---
title: "Entity Manager"
description: "Create an entity manager from an array, with the options of Doctrine DBAL and ORM"
type: "docs"
category: "doc"
tags: []
authors: [Anonymous]
date: "2026-10-26"
last_update: "2026-10-26"
time_minutes: 3
draft: false
unlisted: false
url: "https://www.derafu.dev/docs/data/orm/entity-manager"
---

# Entity Manager

`EntityManagerFactory` creates an `EntityManager` from an array of options. It implements `Derafu\Orm\Contract\EntityManagerFactoryInterface`, so it can be a service that is injected and replaced.

```php
use Derafu\Orm\Factory\EntityManagerFactory;

$entityManager = (new EntityManagerFactory())->create([
    'dbal' => [
        'url' => 'mysql://app:secret@127.0.0.1:3306/app?serverVersion=8.0&charset=utf8mb4',
    ],
    'orm' => [
        'paths' => [__DIR__ . '/src/Entity'],
        'dev_mode' => false,
        'naming_strategy' => Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\UnderscoreNamingStrategy::class,
    ],
]);
```

The configuration has two sections, `dbal` and `orm`, with the options that Doctrine has. The entities are mapped with PHP attributes, and Doctrine's native lazy objects are always enabled.

The parameters of the connection are created by a `ConnectionParametersFactoryInterface`, which `EntityManagerFactory` receives in its constructor. `ConnectionParametersFactory` is the default one.

## `dbal`

Every parameter of the connection that DBAL's `DriverManager` understands, with its official name (`driver`, `path`, `memory`, `host`, `port`, `user`, `password`, `dbname`, `charset`, `serverVersion`, `defaultTableOptions`, `driverOptions`...). Doctrine checks them. The section also has these options:

| Option | Value |
|--------|-------|
| `url` | A DSN, read with DBAL's `DsnParser`. The schemes are `mysql`, `mysqli`, `pgsql`, `postgresql`, `postgres`, `sqlite`, `sqlserver` and `mssql`. The parameters of the DSN win over the other ones |
| `types` | Custom types, as `name => class` of a `Doctrine\DBAL\Types\Type`. The `uuid` type is always registered |
| `schema_filter` | A regular expression of the tables that Doctrine keeps |

A SQLite connection needs a `path`, unless it is `memory`. A DSN like `sqlite:///:memory:` is in memory, and a relative path in a SQLite DSN is relative to the current directory.

The DBAL type registry is global. A type that is already registered is replaced, so the same configuration can be used more than once.

## `orm`

| Option | Value |
|--------|-------|
| `paths` | List of directories with the entities |
| `dev_mode` | `true` or `false` |
| `naming_strategy` | A class, or an instance, of `Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\NamingStrategy` |
| `resolve_target_entities` | `interface => class` of the entity that stands for the interface |
| `dql` | Custom functions of DQL: `string_functions`, `numeric_functions` and `datetime_functions`, each as `name => class` of a `FunctionNode` |
| `metadata_cache`, `query_cache`, `result_cache`, `hydration_cache` | A [PSR-6](https://www.php-fig.org/psr/psr-6/) pool each |

Without the caches, `ORMSetup` of Doctrine chooses one: in memory in development mode, and APCu, Memcached or Redis if they are available otherwise.

## Errors

The options are read with [derafu/config](https://www.derafu.dev/docs/data/config), through the typed readers of derafu/array, so one with another type raises their translatable error, naming the option (for example `The key "orm.paths" must be of type list<string>, string given.`). `DatabaseConfigurationException` is for what the package itself checks: a database that is not configured, a DSN that is not valid or has no known driver, a SQLite connection without a file, a regular expression that is not valid, a class that is not of the expected type, and a map whose keys or values are not strings.



---
Last updated on 26/10/2026