V3.0 POST using Dto : output / provider : denormalize error

[FredCastel]

API Platform version(s) affected: 3.0

Description
I am using Dto input and ouput on my entities, (operations : get / post)
when I try to post an entity where there is a ManyToOne relation with the other one
I received the error message "The input data is misformatted." raised by \api-platform\core\src\Serializer\AbstractItemNormalizer.php : denormalize function

when I remove the get ouput Dto on the linked entity there is no error, POST result in a success

composer.lock

    "packages": [
        {
            "name": "api-platform/core",
            "version": "v3.0.2",

How to reproduce

Bank entity : that will be created using POST

src\Entity\Bank.php

<?php

#[ORM\Entity(repositoryClass: BankRepository::class)]
#[ApiResource(
    normalizationContext: ['iri_only' => true]
)]
#[Get(
    output : BankOutput::class,
    provider: BankItemProvider::class
)]
#[GetCollection()]
#[Post(
    input : BankInput::class,
    processor: BankProcessor::class
)]
#[Patch(
    input : BankInput::class,
    output : BankOutput::class,
    processor: BankProcessor::class
)]
#[Put(
    controller: NotFoundAction::class
)]
#[Delete(
    processor: BankProcessor::class
)]
class Bank
{
...
    #[ORM\ManyToOne(targetEntity: ImageBank::class)]
    #[ORM\JoinColumn(nullable: true)]
    private ?ImageBank $image = null;
...

the Image entity that I want to set on a bank using POST

src\Entity\ImageBank.php

<?php

#[ORM\Entity]
#[ApiResource(
    normalizationContext: ['iri_only' => true],
)]
#[Get(
    output : ImageBankOutput::class, //when I remove that that's work fine
    provider: ImageBankItemProvider::class //when I remove that that's work fine
)]
#[GetCollection()]
class ImageBank extends Image
{ ....

is there an other way to use Dto with entity relation ? is it a bug ?
thanks for your help,

Additional Context

api get are working fine on bank and image models
api bank post work fine when I don"t set image relation "image": "\/api\/image_banks\/1",
api bank post work fine when I remove the Dto ouput and provider from the image get operation
api bank post don't work when I try to set a image using it's IRI, when Dto exist on image get operation

POST body https://localhost/api/banks

{
  "name": "new post api",
  "state": "enabled",
  "startDate": "2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z",
  "endDate": "2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z",
  "image": "\/api\/image_banks\/1",
  "url": "https:\/\/mabanque.fortuneo.fr",
  "bic": "FTNOFRP1",
  "country": "FR"
}

result

{
	"@context": "\/api\/contexts\/Error",
	"@type": "hydra:Error",
	"hydra:title": "An error occurred",
	"hydra:description": "The input data is misformatted.",
	"trace": [
		{
			"namespace": "",
			"short_class": "",
			"class": "",
			"type": "",
			"function": "",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/api-platform\/core\/src\/Serializer\/AbstractItemNormalizer.php",
			"line": 178,
			"args": []
		},
		{
			"namespace": "ApiPlatform\\Serializer",
			"short_class": "AbstractItemNormalizer",
			"class": "ApiPlatform\\Serializer\\AbstractItemNormalizer",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "denormalize",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/api-platform\/core\/src\/Serializer\/ItemNormalizer.php",
			"line": 70,
			"args": [
				[
					"array",
					{
						"name": [
							"string",
							"new post api"
						],
						"state": [
							"string",
							"enabled"
						],
						"startDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"endDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"image": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/image_banks\/1"
						],
						"url": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/mabanque.fortuneo.fr"
						],
						"bic": [
							"string",
							"FTNOFRP1"
						],
						"country": [
							"string",
							"FR"
						]
					}
				],
				[
					"string",
					"App\\Entity\\Bank"
				],
				[
					"string",
					"json"
				],
				[
					"array",
					{
						"resource_class": [
							"string",
							"App\\Dto\\BankInput"
						],
						"skip_null_values": [
							"boolean",
							true
						],
						"iri_only": [
							"boolean",
							false
						],
						"request_uri": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/banks"
						],
						"uri": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/localhost\/api\/banks"
						],
						"output": [
							"null",
							null
						],
						"api_allow_update": [
							"boolean",
							false
						]
					}
				]
			]
		},
		{
			"namespace": "ApiPlatform\\Serializer",
			"short_class": "ItemNormalizer",
			"class": "ApiPlatform\\Serializer\\ItemNormalizer",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "denormalize",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/symfony\/serializer\/Serializer.php",
			"line": 238,
			"args": [
				[
					"array",
					{
						"name": [
							"string",
							"new post api"
						],
						"state": [
							"string",
							"enabled"
						],
						"startDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"endDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"image": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/image_banks\/1"
						],
						"url": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/mabanque.fortuneo.fr"
						],
						"bic": [
							"string",
							"FTNOFRP1"
						],
						"country": [
							"string",
							"FR"
						]
					}
				],
				[
					"string",
					"App\\Entity\\Bank"
				],
				[
					"string",
					"json"
				],
				[
					"array",
					{
						"operation_name": [
							"string",
							"_api_\/banks.{_format}_post"
						],
						"operation": [
							"object",
							"ApiPlatform\\Metadata\\Post"
						],
						"resource_class": [
							"string",
							"App\\Entity\\Bank"
						],
						"skip_null_values": [
							"boolean",
							true
						],
						"iri_only": [
							"boolean",
							false
						],
						"request_uri": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/banks"
						],
						"uri": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/localhost\/api\/banks"
						],
						"input": [
							"array",
							{
								"class": [
									"string",
									"App\\Dto\\BankInput"
								],
								"name": [
									"string",
									"BankInput"
								]
							}
						],
						"output": [
							"null",
							null
						],
						"api_allow_update": [
							"boolean",
							false
						]
					}
				]
			]
		},
		{
			"namespace": "Symfony\\Component\\Serializer",
			"short_class": "Serializer",
			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Serializer",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "denormalize",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/symfony\/serializer\/Serializer.php",
			"line": 151,
			"args": [
				[
					"array",
					{
						"name": [
							"string",
							"new post api"
						],
						"state": [
							"string",
							"enabled"
						],
						"startDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"endDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"image": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/image_banks\/1"
						],
						"url": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/mabanque.fortuneo.fr"
						],
						"bic": [
							"string",
							"FTNOFRP1"
						],
						"country": [
							"string",
							"FR"
						]
					}
				],
				[
					"string",
					"App\\Entity\\Bank"
				],
				[
					"string",
					"json"
				],
				[
					"array",
					{
						"operation_name": [
							"string",
							"_api_\/banks.{_format}_post"
						],
						"operation": [
							"object",
							"ApiPlatform\\Metadata\\Post"
						],
						"resource_class": [
							"string",
							"App\\Entity\\Bank"
						],
						"skip_null_values": [
							"boolean",
							true
						],
						"iri_only": [
							"boolean",
							false
						],
						"request_uri": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/banks"
						],
						"uri": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/localhost\/api\/banks"
						],
						"input": [
							"array",
							{
								"class": [
									"string",
									"App\\Dto\\BankInput"
								],
								"name": [
									"string",
									"BankInput"
								]
							}
						],
						"output": [
							"null",
							null
						],
						"api_allow_update": [
							"boolean",
							false
						]
					}
				]
			]
		},
		{
			"namespace": "Symfony\\Component\\Serializer",
			"short_class": "Serializer",
			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\Serializer\\Serializer",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "deserialize",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/api-platform\/core\/src\/Symfony\/EventListener\/DeserializeListener.php",
			"line": 78,
			"args": [
				[
					"array",
					{
						"name": [
							"string",
							"new post api"
						],
						"state": [
							"string",
							"enabled"
						],
						"startDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"endDate": [
							"string",
							"2022-10-23T15:55:59.157Z"
						],
						"image": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/image_banks\/1"
						],
						"url": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/mabanque.fortuneo.fr"
						],
						"bic": [
							"string",
							"FTNOFRP1"
						],
						"country": [
							"string",
							"FR"
						]
					}
				],
				[
					"string",
					"App\\Entity\\Bank"
				],
				[
					"string",
					"json"
				],
				[
					"array",
					{
						"operation_name": [
							"string",
							"_api_\/banks.{_format}_post"
						],
						"operation": [
							"object",
							"ApiPlatform\\Metadata\\Post"
						],
						"resource_class": [
							"string",
							"App\\Entity\\Bank"
						],
						"skip_null_values": [
							"boolean",
							true
						],
						"iri_only": [
							"boolean",
							false
						],
						"request_uri": [
							"string",
							"\/api\/banks"
						],
						"uri": [
							"string",
							"https:\/\/localhost\/api\/banks"
						],
						"input": [
							"array",
							{
								"class": [
									"string",
									"App\\Dto\\BankInput"
								],
								"name": [
									"string",
									"BankInput"
								]
							}
						],
						"output": [
							"null",
							null
						],
						"api_allow_update": [
							"boolean",
							false
						]
					}
				]
			]
		},
		{
			"namespace": "ApiPlatform\\Symfony\\EventListener",
			"short_class": "DeserializeListener",
			"class": "ApiPlatform\\Symfony\\EventListener\\DeserializeListener",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "onKernelRequest",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/symfony\/event-dispatcher\/EventDispatcher.php",
			"line": 270,
			"args": [
				[
					"object",
					"Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\Event\\RequestEvent"
				],
				[
					"string",
					"kernel.request"
				],
				[
					"object",
					"Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\EventDispatcher"
				]
			]
		},
		{
			"namespace": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher",
			"short_class": "EventDispatcher",
			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\EventDispatcher",
			"type": "::",
			"function": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\{closure}",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/symfony\/event-dispatcher\/EventDispatcher.php",
			"line": 230,
			"args": [
				[
					"object",
					"Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\Event\\RequestEvent"
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					"kernel.request"
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				[
					"object",
					"Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\EventDispatcher"
				]
			]
		},
		{
			"namespace": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher",
			"short_class": "EventDispatcher",
			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\EventDispatcher",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "callListeners",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/symfony\/event-dispatcher\/EventDispatcher.php",
			"line": 59,
			"args": [
				[
					"array",
					[
						[
							"object",
							"Closure"
						],
						[
							"object",
							"Closure"
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							"Closure"
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							"Closure"
						],
						[
							"object",
							"Closure"
						],
						[
							"object",
							"Closure"
						],
						[
							"object",
							"Closure"
						],
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				[
					"object",
					"Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\Event\\RequestEvent"
				]
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		{
			"namespace": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher",
			"short_class": "EventDispatcher",
			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\EventDispatcher\\EventDispatcher",
			"type": "->",
			"function": "dispatch",
			"file": "\/srv\/app\/vendor\/symfony\/http-kernel\/HttpKernel.php",
			"line": 129,
			"args": [
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					"object",
					"Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\Event\\RequestEvent"
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			"namespace": "Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel",
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			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\HttpKernel",
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			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\HttpKernel\\HttpKernel",
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			"short_class": "HttpKernelRunner",
			"class": "Symfony\\Component\\Runtime\\Runner\\Symfony\\HttpKernelRunner",
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[FredCastel]

with the help of xdebug, and a break point in vendor\api-platform\core\src\Serializer\AbstractItemNormalizer.php
line 178 :throw new UnexpectedValueException('The input data is misformatted.', $e->getCode(), $e);

I can have more detail about the error,
message: "Failed to denormalize attribute "image" value for class "App\Dto\BankInput": Expected argument of type "?App\Entity\ImageBank", "App\Dto\ImageBankOutput" given at property path "image"."

in my Bank DTO input class the image attribut is types as the entity class, not the output Dto class
src\Dto\BankInput.php

<?php

namespace App\Dto;

use ApiPlatform\Metadata\ApiResource;
use App\Entity\Bank;
use App\Entity\ImageBank;
use DateTimeInterface;

#[ApiResource(
    shortName: 'Bank',
)]
class BankInput
{    public ?int $id = null;

    //NamedEntityTrait
    public ?string $name = null;

    //StatedEntityTrait
    public $state;

    //DatedEntityTrait
    public ?DateTimeInterface $startDate;
    public ?DateTimeInterface $endDate;

    //ImagedEntityTrait
    public ?ImageBank $image; //when I replace this with ImageBankOutput I do not have the error but I can not use image to set my entity model

    //other attributs
    public ?string $url;
    public string $bic;
    public ?string $country;

question:

• in my input Dto $image must be types as the entity class ImageBank or it's Dto class ImageBankOutput ?
  in my output Dto $image is types with the entity class and it is working fine,
  I think it is strange to use ImageBankOutput in the BankInput Dto class

thanks for your help

[FredCastel]

in my case, a solution to skip this error is to check the context in the provider class

when $context['output']["class"] == the right Dto output class : provider return the Dto output
else provider return the entity

src\State\Provider\ImageBankItemProvider.php

<?php

namespace App\State\Provider;

use ApiPlatform\Metadata\Operation;
use Exception;
use App\Dto\ImageBankOutput;
use App\Repository\ImageRepository;

final class ImageBankItemProvider extends AbstractProvider
{
    public function __construct(
        ImageRepository $repository)
    {
        $this->repository = $repository;
        $this->outputDto = ImageBankOutput::class;
    }
}

src\State\Provider\AbstractProvider.php

<?php

namespace App\State\Provider;

use ApiPlatform\Metadata\Operation;
use ApiPlatform\State\ProviderInterface;
use App\Repository\BankRepository;
use Doctrine\Bundle\DoctrineBundle\Repository\ServiceEntityRepository;
use Exception;

abstract class AbstractProvider implements ProviderInterface
{
    protected ServiceEntityRepository  $repository;
    protected String $outputDto;

    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    public function provide(Operation $operation, array $uriVariables = [], array $context = []): object|array|null
    {
        $id = $uriVariables['id'] ?? null;

        if (!is_int($id)) {
            throw new Exception('Invalid id key type:' . $id);
        }

        $model = $this->repository->find($id);
        if (is_null($model)) {
            throw new Exception('Unable to retrieve :'.$operation->getName(). " - ".$id);
        }
       
        //prevent the error message "The input data is misformatted." raised by \api-platform\core\src\Serializer\AbstractItemNormalizer.php : denormalize function
        //check the context output class needed
        // when the get operation is from a relation ressource we need to return the entity in order to be able to use it in the processor
        // else the get comes from the ressource itself, so the operation result must be the output class (Dto)
        $outputClass = $context['output'] ? $context['output']["class"] : "";
        if($outputClass == $this->outputDto){
            return $this->outputDto::fromModel($model);
        }else{
            return $model;
        }
        
    }
}

src\Entity\ImageBank.php

#[ORM\Entity]
#[ApiResource(
    normalizationContext: ['iri_only' => true],
)]
#[Get(
    output : ImageBankOutput::class,
    provider: ImageBankItemProvider::class
)]
#[GetCollection()]
#[Post(
    input : ImageBankInput::class,
    processor: ImageBankProcessor::class
)]
#[Patch(
    input : ImageBankInput::class,
    output : ImageBankOutput::class,
    processor: ImageBankProcessor::class
)]
#[Put(
    controller: NotFoundAction::class
)]
#[Delete(
    processor: ImageBankProcessor::class
)]
class ImageBank extends Image
{

[soyuka]

avoid input and outputs juste use your Operation on whatever class you're working on

[maks-rafalko]

avoid input and outputs juste use your Operation on whatever class you're working on

@soyuka could you please elaborate on what does it mean "just use your Operation...."? The current official docs promotes custom input/output, however we face the same issue as explained here.

Would you mind point to the docs where to look at to avoid this? Thank you.

Related: #5042

[soyuka]

I'm working on improving the documentation but it takes time!

Basically instead of:

#[Post(
    input : ImageBankInput::class,
    processor: ImageBankProcessor::class
)]
class ImageBank extends Image
{

put the Post operation on the ImageBankInput directly

#[Post(
    processor: ImageBankProcessor::class,
    shortName: 'ImageBank'
)]
class ImageBankCreation {
}

[maks-rafalko]

I'm working on improving the documentation but it takes time!

Appreciate it. No blame, just want to understand the recommended way how to correctly work with described issues.

---

The deal is not in the input, but in the output. I'm pretty sure we have some misunderstanding here, but could you please take a look once again into the start message of this thread.

Custom output breaks internal getResourceFromIri() calls because provider starts to return DTO instead of entity:

So when we create a Bank with image

{
    "name": "bank name",
    "image": "/api/images/1"
}

APIP internally calls getResourceFromIri(), but since it returns DTO - deserializing fails.

message: "[...] Expected argument of type "?App\Entity\ImageBank", "App\Dto\ImageBankOutput" given at property path "image"."

[dannyvw]

I had a similar issue and resolved it with a custom denormalizer

Example

    public function denormalize(mixed $data, string $type, string $format = null, array $context = [])
    {
        try {
            $resource = $this->iriConverter->getResourceFromIri($data);

            return $this->entityManager->getRepository()->findOneBy();
        } catch (ItemNotFoundException $e) {
            throw new UnexpectedValueException($e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
        }
    }

[ameotoko]

Did anyone figure it out? It's still a problem.