doctrine2/manual/docs/en/data-fixtures.txt

Doctrine Data uses the Doctrine Parser for the dumping and loading of fixtures data so it is possible to use any of the formats available in the Parser. Currently yml is the only fully supported format but xml and others are next.

++ Exporting

You can export data to fixtures file in many different formats

<code type="php">
// A few ways exist for specifying where you export the data

// Dump to one large fixture file
$data = new Doctrine_Data();
$data->exportData('data.yml', 'yml');

// Dump to individual files. One file per model. 3rd argument true specifies to dump to individual files
$data = new Doctrine_Data();
$data->exportData('path/to/directory', 'yml', true);
</code>

++ Importing

You can import data from fixtures files in many different formats

<code type="php">
// Path can be in a few different formats
$path = 'path/to/data.yml'; // Path directly to one yml file
$path = array('data.yml', 'data2.yml', 'more.yml'); // Array of yml file paths
$path = array('directory1', 'directory2', 'directory3'); // Array of directories which contain yml files. It will find all files with an extension of .yml

// Specify the format of the data you are importing
$format = 'yml'; // xml, yml, json

$models = array('User', 'Phonenumber'); // you can optionally specify an array of the models you wish to import the data for, by default it loads data for all the available loaded models and the data that exists

$data = new Doctrine_Data();
$data->importData($path, $format, $models);
</code>

++ Dummy Data

With Doctrine Data you can import dummy data to all your Doctrine Records

<code type="php">
$numRecords = 3; // Number of dummy records to populate for each model
$models = array('User', 'Email'); // Models to generate dummy data for. If none specified it generates dummy data for all loaded models.

$data = new Doctrine_Data();
$data->importDummyData($numRecords, $models);
</code>

++ Writing

You can write your fixtures files manually and load them in to your applications. Below is a sample data.yml fixtures file. You can also split your data fixtures file up in to multiple files. Doctrine will read all fixtures files and parse them, then load all data.

Imagine a schema with the following relationships:

<code type="php">
Resource hasMany Tag as Tags
Resource hasOne ResourceType as Type
ResourceType hasMany Resource as Resources
Tag hasMany Resource as Resources
</code>

<code type="yml">
---
Resource:
  Resource_1:
    name: Doctrine Video Tutorial
    Type: Video
    Tags: [tutorial, doctrine, help]
  Resource_2:
    name: Doctrine Cheat Sheet
    Type: Image
    Tags: [tutorial, cheat, help]

ResourceType:
  Video:
    name: Video
  Image:
    name: Image

Tag:
  tutorial:
    name: tutorial
  doctrine:
    name: doctrine
  help:
    name: help
  cheat:
    name: cheat
</code>

You could optionally specify the Resources each tag is related to instead of specifying the Tags a Resource has.

<code type="yml">
Tag:
  tutorial:
    name: tutorial
    Resources: [Resource_1, Resource_2]
  doctrine:
    name: doctrine
    Resources: [Resource_1]
  help:
    name: help
    Resources: [Resource_1, Resource_2]
  cheat:
    name: cheat
    Resources: [Resource_1]
</code>

Here is how you would write code to load the data from that data.yml file

<code type="php">
$data = new Doctrine_Data();
$data->importData('data.yml', 'yml');
</code>

++ Fixtures For Nested Sets

Writing a fixtures file for a nested set tree is slightly different from writing regular fixtures files. The structure of the tree is defined like this:

<code type="yml">
---
  Category:
    Category_1:
      title: Categories # the root node
      children:
        Category_2:
          title: Category 1
        Category_3:
          title: Category 2
          children:
            Category_4:
              title: Subcategory of Category 2
</code>