Troubleshooting "[Syntax Error] Expected PlainValue, got ')'"

Question

I am getting this error in my annotations docblock for Doctrine 2:

Doctrine\Common\Annotations\AnnotationException: [Syntax Error] Expected PlainValue, got ')'

After looking for an answer I found this reference Stackoverflow Question 3500125 which in essence says to put quotes around all values in annotations.

With the annotation block I have this does not seem possible. here is my example that is throwing the error.

/**
 * @var tags
 *
 * @ManyToMany(targetEntity="namespace\to\tag")
 * @JoinTable(name="content_tag",
 *   joinColumns={
 *     @JoinColumn(name="content_id", referencedColumnName="id")
 *   },
 *   inverseJoinColumns={
 *     @JoinColumn(name="tag_id", referencedColumnName="id")
 *   }
 * ) // This is the line indicated by the error
 */
private $tags;

If I follow the advice of the answer I found in stack overflow which is to quote out the values, my code will be like this:

/**
 * @var tags
 *
 * @ManyToMany(targetEntity="namespace\to\tag")
 * @JoinTable(name="content_tag",
 *   joinColumns="{
 *     @JoinColumn(name="content_id", referencedColumnName="id")
 *   }",
 *   inverseJoinColumns="{
 *     @JoinColumn(name="tag_id", referencedColumnName="id")
 *   }" // Note the extra quotation marks
 * )
 */
private $tags;

Which is not right at all.

I have a many-to-many using the same syntax as you've got, the only differences being my indentation/placement and a cascade. Take a look: https://gist.github.com/1025638 — Jeremy Hicks, Jun 14 '11 at 19:21
Thanks Jeremy, I am sure the syntax is right. but I still get the error. It is becoming very frustrating lol — potsed, Jun 15 '11 at 00:24
The first code blocks looks valid and works for me. What version of Doctrine are you using? — Michael Ridgway, Jun 17 '11 at 15:37
Sorry for the late reply, i found the error in my ways... and it is working now. See the answer below. To answer your question it was the 2.0.* stable release. — potsed, Jun 23 '11 at 02:10

score 74 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 18 '17 at 08:19

74

For people who have come here but not because of doctrine, my mistake was using single quotes instead of double quotes in the @Routes annotation.

WRONG:

/**
* @Route('/home')
*/

RIGHT

/**
* @Route("/home")
*/

answered Nov 18 '17 at 08:19

Kinjal Dixit

7,777
2
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2

This was my problem too. I solved it before I saw this post, but it is funny. – vaso123 Sep 30 '19 at 22:12
3

Old answer... still fixing issues. I was knocking my head against a wall on this one all day! Thanks. – lifo Apr 20 '20 at 11:32
Thank you man! This happens also in case when you use ' instead " in the name of the route. – Nicolescu Ionut Lucian Mar 08 '21 at 20:18
1

Four years later - you'd think they'd allow single quotes by now. thanks! – James Oct 11 '21 at 14:41

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 23 '11 at 02:13

It was a silly mistake, the error string was not very helpful as it pointed to the line i showed in my question as the line that the error was on. The fact was that this entity was extending a parent object, the parent had the @Entity tag but the child did not, i moved it and everything works fine.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 23 '20 at 07:18

I Just had the same kind of error by using an assert for an entity :

     * @Assert\Email(
     *     message = "The email '{{ value }}' is not a valid email.",
     *     mode = 'strict',
     *     normalizer = 'trim'
     * )

Turning it into

     * @Assert\Email(
     *     message = "The email '{{ value }}' is not a valid email.",
     *     mode = "strict",
     *     normalizer = "trim"
     * )

Fixed it :)

Troubleshooting "[Syntax Error] Expected PlainValue, got ')'"

3 Answers3