How bind POST data to object can save to Doctrine - symfony1

Question

How bind POST data to object can save or edit to Doctrine.
I use Doctrine with annotation entities. I don't figure out as bind array data to entities .
I read about Symfony's components as standalone, too.
Example :
$_POST # form data , array
# this is how doctrine save object
$product = new Product();
$product->setName('product1');
$entityManager->persist($product);
$entityManager->flush();
I want $product = $helper->convert($_POST, ...) # return product object
then i can persist $product to $entityManager.

Answer 1

This will help you how to handle forms:
http://symfony.com/doc/current/book/forms.html
To put data on an Entitiy user the setters.
$entity->setName('Mitchel');
If you want to put a post on a entity you have to create a function like this:
public function setAttributes( array $values )
{
foreach( $values as $attribute => $value ) {
$dateEng = "/^([0-9]{4})-([0-9]{2})-([0-9]{2})$/";
$dateNl = "/^([0-9]{2})-([0-9]{2})-([0-9]{4})$/";
if( preg_match ($dateEng, $value) OR preg_match ($dateNl, $value) ){
$value = date_create( $value );
}
if(is_string( $value )){
if(preg_match( '/^\d+$/', $value )){
$value = (int) $value;
}
}
$this->{'set' . ucfirst( $attribute )}( $value );
}
return $this;
}
This works for me =)
And if I find a case who doesn't works I just add some code.

Answer 2

If you decide to go this way, you should use ClassMetadata class to determine field names first or you will get "PHP Fatal error: Call to undefined method ..." when user post extra data.
Something like this:
<?php
function setAttributes($values) {
$cm = new ClassMetadata(__CLASS__);
foreach ($cm->getFieldNames() as $field) {
if (array_key_exists($values, $field))
$this->{'set' . ucfirst( $attribute )}( $value );
// ...
But I would strongly recommend you to learn Form component. It took me just one day to start and about a week to make complicate forms.