Loïc Faugeron Technical Blog

Pagination libraries like Pagerfanta or KnpPaginator usually require a QueryBuilder:

// Usually in a controller
$queryBuilder = $this->itemRepository->queryBuilderForFindAll();
$results = $paginationService->paginate(
    $queryBuilder,
    $currentPageNumber,
    $itemsPerPage
);

This is necessary because we need to get the result for the page as well as the number of total results (with a database it would mean two queries). Unfortunately this kind of logic tends to leak in our controllers which is why Benjamin Eberlei suggests an elegant alternative:

// Can be done in a service
$result = $this->itemRepository->findAll();

// Can be done in a ViewListener
$page = $result->take($currentPageNumber, $itemsPerPage);

The QueryBuilder is actually wrapped in a Result which provides the possibility to get all of them or a single portion. Its take method returns the PaginatorService wrapped in a Page which contains all the meta data we usually expect (page number, total elements, etc).

To make it possible he created porpaginas, a small library that provides Result and Page as interfaces. The actual pagination logic is delegated to the library of our choice, using adapters.

Enjoy!