Andez Selective Fixtures Loader Bundle

A Symfony bundle that lets you interactively (or programmatically) load a subset of your Doctrine data fixtures together with all of their dependency chain. Ideal for speeding up development, reproducing bugs, preparing lightweight test databases, or doing dry runs of fixture execution.

Key Features

• Interactive command to pick which fixtures to load.
• Automatically resolves and loads all dependent fixtures.
• Two ways to define a "base" set of fixtures always included:
  • Provide a service implementing BaseFixturesLoaderInterface.
  • Provide a static list of fixture class names in config.
• Supports dry-run execution (see what would happen without modifying the DB).
• Supports appending vs purging the database first.
• Allows excluding specific tables from purge.
• Works with multiple Entity Managers.

Requirements

• PHP ^8.2
• Symfony 6.0+ or 7.x (Console, Config, DependencyInjection, HttpKernel)
• DoctrineFixturesBundle ^4.3

See composer.json for the full list.

Installation

composer require andez/selective-fixtures-loader-bundle --dev

Register the bundle if Flex did not do it automatically (Symfony < 7 or no recipes):

// config/bundles.php
return [
    // ... other bundles
    Andez\SelectiveFixturesLoaderBundle\SelectiveFixturesLoaderBundle::class => ['dev' => true, 'test' => true],
];

Typically you only want this in dev (and optionally test) environments.

Configuration

Add a configuration file (e.g. config/packages/andez_selective_fixtures_loader.yaml). All keys are optional.

andez_selective_fixtures_loader:
  # Exactly one of the following two may be set:
  # base_fixtures_loader_service_id: App\Service\BaseFixtureLoader
  # base_fixtures: ['App\DataFixtures\UserFixtures', 'App\DataFixtures\RoleFixtures']

  purge_exclusion_tables: ['doctrine_migration_versions', 'audit_log']

Options

Option	Type	Default	Description
base_fixtures_loader_service_id	string FQCN (service id)	null	Service whose class implements BaseFixturesLoaderInterface returning an array of base fixtures. Mutually exclusive with base_fixtures.
base_fixtures	array	[]	Static list of fixture class names always loaded. Mutually exclusive with base_fixtures_loader_service_id.
purge_exclusion_tables	array	[]	Tables to skip when purging (useful for reference or audit tables).

Defining Base Fixtures via Service

Implement the interface:

namespace App\Service;

use Andez\SelectiveFixturesLoaderBundle\BaseFixturesLoaderInterface;

final class BaseFixtureLoader implements BaseFixturesLoaderInterface
{
    public function getBaseFixtures(): array
    {
        return [
            \App\DataFixtures\UserFixtures::class,
            \App\DataFixtures\RoleFixtures::class,
        ];
    }
}

In config:

andez_selective_fixtures_loader:
  base_fixtures_loader_service_id: App\Service\BaseFixtureLoader

Defining Base Fixtures via Static List

andez_selective_fixtures_loader:
  base_fixtures:
    - App\DataFixtures\UserFixtures
    - App\DataFixtures\RoleFixtures

Console Command

The bundle registers: andez:selective-fixtures:load.

Run it with no options for an interactive selection:

php bin/console andez:selective-fixtures:load

You will be presented with a multi-select list of all available fixtures (including those provided by DoctrineFixturesBundle). The chosen fixtures plus:

• Their transitive dependencies.
• The configured base fixtures (if any).

will be executed.

Command Options

Option	Value Mode	Description
--fixtures	Repeatable (array)	One or more fixture FQCNs to load (skips interactive choice).
--append	Flag	Do not purge the database before loading (data will accumulate).
--dry-run	Flag	Simulate execution; shows log of what would run without DB changes.
--purge-exclusions	Repeatable (array)	Extra table names to skip during purge (overrides configured list).
--em	Value	Specific Entity Manager name (for multi-EM setups).

Examples:

Load a precise subset:

php bin/console andez:selective-fixtures:load \
  --fixtures=App\\DataFixtures\\UserFixtures \
  --fixtures=App\\DataFixtures\\RoleFixtures

Dry run of a subset:

php bin/console andez:selective-fixtures:load --fixtures=App\\DataFixtures\\UserFixtures --dry-run

Skip purge for faster iterative development:

php bin/console andez:selective-fixtures:load --fixtures=App\\DataFixtures\\UserFixtures --append

Override purge exclusions on the fly:

php bin/console andez:selective-fixtures:load --purge-exclusions=doctrine_migration_versions --purge-exclusions=audit_log

Safety Prompt

If neither --append nor --dry-run is used, the command will prompt for confirmation before purging the database. Use --append or run non-interactively (e.g., in CI with yes |) if you want to skip manual confirmation.

How Dependencies Are Resolved

Internally the FixturesDependencies service gathers:

1. Base fixtures (from service or static list).
2. User-requested fixtures (interactive or via --fixtures).
3. All transitive dependencies declared via DependencyFixtureInterface / Doctrine's mechanism (leveraging the loader service).

This produces a deduplicated, ordered list that respects dependency order before execution.

Purge Exclusions

Tables listed in configuration or supplied at runtime with --purge-exclusions are passed to Doctrine's ORMPurgerFactory so they remain untouched even when not using --append.

Common examples: audit tables, lookup/reference data, migration versions, sessions.

Dry Run Mode

When --dry-run is used the bundle utilizes DryRunORMExecutor, which outputs the fixture execution flow without changing the database. Useful to:

• Inspect dependency resolution.
• Confirm the set of fixtures that would run.
• Test custom purger exclusion lists.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Validation error about both base fixtures options	Both base_fixtures_loader_service_id and base_fixtures were set	Remove one of them.
Class does not exist error	A fixture FQCN in config is wrong	Correct namespace / class name.
Service id must implement interface	Provided class for base_fixtures_loader_service_id does not implement BaseFixturesLoaderInterface	Implement interface or change class.
Command not found	Bundle not registered or environment not matching	Check bundles.php; ensure running in dev/test.
Purge removes an important table	Not excluded	Add to purge_exclusion_tables or pass --purge-exclusions.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. Please:

• Run composer install.
• Maintain coding standards (vendor/bin/phpcs).
• Add/update tests (vendor/bin/phpunit).
• Keep documentation accurate.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

Credits

Created and maintained by Antonio Hernandez (andezdev). Contributions are appreciated.