Why is the 'values' array not set on an unsaved entity? Is there a way to make it get populated?

Question

When I load an entity, its protected 'values' property contains all of its field values.

But when I create a new entity with MyEntityClass::create($array_of_values), its 'values' property is not set until I have saved it.

Is there a way to get that set, for the purposes of debug output?

Answer 1

The code comments in ContentEntityBase say that $values always hold the original, unchanged values of the entity:

/**
 * The plain data values of the contained fields.
 *
 * This always holds the original, unchanged values of the entity. The values
 * are keyed by language code, whereas LanguageInterface::LANGCODE_DEFAULT
 * is used for values in default language.
 *
 * @todo: Add methods for getting original fields and for determining
 * changes.
 * @todo: Provide a better way for defining default values.
 *
 * @var array
 */
protected $values = [];

Quick glance through the code suggests that the public method updateOriginalValues() would do the trick:

/**
 * Updates the original values with the interim changes.
 */
public function updateOriginalValues() {
  if (!$this->fields) {
    return;
  }
  foreach ($this->getFieldDefinitions() as $name => $definition) {
    if (!$definition->isComputed() && !empty($this->fields[$name])) {
      foreach ($this->fields[$name] as $langcode => $item) {
        $item->filterEmptyItems();
        $this->values[$name][$langcode] = $item->getValue();
      }
    }
  }
}