adt-shopware-dal

name: adt-shopware-dal description: Comprehensive reference for Shopware 6 Data Abstraction Layer (DAL). Covers Entity, EntityDefinition, EntityCollection, EntityRepository, all Field types, Flags, Associations, Search/Criteria with Filters/Sorting/Aggregations, Write system with Events, Indexing, Versioning, EntityExtension, EntityProtection, Pricing, and PHP Attribute-based definitions. Includes real-world examples from Product, Category, and Media entities.

Shopware 6 Data Abstraction Layer (DAL)

The DAL is Shopware 6's ORM layer built on top of Doctrine DBAL. It provides entity definitions, typed field collections, a criteria-based search system, event-driven write operations, inheritance, versioning, and translation support.

Architecture Overview

EntityRepository (CRUD facade)
  -> EntityDefinition (schema: fields, associations, flags)
       -> Field types (50+ field classes)
       -> Flag types (25 flag classes)
       -> Association fields (7 types)
  -> Search/Criteria (query builder)
       -> Filters, Sorting, Aggregations, Queries, Grouping
  -> Write system (EntityWriter, WriteCommands, Events)
  -> Indexing system (EntityIndexer, incremental + full)
  -> Version system (create, merge, clone)

Core Classes

The foundational classes that every entity uses. Covers Entity, EntityCollection, EntityDefinition, EntityRepository, EntityTranslationDefinition, MappingEntityDefinition, EntityExtension, and supporting traits/registries.

-> references/core-classes.md

Field Types

All 50+ field classes organized by category: ID/FK fields, scalar fields, date/time fields, string fields, JSON fields, price/commerce fields, enum/serialized fields, tree/hierarchy fields, timestamp fields, audit fields, versioning fields, state machine fields, and non-storage fields.

-> references/field-types.md

Field Inheritance Hierarchy

Field (abstract)
  ├── IdField [StorageAware]
  ├── FkField [StorageAware]
  │     ├── ParentFkField
  │     ├── CreatedByField / UpdatedByField
  │     ├── VersionField / ReferenceVersionField
  │     └── StateMachineStateField
  ├── StringField -> EmailField, TimeZoneField
  ├── LongTextField -> TreePathField
  ├── IntField -> AutoIncrementField, TreeLevelField, ChildCountField
  ├── FloatField, BoolField -> LockedField
  ├── DateField, DateTimeField -> CreatedAtField, UpdatedAtField
  ├── JsonField -> ListField (-> ManyToManyIdField), ObjectField, CustomFields,
  │                PriceField, CalculatedPriceField, CartPriceField, ...
  ├── BlobField, EnumField, SerializedField, PasswordField, RemoteAddressField
  ├── TranslatedField [NOT StorageAware]
  └── AssociationField -> ManyToOne, OneToMany, ManyToMany, OneToOne,
                          ParentAssociation, ChildrenAssociation, TranslationsAssociation

Flags

25 flag classes that control field behavior: API visibility, validation, deletion cascading, write protection, inheritance, search ranking, and more.

-> references/flags.md

Association Fields

7 association field types for defining entity relationships: ManyToOne, OneToMany, ManyToMany, OneToOne, Parent, Children, and Translations.

-> references/associations.md

Search / Criteria System

The complete query system: Criteria builder with fluent API, 12 filter types, 2 sorting types, 11 aggregation types with result classes, score queries, field grouping, and full-text search infrastructure.

-> references/search-criteria.md

Write System and Events

EntityWriter pipeline, write commands (Insert/Update/Delete/Cascade/SetNull/JsonUpdate), validation events, field exceptions, and 16 DAL event types.

-> references/write-system.md

Indexing System

EntityIndexer abstract class, EntityIndexerRegistry orchestrator, incremental and full indexing, built-in updaters (ChildCount, Inheritance, ManyToManyId, Tree), message queue integration.

-> references/indexing.md

Versioning System

VersionManager for creating/merging/cloning versioned entities, VersionDefinition, VersionCommit, VersionCommitData, audit logging, and cleanup tasks.

-> references/versioning.md

Entity Protection

Scope-based read/write protection at the entity level, complementing field-level WriteProtected flags.

-> references/entity-protection.md

Pricing

Multi-currency Price struct, PriceCollection with currency fallback, CashRoundingConfig, PriceRuleEntity for rule-based pricing.

-> references/pricing.md

PHP Attribute-Based Definitions

Modern alternative to defineFields() using PHP 8 attributes: #[Entity], #[Field], #[ManyToOne], #[OneToMany], #[ManyToMany], #[Translations], etc.

-> references/attribute-definitions.md

Examples

Real-world examples extracted from Shopware Core Content entities: