What is DC2Type array datatype in mysql
doctrine-orm, mysql, symfony
Solution
This is not a data type. You might have noticed that the column type is LONGTEXT. DC2Type:array is a comment of the field.
Doctrine uses the field's comment as column's metadata storage place. Since Mysql does not allow you to store an array, Doctrine use DC2Type:array as comment in order to know how to unserialize the content.
Take a look at the link below.
https://github.com/doctrine/dbal/issues/1614
From the link you mentioned, you can see that the comment DC2Type:enumvisibility indicates that the content of the field is a flag, indicating that the record is visible or not. It is not a new data type at all. It should be considered an helper strategy in the database level. For Doctrine, it's a custom data type.
Problem
I have been working with Symfony2 and doctrine2 recently and have realized a peculiar datatype called DC2Type:array that certain Symfony2 Roles get saved as. To me it just looks like a serialized PHP array where a signifies the total number of elements, i is the array index. The value looks like this: ``` a:15:{i:0;s:32:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_EDIT";i:1;s:32:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_LIST";i:2;s:34:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_CREATE";i:3;s:32:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_VIEW";i:4;s:34:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_DELETE";i:5;s:36:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_OPERATOR";i:6;s:34:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_USER_MASTER";i:7;s:33:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_EDIT";i:8;s:33:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_LIST";i:9;s:35:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_CREATE";i:10;s:33:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_VIEW";i:11;s:35:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_DELETE";i:12;s:37:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_OPERATOR";i:13;s:35:"ROLE_SONATA_USER_ADMIN_GROUP_MASTER";i:14;s:10:"ROLE_ADMIN";} ``` I want to know what this datatype is? And what do the following identifier signifies: ``` s: ``` I have searched the internet but haven't got any useful data. I also bumped upon this cookbook entry - http://readthedocs.org/docs/doctrine-orm/en/2.0.x/cookbook/mysql-enums.html but didn't figure out the origin.