# Custom Element Factory
**URL:** https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498
**Category:** Components & MVC
**Tags:** zend-form
**Created:** [February 28, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498 "2018-02-28T20:56:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/1 "2018-02-28T20:56:28Z")
I can`t access to CustomElementFactory
What am I doing wrong?
```auto
### Entity
namespace Application;
...
use Zend\Form\Annotation;
...
class SomeEntity
{
...
/**
* @Annotation\Type("Application\Form\Element\CustomElement")
*/
public $custom;
...
}
### module.config.php
...
'form_elements' => [
'factories' => [
\Application\Form\Element\CustomElement::class => function () {
throw new \Exception('It works? No!');
},
],
],
...
### IndexController
function indexAction()
{
...
$class = $this->params()->fromQuery('entity');
$b = new AnnotationBuilder($this->getObjectManager());
$form = $b->createForm($class);
...
}
### CustomElement
namespace Application\Form\Element;
use Zend\Form\Element;
class CustomElement extends Element
{
}
```
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/2 "2018-02-28T21:42:41Z")
> [@kkg](#):
>
> @Form\Type(“Application\Form\Element\CustomElement”)
I do not use annotations, but I think there is no `@Form\Type`!
Please look at the documentation for the correct annotations: [Quick Start - zend-form - Zend Framework Docs](https://docs.zendframework.com/zend-form/quick-start/#using-annotations)
There you can find an example for the type annotation:
```
/**
* @Annotation\Type("Zend\Form\Element\Email")
* @Annotation\Options({"label":"Your email address:"})
*/
public $email;
```
---
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/3 "2018-02-28T21:52:57Z")
This does not change the question
`use Zend\Form\Annotation as Form;` (Fixed)
Thank you for your comment
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 10:04pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/4 "2018-02-28T22:04:46Z")
The annotation is wrong, not the namespace!
---
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/5 "2018-02-28T22:08:47Z")
I showed only part of the code.
There is no Fatal error.
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/6 "2018-02-28T22:10:10Z")
Replace:
`@Form\Type("Application\Form\Element\CustomElement")`
with:
`@Annotation\Type("Application\Form\Element\CustomElement")`
---
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/7 "2018-02-28T22:13:01Z")
Nothing changed. Problem still exists
CustomElement is also defined
---
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 10:20pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/8 "2018-02-28T22:20:28Z")
The problem is that the Form Factory does not determine the Element Factory
```auto
var_dump($form->getFormFactory())
### ouput
...
["\Application\Form\Element\CustomElement"] => object(Zend\Form\ElementFactory)#471 (1) {
["creationOptions":"Zend\Form\ElementFactory":private] => NULL
}
...
```
But I expected call Exception(‘It works? No!’)
Because I want to use the following code for my purposes
```auto
'form_elements' => [
'factories' => [
\Application\Form\Element\CustomElement::class => \Application\Form\Element\CustomElementFactory::class,
],
],
```
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/9 "2018-02-28T22:39:24Z")
> [@kkg](#):
>
> The problem is that the Form Factory does not determine the Element Factory
Fetch the annotation-builder from the service-manager:
```php
$builder = $container->get(Zend\Form\Annotation\AnnotationBuilder::class);
```
…and all is included.
---
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/10 "2018-03-01T17:01:44Z")
> [@froschdesign](#):
>
> $builder = $container-\>get(Zend\Form\Annotation\AnnotationBuilder::class);
Yes, it works. Thanks a lot!
But, I’m using Doctrine Entity, so I need to use
```auto
$builder = $container->get(DoctrineORMModule\Form\Annotation\AnnotationBuilder::class);
```
This does not work
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [March 1, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/11 "2018-03-01T17:35:18Z")
Sorry, this is not a ZF component. Please look at module for the correct name to retrieve the builder:
> **[doctrine/DoctrineORMModule](https://github.com/doctrine/DoctrineORMModule)**
>
> Doctrine ORM Module for Laminas. Contribute to doctrine/DoctrineORMModule development by creating an account on GitHub.
---
### Author:  [@kkg](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/kkg)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/12 "2018-03-02T17:11:47Z")
[http://devblog.x2k.co.uk/using-custom-form-elements-with-the-annotationbuilder-in-zend-framework-2/](http://devblog.x2k.co.uk/using-custom-form-elements-with-the-annotationbuilder-in-zend-framework-2/)
---
### Author:  [@froschdesign](https://discourse.laminas.dev/u/froschdesign)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://discourse.laminas.dev/t/custom-element-factory/498/13 "2018-03-02T19:06:25Z")
@kkg
This article describes the usage without Doctrine, but within a ZF application it is much simple the pull the annotation-builder from the service-manager.