form-collection-example.php

<?php

use Zend\Form\Fieldset;
use Zend\Form\Form;
use Zend\Form\View\Helper\Form as FormHelper;
use Zend\Form\View\HelperConfig;
use Zend\Stdlib\ArrayUtils;
use Zend\Stdlib\Hydrator\ObjectProperty;
use Zend\View\Renderer\PhpRenderer;

include 'vendor/autoload.php';

class Entity
{
    public $property;

    public function __construct($property = null)
    {
        $this->property = $property;
    }
}

$form = new Form();
$form->getFormFactory()->getFormElementManager()->setFactory('EntityFieldset', function(){
    $entityFieldset = new Fieldset();
    $entityFieldset->add(array(
        'name' => 'property',
        'type' => 'text'
    ));
    $entityFieldset->setHydrator(new ObjectProperty());
    $entityFieldset->setObject(new Entity());

    return $entityFieldset;
});
$form->add(array(
    'name' => 'entities',
    'type' => 'collection',
    'options' => array(
        'allow_add' => true,
        'create_new_objects' => true,
        'target_element' => array(
            'type' => 'EntityFieldset',
        ),
    ),
));

/*****************/
// POST simulation

$object = new ArrayObject(array('entities'));

$form->bind($object);

$form->setData(array(
    'entities' => array(
        array('property' => 'foo'),
        array('property' => 'bar'),
    )
));

if ($form->isValid()) {
    var_dump(ArrayUtils::iteratorToArray($object));
};

/**
 * output:
 *
 * array(1) {
 *   'entities' =>
 *   array(2) {
 *     [0] =>
 *     class Entity#28 (1) {
 *       public $property =>
 *       string(3) "foo"
 *     }
 *     [1] =>
 *     class Entity#40 (1) {
 *       public $property =>
 *       string(3) "bar"
 *     }
 *   }
 * } 
 * 
/*************/

/*****************/
// GET simulation

$object = new ArrayObject(array(
    'entities' => array(
        new Entity('foo'),
        new Entity('bar'),
        new Entity('baz'),
    )
));

$form->bind($object);

$view = new PhpRenderer();
$config = new HelperConfig();
$config->configureServiceManager($view->getHelperPluginManager());

$formHelper = new FormHelper();
$formHelper->setView($view);

echo $formHelper->render($form);

/**
 * output:
 * <form action="" method="POST">
 *   <input type="text" name="entities[0][property]" value="foo">
 *   <input type="text" name="entities[1][property]" value="bar">
 *   <input type="text" name="entities[2][property]" value="baz">
 * </form>
 *
/*************/