Doctrine Sort Bundle

Symfony bundle for automatic sort order management in Doctrine ORM entities. Recalculates sort positions on every EntityManager::flush(), keeping ordered lists consistent without manual reindexing. Uses PHP attributes to mark the sort field, supports grouped ordering (e.g., per parent or category), and handles insertions, deletions, and reordering transparently.

Features

• Automatic reordering — sort positions are recalculated on flush, no manual gaps or renumbering needed
• Grouped sorting — maintain independent sort orders per parent, category, or any relation via groupBy
• PHP attribute configuration — single #[Sort] attribute on your entity property, zero YAML/XML config
• Drag-and-drop ready — set the new position and flush; surrounding items shift automatically
• Second-level cache support — works with Doctrine SLC; optionally evict cache collections and query regions on sort changes
• Change tracking policies — compatible with both DEFERRED_IMPLICIT and DEFERRED_EXPLICIT tracking
• Provided traits — SortTrait and SortByParentTrait with convenience methods (moveUp, moveDown, moveToBeginning, moveToEnd)

Installation

composer require chamber-orchestra/doctrine-sort-bundle

If Symfony Flex is enabled, the bundle is registered automatically. Otherwise, add it to config/bundles.php:

return [
    // ...
    ChamberOrchestra\DoctrineSortBundle\ChamberOrchestraDoctrineSortBundle::class => ['all' => true],
];

Quick Start

1. Mark a sort field

Add the #[Sort] attribute to any integer column. The bundle will automatically maintain sequential ordering starting from 1.

use ChamberOrchestra\DoctrineSortBundle\Mapping\Attribute\Sort;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;

#[ORM\Entity]
class TodoItem
{
    #[ORM\Id]
    #[ORM\GeneratedValue]
    #[ORM\Column]
    private ?int $id = null;

    #[ORM\Column(type: 'integer', options: ['unsigned' => true, 'default' => 0])]
    #[Sort]
    private int $sortOrder = 0;

    // Setting sortOrder to 0 appends the item to the end of the list.
    // Setting sortOrder to 1 moves it to the beginning.
    // Any value in between inserts at that position; surrounding items shift automatically.
}

2. Grouped ordering

Maintain separate sort sequences per parent, category, or any relation:

use ChamberOrchestra\DoctrineSortBundle\Mapping\Attribute\Sort;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;

#[ORM\Entity]
class Task
{
    #[ORM\ManyToOne]
    private ?Project $project = null;

    #[ORM\Column(type: 'integer', options: ['unsigned' => true, 'default' => 0])]
    #[Sort(groupBy: ['project'])]
    private int $sortOrder = 0;

    // Each project has its own independent sort sequence.
    // Moving a task to a different project removes it from the old sequence
    // and inserts it into the new one.
}

3. Using traits

For common cases, use the provided traits instead of writing boilerplate:

use ChamberOrchestra\DoctrineSortBundle\Contracts\Entity\SortInterface;
use ChamberOrchestra\DoctrineSortBundle\Entity\SortTrait;
use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping as ORM;

#[ORM\Entity]
class TodoItem implements SortInterface
{
    use SortTrait;

    #[ORM\Id]
    #[ORM\GeneratedValue]
    #[ORM\Column]
    private ?int $id = null;
}

SortTrait provides getSortOrder(), setSortOrder(), and convenience methods:

Method	Effect
moveUp()	Decrease sort position by 1 (minimum 1)
moveDown()	Increase sort position by 1
moveToBeginning()	Set sort position to 1
moveToEnd()	Set sort position to 0 (appends to end)

SortByParentTrait extends SortTrait with a $parent ManyToOne field and #[Sort(groupBy: ['parent'])].

Attribute Options

#[Sort(
    groupBy: ['parent'],           // Fields that define independent sort groups
    evictCollections: [             // Second-level cache collections to evict on change
        [ParentEntity::class, 'children'],
    ],
    evictRegions: ['my_query_region'], // Query cache regions to evict on change
)]

Option	Type	Default	Description
groupBy	array	[]	Entity field names that define sort groups. Each unique combination of group values has its own sort sequence. Supports Column, ManyToOne, and ManyToMany fields.
evictCollections	array	[]	List of [FQCN, collectionField] pairs. These Doctrine second-level cache collections are evicted when sort order changes.
evictRegions	array	[]	Query cache region names to evict when sort order changes.

How It Works

1. The bundle listens to Doctrine's onFlush event
2. For each entity with a #[Sort] attribute that was inserted, updated, or deleted, it collects the changes
3. Overlapping changes within the same group are merged into ranges to minimize database queries
4. Affected entities are fetched, reordered in memory, and sort values are reassigned sequentially
5. Doctrine's recomputeSingleEntityChangeSet() ensures the corrected values are persisted in the same flush

This means you never need to manually manage gaps, shift items, or renumber sequences — just set the desired position and flush. Multiple reorder operations within a single flush or across multiple flushes in an explicit transaction are fully supported.

Compatibility

Bundle	PHP	Symfony	Doctrine ORM
8.0	^8.5	8.0	3.6+

Running Tests

composer test

License

MIT