setBlue($blue)
    {
        $this->blue = $blue;
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     */
    public function getType()
    {
        return 'color';
    }
}
# /src/Acme/Bundle/AppBundle/Resources/config/doctrine/Color.orm.yml
Acme\Bundle\AppBundle\Entity\Color:
    repositoryClass: Pim\Bundle\ReferenceDataBundle\Doctrine\ORM\Repository\ReferenceDataRepository
    type: entity
    table: acme_catalog_color
    fields:
        id: # required
            type: integer
            id: true
            generator:
                strategy: AUTO
        code: # required
            type: string
            length: 255
            unique: true
        sortOrder: # required
            type: integer
        name:
            type: string
            length: 255
        hex:
            type: string
            length: 255
        red:
            type: integer
        green:
            type: integer
        blue:
            type: integer
    lifecycleCallbacks: {  }

To check if the entities are correctly set up, use the following command:

php bin/console doctrine:mapping:info

Configuring the ProductValue¶

Depending on the needs, a product can be linked to several colors or just one. The first case will be called simple reference data, while the second one will be referred to as multiple reference data.

Don’t forget to check the mapping of the product value and to register the custom class in the container.

Configuring the Reference Data¶

Now that the reference data is linked to the ProductValue, declare it in the app/config/config.yml file.

For a simple reference data:

# /app/config/config.yml
pim_reference_data:
    color:
        class: Acme\Bundle\AppBundle\Entity\Color
        type: simple

For a multiple reference data:

# /app/config/config.yml
pim_reference_data:
    colors:
        class: Acme\Bundle\AppBundle\Entity\Color
        type: multi

The reference data name (here color or colors) must use only letters and be camel-cased: the same Color entity can be used as simple or multiple reference data.

To check the setup and the configuration of a reference data, use the following command:

php bin/console pim:reference-data:check

If everything is green, the reference data is correctly configured and may be linked to the products within the PIM, and displayed in the Back Office.

Note

Want to learn how to display a CRUD in back office for a Reference Data? Look at the How to create the UI to manage a Reference Data cookbook.


Found a typo or a hole in the documentation and feel like contributing?
Join us on Github!