* Fixed the test plan in 72pg.t.
[dbsrgits/DBIx-Class.git] / lib / DBIx / Class / Manual / Cookbook.pod
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3b44ccc6 1=head1 NAME
9c82c181 2
40dbc108 3DBIx::Class::Manual::Cookbook - Miscellaneous recipes
ee38fa40 4
d2f3e87b 5=head1 SEARCHING
2913b2d3 6
d2f3e87b 7=head2 Paged results
faf62551 8
bade79c4 9When you expect a large number of results, you can ask L<DBIx::Class> for a
264f1571 10paged resultset, which will fetch only a defined number of records at a time:
faf62551 11
bade79c4 12 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
5e8b1b2a 13 undef,
bade79c4 14 {
15 page => 1, # page to return (defaults to 1)
16 rows => 10, # number of results per page
17 },
18 );
faf62551 19
bade79c4 20 return $rs->all(); # all records for page 1
faf62551 21
bade79c4 22The C<page> attribute does not have to be specified in your search:
23
24 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
5e8b1b2a 25 undef,
bade79c4 26 {
27 rows => 10,
28 }
29 );
faf62551 30
bade79c4 31 return $rs->page(1); # DBIx::Class::ResultSet containing first 10 records
faf62551 32
264f1571 33In either of the above cases, you can get a L<Data::Page> object for the
bade79c4 34resultset (suitable for use in e.g. a template) using the C<pager> method:
faf62551 35
bade79c4 36 return $rs->pager();
faf62551 37
d2f3e87b 38=head2 Complex WHERE clauses
2913b2d3 39
40dbc108 40Sometimes you need to formulate a query using specific operators:
41
ea6309e2 42 my @albums = $schema->resultset('Album')->search({
35d4fe78 43 artist => { 'like', '%Lamb%' },
44 title => { 'like', '%Fear of Fours%' },
45 });
40dbc108 46
47This results in something like the following C<WHERE> clause:
48
35d4fe78 49 WHERE artist LIKE '%Lamb%' AND title LIKE '%Fear of Fours%'
40dbc108 50
51Other queries might require slightly more complex logic:
52
ea6309e2 53 my @albums = $schema->resultset('Album')->search({
35d4fe78 54 -or => [
55 -and => [
56 artist => { 'like', '%Smashing Pumpkins%' },
57 title => 'Siamese Dream',
58 ],
59 artist => 'Starchildren',
60 ],
61 });
40dbc108 62
63This results in the following C<WHERE> clause:
64
35d4fe78 65 WHERE ( artist LIKE '%Smashing Pumpkins%' AND title = 'Siamese Dream' )
66 OR artist = 'Starchildren'
40dbc108 67
68For more information on generating complex queries, see
69L<SQL::Abstract/WHERE CLAUSES>.
ee38fa40 70
b9823354 71=head2 Retrieve one and only one row from a resultset
72
73Sometimes you need only the first "top" row of a resultset. While this can be
74easily done with L<< $rs->first|DBIx::Class::ResultSet/first >>, it is suboptimal,
75as a full blown cursor for the resultset will be created and then immediately
76destroyed after fetching the first row object.
77L<< $rs->single|DBIx::Class::ResultSet/single >> is
78designed specifically for this case - it will grab the first returned result
79without even instantiating a cursor.
80
81Before replacing all your calls to C<first()> with C<single()> please observe the
82following CAVEATS:
83
84=over
85
86=item *
87While single() takes a search condition just like search() does, it does
88_not_ accept search attributes. However one can always chain a single() to
89a search():
90
91 my $top_cd = $cd_rs -> search({}, { order_by => 'rating' }) -> single;
92
93
94=item *
95Since single() is the engine behind find(), it is designed to fetch a
96single row per database query. Thus a warning will be issued when the
97underlying SELECT returns more than one row. Sometimes however this usage
98is valid: i.e. we have an arbitrary number of cd's but only one of them is
99at the top of the charts at any given time. If you know what you are doing,
100you can silence the warning by explicitly limiting the resultset size:
101
102 my $top_cd = $cd_rs -> search ({}, { order_by => 'rating', rows => 1 }) -> single;
103
104=back
105
d2f3e87b 106=head2 Arbitrary SQL through a custom ResultSource
321d9634 107
108Sometimes you have to run arbitrary SQL because your query is too complex
109(e.g. it contains Unions, Sub-Selects, Stored Procedures, etc.) or has to
110be optimized for your database in a special way, but you still want to
111get the results as a L<DBIx::Class::ResultSet>.
112The recommended way to accomplish this is by defining a separate ResultSource
113for your query. You can then inject complete SQL statements using a scalar
114reference (this is a feature of L<SQL::Abstract>).
115
116Say you want to run a complex custom query on your user data, here's what
117you have to add to your User class:
118
119 package My::Schema::User;
120
121 use base qw/DBIx::Class/;
122
123 # ->load_components, ->table, ->add_columns, etc.
124
125 # Make a new ResultSource based on the User class
126 my $source = __PACKAGE__->result_source_instance();
127 my $new_source = $source->new( $source );
128 $new_source->source_name( 'UserFriendsComplex' );
129
130 # Hand in your query as a scalar reference
131 # It will be added as a sub-select after FROM,
132 # so pay attention to the surrounding brackets!
133 $new_source->name( \<<SQL );
134 ( SELECT u.* FROM user u
135 INNER JOIN user_friends f ON u.id = f.user_id
136 WHERE f.friend_user_id = ?
137 UNION
138 SELECT u.* FROM user u
139 INNER JOIN user_friends f ON u.id = f.friend_user_id
140 WHERE f.user_id = ? )
141 SQL
142
143 # Finally, register your new ResultSource with your Schema
144 My::Schema->register_source( 'UserFriendsComplex' => $new_source );
145
146Next, you can execute your complex query using bind parameters like this:
147
148 my $friends = [ $schema->resultset( 'UserFriendsComplex' )->search( {},
149 {
150 bind => [ 12345, 12345 ]
151 }
152 ) ];
153
154... and you'll get back a perfect L<DBIx::Class::ResultSet>.
155
d2f3e87b 156=head2 Using specific columns
faf62551 157
324572ca 158When you only want specific columns from a table, you can use
159C<columns> to specify which ones you need. This is useful to avoid
160loading columns with large amounts of data that you aren't about to
161use anyway:
faf62551 162
bade79c4 163 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
5e8b1b2a 164 undef,
bade79c4 165 {
5e8b1b2a 166 columns => [qw/ name /]
bade79c4 167 }
168 );
faf62551 169
bade79c4 170 # Equivalent SQL:
171 # SELECT artist.name FROM artist
faf62551 172
324572ca 173This is a shortcut for C<select> and C<as>, see below. C<columns>
174cannot be used together with C<select> and C<as>.
175
d2f3e87b 176=head2 Using database functions or stored procedures
faf62551 177
bade79c4 178The combination of C<select> and C<as> can be used to return the result of a
179database function or stored procedure as a column value. You use C<select> to
180specify the source for your column value (e.g. a column name, function, or
181stored procedure name). You then use C<as> to set the column name you will use
182to access the returned value:
faf62551 183
bade79c4 184 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
324572ca 185 {},
bade79c4 186 {
187 select => [ 'name', { LENGTH => 'name' } ],
188 as => [qw/ name name_length /],
189 }
190 );
faf62551 191
bade79c4 192 # Equivalent SQL:
98b65433 193 # SELECT name name, LENGTH( name )
bade79c4 194 # FROM artist
faf62551 195
d676881f 196Note that the C< as > attribute has absolutely nothing to with the sql
197syntax C< SELECT foo AS bar > (see the documentation in
198L<DBIx::Class::ResultSet/ATTRIBUTES>). If your alias exists as a
199column in your base class (i.e. it was added with C<add_columns>), you
200just access it as normal. Our C<Artist> class has a C<name> column, so
201we just use the C<name> accessor:
faf62551 202
bade79c4 203 my $artist = $rs->first();
204 my $name = $artist->name();
faf62551 205
206If on the other hand the alias does not correspond to an existing column, you
324572ca 207have to fetch the value using the C<get_column> accessor:
faf62551 208
bade79c4 209 my $name_length = $artist->get_column('name_length');
faf62551 210
bade79c4 211If you don't like using C<get_column>, you can always create an accessor for
faf62551 212any of your aliases using either of these:
213
bade79c4 214 # Define accessor manually:
215 sub name_length { shift->get_column('name_length'); }
faf62551 216
bade79c4 217 # Or use DBIx::Class::AccessorGroup:
218 __PACKAGE__->mk_group_accessors('column' => 'name_length');
faf62551 219
d2f3e87b 220=head2 SELECT DISTINCT with multiple columns
faf62551 221
bade79c4 222 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Foo')->search(
324572ca 223 {},
bade79c4 224 {
225 select => [
226 { distinct => [ $source->columns ] }
227 ],
d676881f 228 as => [ $source->columns ] # remember 'as' is not the same as SQL AS :-)
bade79c4 229 }
230 );
faf62551 231
d2f3e87b 232=head2 SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT colname)
6607ee1b 233
bade79c4 234 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Foo')->search(
324572ca 235 {},
bade79c4 236 {
237 select => [
238 { count => { distinct => 'colname' } }
239 ],
240 as => [ 'count' ]
241 }
242 );
6607ee1b 243
3d565896 244 my $count = $rs->next->get_column('count');
245
d2f3e87b 246=head2 Grouping results
bade79c4 247
248L<DBIx::Class> supports C<GROUP BY> as follows:
249
250 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
324572ca 251 {},
bade79c4 252 {
253 join => [qw/ cds /],
51458a6a 254 select => [ 'name', { count => 'cds.id' } ],
bade79c4 255 as => [qw/ name cd_count /],
256 group_by => [qw/ name /]
257 }
258 );
6607ee1b 259
bade79c4 260 # Equivalent SQL:
51458a6a 261 # SELECT name, COUNT( cd.id ) FROM artist
262 # LEFT JOIN cd ON artist.id = cd.artist
bade79c4 263 # GROUP BY name
6607ee1b 264
d676881f 265Please see L<DBIx::Class::ResultSet/ATTRIBUTES> documentation if you
266are in any way unsure about the use of the attributes above (C< join
267>, C< select >, C< as > and C< group_by >).
268
d2f3e87b 269=head2 Predefined searches
74dc2edc 270
324572ca 271You can write your own L<DBIx::Class::ResultSet> class by inheriting from it
74dc2edc 272and define often used searches as methods:
273
274 package My::DBIC::ResultSet::CD;
275 use strict;
276 use warnings;
277 use base 'DBIx::Class::ResultSet';
278
279 sub search_cds_ordered {
280 my ($self) = @_;
281
282 return $self->search(
283 {},
284 { order_by => 'name DESC' },
285 );
286 }
287
288 1;
289
290To use your resultset, first tell DBIx::Class to create an instance of it
291for you, in your My::DBIC::Schema::CD class:
292
9dc1bfce 293 # class definition as normal
294 __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/ Core /);
295 __PACKAGE__->table('cd');
296
297 # tell DBIC to use the custom ResultSet class
74dc2edc 298 __PACKAGE__->resultset_class('My::DBIC::ResultSet::CD');
299
9dc1bfce 300Note that C<resultset_class> must be called after C<load_components> and C<table>, or you will get errors about missing methods.
301
74dc2edc 302Then call your new method in your code:
303
304 my $ordered_cds = $schema->resultset('CD')->search_cds_ordered();
305
d2f3e87b 306=head2 Using SQL functions on the left hand side of a comparison
1c133e22 307
308Using SQL functions on the left hand side of a comparison is generally
309not a good idea since it requires a scan of the entire table. However,
310it can be accomplished with C<DBIx::Class> when necessary.
311
312If you do not have quoting on, simply include the function in your search
313specification as you would any column:
314
315 $rs->search({ 'YEAR(date_of_birth)' => 1979 });
316
317With quoting on, or for a more portable solution, use the C<where>
318attribute:
319
320 $rs->search({}, { where => \'YEAR(date_of_birth) = 1979' });
321
322=begin hidden
323
324(When the bind args ordering bug is fixed, this technique will be better
325and can replace the one above.)
326
327With quoting on, or for a more portable solution, use the C<where> and
328C<bind> attributes:
329
330 $rs->search({}, {
331 where => \'YEAR(date_of_birth) = ?',
332 bind => [ 1979 ]
333 });
334
335=end hidden
336
d2f3e87b 337=head1 JOINS AND PREFETCHING
338
87980de7 339=head2 Using joins and prefetch
340
bade79c4 341You can use the C<join> attribute to allow searching on, or sorting your
342results by, one or more columns in a related table. To return all CDs matching
343a particular artist name:
ea6309e2 344
bade79c4 345 my $rs = $schema->resultset('CD')->search(
346 {
347 'artist.name' => 'Bob Marley'
348 },
349 {
51458a6a 350 join => 'artist', # join the artist table
bade79c4 351 }
352 );
353
354 # Equivalent SQL:
355 # SELECT cd.* FROM cd
356 # JOIN artist ON cd.artist = artist.id
357 # WHERE artist.name = 'Bob Marley'
358
359If required, you can now sort on any column in the related tables by including
360it in your C<order_by> attribute:
361
362 my $rs = $schema->resultset('CD')->search(
363 {
364 'artist.name' => 'Bob Marley'
365 },
366 {
51458a6a 367 join => 'artist',
bade79c4 368 order_by => [qw/ artist.name /]
369 }
2f81ed0f 370 );
ea6309e2 371
bade79c4 372 # Equivalent SQL:
373 # SELECT cd.* FROM cd
374 # JOIN artist ON cd.artist = artist.id
375 # WHERE artist.name = 'Bob Marley'
376 # ORDER BY artist.name
ea6309e2 377
bade79c4 378Note that the C<join> attribute should only be used when you need to search or
379sort using columns in a related table. Joining related tables when you only
380need columns from the main table will make performance worse!
ea6309e2 381
bade79c4 382Now let's say you want to display a list of CDs, each with the name of the
383artist. The following will work fine:
ea6309e2 384
bade79c4 385 while (my $cd = $rs->next) {
386 print "CD: " . $cd->title . ", Artist: " . $cd->artist->name;
387 }
ea6309e2 388
bade79c4 389There is a problem however. We have searched both the C<cd> and C<artist> tables
390in our main query, but we have only returned data from the C<cd> table. To get
391the artist name for any of the CD objects returned, L<DBIx::Class> will go back
392to the database:
ea6309e2 393
bade79c4 394 SELECT artist.* FROM artist WHERE artist.id = ?
ea6309e2 395
396A statement like the one above will run for each and every CD returned by our
397main query. Five CDs, five extra queries. A hundred CDs, one hundred extra
398queries!
399
bade79c4 400Thankfully, L<DBIx::Class> has a C<prefetch> attribute to solve this problem.
897342e4 401This allows you to fetch results from related tables in advance:
ea6309e2 402
bade79c4 403 my $rs = $schema->resultset('CD')->search(
404 {
405 'artist.name' => 'Bob Marley'
406 },
407 {
51458a6a 408 join => 'artist',
bade79c4 409 order_by => [qw/ artist.name /],
51458a6a 410 prefetch => 'artist' # return artist data too!
bade79c4 411 }
412 );
ea6309e2 413
bade79c4 414 # Equivalent SQL (note SELECT from both "cd" and "artist"):
415 # SELECT cd.*, artist.* FROM cd
416 # JOIN artist ON cd.artist = artist.id
417 # WHERE artist.name = 'Bob Marley'
418 # ORDER BY artist.name
ea6309e2 419
420The code to print the CD list remains the same:
421
bade79c4 422 while (my $cd = $rs->next) {
423 print "CD: " . $cd->title . ", Artist: " . $cd->artist->name;
424 }
ea6309e2 425
bade79c4 426L<DBIx::Class> has now prefetched all matching data from the C<artist> table,
ea6309e2 427so no additional SQL statements are executed. You now have a much more
428efficient query.
429
77d6b403 430Note that as of L<DBIx::Class> 0.05999_01, C<prefetch> I<can> be used with
431C<has_many> relationships.
ea6309e2 432
bade79c4 433Also note that C<prefetch> should only be used when you know you will
ea6309e2 434definitely use data from a related table. Pre-fetching related tables when you
435only need columns from the main table will make performance worse!
436
51458a6a 437=head2 Multiple joins
438
439In the examples above, the C<join> attribute was a scalar. If you
440pass an array reference instead, you can join to multiple tables. In
441this example, we want to limit the search further, using
442C<LinerNotes>:
443
444 # Relationships defined elsewhere:
445 # CD->belongs_to('artist' => 'Artist');
446 # CD->has_one('liner_notes' => 'LinerNotes', 'cd');
447 my $rs = $schema->resultset('CD')->search(
448 {
449 'artist.name' => 'Bob Marley'
450 'liner_notes.notes' => { 'like', '%some text%' },
451 },
452 {
453 join => [qw/ artist liner_notes /],
454 order_by => [qw/ artist.name /],
455 }
456 );
457
458 # Equivalent SQL:
459 # SELECT cd.*, artist.*, liner_notes.* FROM cd
460 # JOIN artist ON cd.artist = artist.id
461 # JOIN liner_notes ON cd.id = liner_notes.cd
462 # WHERE artist.name = 'Bob Marley'
463 # ORDER BY artist.name
464
d2f3e87b 465=head2 Multi-step joins
ea6309e2 466
467Sometimes you want to join more than one relationship deep. In this example,
bade79c4 468we want to find all C<Artist> objects who have C<CD>s whose C<LinerNotes>
469contain a specific string:
470
471 # Relationships defined elsewhere:
472 # Artist->has_many('cds' => 'CD', 'artist');
473 # CD->has_one('liner_notes' => 'LinerNotes', 'cd');
474
475 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
476 {
477 'liner_notes.notes' => { 'like', '%some text%' },
478 },
479 {
480 join => {
481 'cds' => 'liner_notes'
482 }
483 }
484 );
ea6309e2 485
bade79c4 486 # Equivalent SQL:
487 # SELECT artist.* FROM artist
51458a6a 488 # LEFT JOIN cd ON artist.id = cd.artist
489 # LEFT JOIN liner_notes ON cd.id = liner_notes.cd
bade79c4 490 # WHERE liner_notes.notes LIKE '%some text%'
ea6309e2 491
492Joins can be nested to an arbitrary level. So if we decide later that we
493want to reduce the number of Artists returned based on who wrote the liner
494notes:
495
bade79c4 496 # Relationship defined elsewhere:
497 # LinerNotes->belongs_to('author' => 'Person');
498
499 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
500 {
501 'liner_notes.notes' => { 'like', '%some text%' },
502 'author.name' => 'A. Writer'
503 },
504 {
505 join => {
506 'cds' => {
507 'liner_notes' => 'author'
ea6309e2 508 }
bade79c4 509 }
510 }
511 );
ea6309e2 512
bade79c4 513 # Equivalent SQL:
514 # SELECT artist.* FROM artist
51458a6a 515 # LEFT JOIN cd ON artist.id = cd.artist
516 # LEFT JOIN liner_notes ON cd.id = liner_notes.cd
517 # LEFT JOIN author ON author.id = liner_notes.author
bade79c4 518 # WHERE liner_notes.notes LIKE '%some text%'
519 # AND author.name = 'A. Writer'
87980de7 520
51458a6a 521=head2 Multi-step and multiple joins
522
523With various combinations of array and hash references, you can join
524tables in any combination you desire. For example, to join Artist to
525CD and Concert, and join CD to LinerNotes:
526
527 # Relationships defined elsewhere:
528 # Artist->has_many('concerts' => 'Concert', 'artist');
529
530 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Artist')->search(
531 { },
532 {
533 join => [
534 {
535 cds => 'liner_notes'
536 },
537 'concerts'
538 ],
539 }
540 );
541
542 # Equivalent SQL:
543 # SELECT artist.* FROM artist
544 # LEFT JOIN cd ON artist.id = cd.artist
545 # LEFT JOIN liner_notes ON cd.id = liner_notes.cd
546 # LEFT JOIN concert ON artist.id = concert.artist
547
897342e4 548=head2 Multi-step prefetch
549
550From 0.04999_05 onwards, C<prefetch> can be nested more than one relationship
551deep using the same syntax as a multi-step join:
552
553 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Tag')->search(
ac2803ef 554 {},
897342e4 555 {
556 prefetch => {
557 cd => 'artist'
558 }
559 }
560 );
561
562 # Equivalent SQL:
563 # SELECT tag.*, cd.*, artist.* FROM tag
51458a6a 564 # JOIN cd ON tag.cd = cd.id
565 # JOIN artist ON cd.artist = artist.id
897342e4 566
567Now accessing our C<cd> and C<artist> relationships does not need additional
568SQL statements:
569
570 my $tag = $rs->first;
571 print $tag->cd->artist->name;
572
d2f3e87b 573=head1 ROW-LEVEL OPERATIONS
574
575=head2 Retrieving a row object's Schema
576
577It is possible to get a Schema object from a row object like so:
578
579 my $schema = $cd->result_source->schema;
580 # use the schema as normal:
581 my $artist_rs = $schema->resultset('Artist');
582
583This can be useful when you don't want to pass around a Schema object to every
584method.
585
586=head2 Getting the value of the primary key for the last database insert
587
588AKA getting last_insert_id
589
590If you are using PK::Auto (which is a core component as of 0.07), this is
591straightforward:
592
593 my $foo = $rs->create(\%blah);
594 # do more stuff
595 my $id = $foo->id; # foo->my_primary_key_field will also work.
596
597If you are not using autoincrementing primary keys, this will probably
598not work, but then you already know the value of the last primary key anyway.
599
600=head2 Stringification
601
602Employ the standard stringification technique by using the C<overload>
603module.
604
605To make an object stringify itself as a single column, use something
606like this (replace C<foo> with the column/method of your choice):
607
608 use overload '""' => sub { shift->name}, fallback => 1;
609
610For more complex stringification, you can use an anonymous subroutine:
611
612 use overload '""' => sub { $_[0]->name . ", " .
613 $_[0]->address }, fallback => 1;
614
615=head3 Stringification Example
616
617Suppose we have two tables: C<Product> and C<Category>. The table
618specifications are:
619
620 Product(id, Description, category)
621 Category(id, Description)
622
623C<category> is a foreign key into the Category table.
624
625If you have a Product object C<$obj> and write something like
626
627 print $obj->category
628
629things will not work as expected.
630
631To obtain, for example, the category description, you should add this
632method to the class defining the Category table:
633
634 use overload "" => sub {
635 my $self = shift;
636
637 return $self->Description;
638 }, fallback => 1;
639
640=head2 Want to know if find_or_create found or created a row?
641
642Just use C<find_or_new> instead, then check C<in_storage>:
643
644 my $obj = $rs->find_or_new({ blah => 'blarg' });
645 unless ($obj->in_storage) {
646 $obj->insert;
647 # do whatever else you wanted if it was a new row
648 }
649
650=head2 Dynamic Sub-classing DBIx::Class proxy classes
651
652AKA multi-class object inflation from one table
653
654L<DBIx::Class> classes are proxy classes, therefore some different
655techniques need to be employed for more than basic subclassing. In
656this example we have a single user table that carries a boolean bit
657for admin. We would like like to give the admin users
658objects(L<DBIx::Class::Row>) the same methods as a regular user but
659also special admin only methods. It doesn't make sense to create two
660seperate proxy-class files for this. We would be copying all the user
661methods into the Admin class. There is a cleaner way to accomplish
662this.
663
664Overriding the C<inflate_result> method within the User proxy-class
665gives us the effect we want. This method is called by
666L<DBIx::Class::ResultSet> when inflating a result from storage. So we
667grab the object being returned, inspect the values we are looking for,
668bless it if it's an admin object, and then return it. See the example
669below:
670
671B<Schema Definition>
672
673 package DB::Schema;
674
675 use base qw/DBIx::Class::Schema/;
676
677 __PACKAGE__->load_classes(qw/User/);
678
679
680B<Proxy-Class definitions>
681
682 package DB::Schema::User;
683
684 use strict;
685 use warnings;
686 use base qw/DBIx::Class/;
687
688 ### Defined what our admin class is for ensure_class_loaded
689 my $admin_class = __PACKAGE__ . '::Admin';
690
691 __PACKAGE__->load_components(qw/Core/);
692
693 __PACKAGE__->table('users');
694
695 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/user_id email password
696 firstname lastname active
697 admin/);
698
699 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('user_id');
700
701 sub inflate_result {
702 my $self = shift;
703 my $ret = $self->next::method(@_);
704 if( $ret->admin ) {### If this is an admin rebless for extra functions
705 $self->ensure_class_loaded( $admin_class );
706 bless $ret, $admin_class;
707 }
708 return $ret;
709 }
710
711 sub hello {
712 print "I am a regular user.\n";
713 return ;
714 }
715
716
717 package DB::Schema::User::Admin;
718
719 use strict;
720 use warnings;
721 use base qw/DB::Schema::User/;
722
723 sub hello
724 {
725 print "I am an admin.\n";
726 return;
727 }
728
729 sub do_admin_stuff
730 {
731 print "I am doing admin stuff\n";
732 return ;
733 }
734
735B<Test File> test.pl
736
737 use warnings;
738 use strict;
739 use DB::Schema;
740
741 my $user_data = { email => 'someguy@place.com',
742 password => 'pass1',
743 admin => 0 };
744
745 my $admin_data = { email => 'someadmin@adminplace.com',
746 password => 'pass2',
747 admin => 1 };
748
749 my $schema = DB::Schema->connection('dbi:Pg:dbname=test');
750
751 $schema->resultset('User')->create( $user_data );
752 $schema->resultset('User')->create( $admin_data );
753
754 ### Now we search for them
755 my $user = $schema->resultset('User')->single( $user_data );
756 my $admin = $schema->resultset('User')->single( $admin_data );
757
758 print ref $user, "\n";
759 print ref $admin, "\n";
760
761 print $user->password , "\n"; # pass1
762 print $admin->password , "\n";# pass2; inherited from User
763 print $user->hello , "\n";# I am a regular user.
764 print $admin->hello, "\n";# I am an admin.
765
766 ### The statement below will NOT print
767 print "I can do admin stuff\n" if $user->can('do_admin_stuff');
768 ### The statement below will print
769 print "I can do admin stuff\n" if $admin->can('do_admin_stuff');
770
a5b29361 771=head2 Skip row object creation for faster results
d2f3e87b 772
773DBIx::Class is not built for speed, it's built for convenience and
774ease of use, but sometimes you just need to get the data, and skip the
775fancy objects.
776
777To do this simply use L<DBIx::Class::ResultClass::HashRefInflator>.
778
779 my $rs = $schema->resultset('CD');
780
781 $rs->result_class('DBIx::Class::ResultClass::HashRefInflator');
782
783 my $hash_ref = $rs->find(1);
a5b29361 784
d2f3e87b 785Wasn't that easy?
786
787=head2 Get raw data for blindingly fast results
788
789If the L<HashRefInflator|DBIx::Class::ResultClass::HashRefInflator> solution
790above is not fast enough for you, you can use a DBIx::Class to return values
791exactly as they come out of the data base with none of the convenience methods
792wrapped round them.
793
794This is used like so:-
795
796 my $cursor = $rs->cursor
797 while (my @vals = $cursor->next) {
798 # use $val[0..n] here
799 }
800
801You will need to map the array offsets to particular columns (you can
802use the I<select> attribute of C<search()> to force ordering).
803
804=head1 RESULTSET OPERATIONS
805
806=head2 Getting Schema from a ResultSet
807
808To get the schema object from a result set, do the following:
809
810 $rs->result_source->schema
811
812=head2 Getting Columns Of Data
813
814AKA Aggregating Data
ac2803ef 815
816If you want to find the sum of a particular column there are several
817ways, the obvious one is to use search:
818
819 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Items')->search(
820 {},
821 {
822 select => [ { sum => 'Cost' } ],
d676881f 823 as => [ 'total_cost' ], # remember this 'as' is for DBIx::Class::ResultSet not SQL
ac2803ef 824 }
825 );
826 my $tc = $rs->first->get_column('total_cost');
827
828Or, you can use the L<DBIx::Class::ResultSetColumn>, which gets
829returned when you ask the C<ResultSet> for a column using
830C<get_column>:
831
832 my $cost = $schema->resultset('Items')->get_column('Cost');
833 my $tc = $cost->sum;
834
835With this you can also do:
836
837 my $minvalue = $cost->min;
838 my $maxvalue = $cost->max;
839
840Or just iterate through the values of this column only:
841
842 while ( my $c = $cost->next ) {
843 print $c;
844 }
845
846 foreach my $c ($cost->all) {
847 print $c;
848 }
849
709353af 850C<ResultSetColumn> only has a limited number of built-in functions, if
851you need one that it doesn't have, then you can use the C<func> method
852instead:
853
854 my $avg = $cost->func('AVERAGE');
855
856This will cause the following SQL statement to be run:
857
858 SELECT AVERAGE(Cost) FROM Items me
859
860Which will of course only work if your database supports this function.
ac2803ef 861See L<DBIx::Class::ResultSetColumn> for more documentation.
862
204e5c03 863=head2 Creating a result set from a set of rows
864
865Sometimes you have a (set of) row objects that you want to put into a
866resultset without the need to hit the DB again. You can do that by using the
867L<set_cache|DBIx::Class::Resultset/set_cache> method:
868
2d7a4e46 869 my @uploadable_groups;
204e5c03 870 while (my $group = $groups->next) {
871 if ($group->can_upload($self)) {
872 push @uploadable_groups, $group;
873 }
874 }
875 my $new_rs = $self->result_source->resultset;
876 $new_rs->set_cache(\@uploadable_groups);
877 return $new_rs;
878
879
d2f3e87b 880=head1 USING RELATIONSHIPS
acee4e4d 881
d2f3e87b 882=head2 Create a new row in a related table
acee4e4d 883
6f1434fd 884 my $author = $book->create_related('author', { name => 'Fred'});
acee4e4d 885
d2f3e87b 886=head2 Search in a related table
acee4e4d 887
888Only searches for books named 'Titanic' by the author in $author.
889
6f1434fd 890 my $books_rs = $author->search_related('books', { name => 'Titanic' });
acee4e4d 891
d2f3e87b 892=head2 Delete data in a related table
acee4e4d 893
894Deletes only the book named Titanic by the author in $author.
895
6f1434fd 896 $author->delete_related('books', { name => 'Titanic' });
acee4e4d 897
d2f3e87b 898=head2 Ordering a relationship result set
f8bad769 899
900If you always want a relation to be ordered, you can specify this when you
901create the relationship.
902
6f1434fd 903To order C<< $book->pages >> by descending page_number, create the relation
904as follows:
f8bad769 905
6f1434fd 906 __PACKAGE__->has_many('pages' => 'Page', 'book', { order_by => \'page_number DESC'} );
f8bad769 907
7c0825ab 908=head2 Filtering a relationship result set
909
910If you want to get a filtered result set, you can just add add to $attr as follows:
911
912 __PACKAGE__->has_many('pages' => 'Page', 'book', { where => { scrap => 0 } } );
913
d2f3e87b 914=head2 Many-to-many relationships
f8bad769 915
d2f3e87b 916This is straightforward using L<ManyToMany|DBIx::Class::Relationship/many_to_many>:
f8bad769 917
d2f3e87b 918 package My::User;
6f1434fd 919 use base 'DBIx::Class';
920 __PACKAGE__->load_components('Core');
d2f3e87b 921 __PACKAGE__->table('user');
922 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/id name/);
923 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('id');
924 __PACKAGE__->has_many('user_address' => 'My::UserAddress', 'user');
925 __PACKAGE__->many_to_many('addresses' => 'user_address', 'address');
87980de7 926
d2f3e87b 927 package My::UserAddress;
6f1434fd 928 use base 'DBIx::Class';
929 __PACKAGE__->load_components('Core');
d2f3e87b 930 __PACKAGE__->table('user_address');
931 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/user address/);
932 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key(qw/user address/);
933 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to('user' => 'My::User');
934 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to('address' => 'My::Address');
181a28f4 935
d2f3e87b 936 package My::Address;
6f1434fd 937 use base 'DBIx::Class';
938 __PACKAGE__->load_components('Core');
d2f3e87b 939 __PACKAGE__->table('address');
940 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(qw/id street town area_code country/);
941 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('id');
942 __PACKAGE__->has_many('user_address' => 'My::UserAddress', 'address');
943 __PACKAGE__->many_to_many('users' => 'user_address', 'user');
944
945 $rs = $user->addresses(); # get all addresses for a user
946 $rs = $address->users(); # get all users for an address
947
948=head1 TRANSACTIONS
949
950As of version 0.04001, there is improved transaction support in
951L<DBIx::Class::Storage> and L<DBIx::Class::Schema>. Here is an
952example of the recommended way to use it:
953
954 my $genus = $schema->resultset('Genus')->find(12);
955
956 my $coderef2 = sub {
957 $genus->extinct(1);
958 $genus->update;
959 };
70634260 960
181a28f4 961 my $coderef1 = sub {
35d4fe78 962 $genus->add_to_species({ name => 'troglodyte' });
963 $genus->wings(2);
964 $genus->update;
6f1434fd 965 $schema->txn_do($coderef2); # Can have a nested transaction. Only the outer will actualy commit
181a28f4 966 return $genus->species;
967 };
968
181a28f4 969 my $rs;
970 eval {
70634260 971 $rs = $schema->txn_do($coderef1);
181a28f4 972 };
973
974 if ($@) { # Transaction failed
975 die "the sky is falling!" #
976 if ($@ =~ /Rollback failed/); # Rollback failed
977
978 deal_with_failed_transaction();
35d4fe78 979 }
87980de7 980
181a28f4 981Nested transactions will work as expected. That is, only the outermost
982transaction will actually issue a commit to the $dbh, and a rollback
983at any level of any transaction will cause the entire nested
984transaction to fail. Support for savepoints and for true nested
40dbc108 985transactions (for databases that support them) will hopefully be added
986in the future.
ee38fa40 987
d2f3e87b 988=head1 SQL
ee38fa40 989
d2f3e87b 990=head2 Creating Schemas From An Existing Database
ea6309e2 991
d2f3e87b 992L<DBIx::Class::Schema::Loader> will connect to a database and create a
993L<DBIx::Class::Schema> and associated sources by examining the database.
bade79c4 994
d2f3e87b 995The recommend way of achieving this is to use the
996L<make_schema_at|DBIx::Class::Schema::Loader/make_schema_at> method:
bade79c4 997
6f1434fd 998 perl -MDBIx::Class::Schema::Loader=make_schema_at,dump_to_dir:./lib \
999 -e 'make_schema_at("My::Schema", { debug => 1 }, [ "dbi:Pg:dbname=foo","postgres" ])'
362500af 1000
d2f3e87b 1001This will create a tree of files rooted at C<./lib/My/Schema/> containing
1002source definitions for all the tables found in the C<foo> database.
362500af 1003
d2f3e87b 1004=head2 Creating DDL SQL
362500af 1005
264f1571 1006The following functionality requires you to have L<SQL::Translator>
1007(also known as "SQL Fairy") installed.
362500af 1008
264f1571 1009To create a set of database-specific .sql files for the above schema:
362500af 1010
264f1571 1011 my $schema = My::Schema->connect($dsn);
1012 $schema->create_ddl_dir(['MySQL', 'SQLite', 'PostgreSQL'],
1013 '0.1',
d2f3e87b 1014 './dbscriptdir/'
264f1571 1015 );
1016
1017By default this will create schema files in the current directory, for
1018MySQL, SQLite and PostgreSQL, using the $VERSION from your Schema.pm.
1019
1020To create a new database using the schema:
1021
1022 my $schema = My::Schema->connect($dsn);
1023 $schema->deploy({ add_drop_tables => 1});
1024
1025To import created .sql files using the mysql client:
1026
1027 mysql -h "host" -D "database" -u "user" -p < My_Schema_1.0_MySQL.sql
1028
1029To create C<ALTER TABLE> conversion scripts to update a database to a
1030newer version of your schema at a later point, first set a new
d2f3e87b 1031C<$VERSION> in your Schema file, then:
264f1571 1032
1033 my $schema = My::Schema->connect($dsn);
1034 $schema->create_ddl_dir(['MySQL', 'SQLite', 'PostgreSQL'],
1035 '0.2',
1036 '/dbscriptdir/',
1037 '0.1'
1038 );
1039
1040This will produce new database-specific .sql files for the new version
1041of the schema, plus scripts to convert from version 0.1 to 0.2. This
1042requires that the files for 0.1 as created above are available in the
1043given directory to diff against.
362500af 1044
6f1434fd 1045=head2 Select from dual
16cd5b28 1046
1047Dummy tables are needed by some databases to allow calling functions
1048or expressions that aren't based on table content, for examples of how
1049this applies to various database types, see:
1050L<http://troels.arvin.dk/db/rdbms/#other-dummy_table>.
1051
1052Note: If you're using Oracles dual table don't B<ever> do anything
1053other than a select, if you CRUD on your dual table you *will* break
1054your database.
1055
1056Make a table class as you would for any other table
1057
1058 package MyAppDB::Dual;
1059 use strict;
1060 use warnings;
1061 use base 'DBIx::Class';
1062 __PACKAGE__->load_components("Core");
1063 __PACKAGE__->table("Dual");
1064 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
1065 "dummy",
1066 { data_type => "VARCHAR2", is_nullable => 0, size => 1 },
1067 );
1068
1069Once you've loaded your table class select from it using C<select>
1070and C<as> instead of C<columns>
1071
1072 my $rs = $schema->resultset('Dual')->search(undef,
1073 { select => [ 'sydate' ],
1074 as => [ 'now' ]
1075 },
1076 );
1077
1078All you have to do now is be careful how you access your resultset, the below
1079will not work because there is no column called 'now' in the Dual table class
1080
1081 while (my $dual = $rs->next) {
1082 print $dual->now."\n";
1083 }
6f1434fd 1084 # Can't locate object method "now" via package "MyAppDB::Dual" at headshot.pl line 23.
16cd5b28 1085
1086You could of course use 'dummy' in C<as> instead of 'now', or C<add_columns> to
1087your Dual class for whatever you wanted to select from dual, but that's just
1088silly, instead use C<get_column>
1089
1090 while (my $dual = $rs->next) {
1091 print $dual->get_column('now')."\n";
1092 }
1093
1094Or use C<cursor>
1095
1096 my $cursor = $rs->cursor;
1097 while (my @vals = $cursor->next) {
1098 print $vals[0]."\n";
1099 }
1100
1101Or use L<DBIx::Class::ResultClass::HashRefInflator>
1102
1103 $rs->result_class('DBIx::Class::ResultClass::HashRefInflator');
1104 while ( my $dual = $rs->next ) {
1105 print $dual->{now}."\n";
1106 }
1107
1108Here are some example C<select> conditions to illustrate the different syntax
1109you could use for doing stuff like
1110C<oracles.heavily(nested(functions_can('take', 'lots'), OF), 'args')>
1111
1112 # get a sequence value
1113 select => [ 'A_SEQ.nextval' ],
1114
1115 # get create table sql
1116 select => [ { 'dbms_metadata.get_ddl' => [ "'TABLE'", "'ARTIST'" ]} ],
1117
1118 # get a random num between 0 and 100
1119 select => [ { "trunc" => [ { "dbms_random.value" => [0,100] } ]} ],
1120
1121 # what year is it?
1122 select => [ { 'extract' => [ \'year from sysdate' ] } ],
1123
1124 # do some math
1125 select => [ {'round' => [{'cos' => [ \'180 * 3.14159265359/180' ]}]}],
1126
1127 # which day of the week were you born on?
6f1434fd 1128 select => [{'to_char' => [{'to_date' => [ "'25-DEC-1980'", "'dd-mon-yyyy'" ]}, "'day'"]}],
16cd5b28 1129
1130 # select 16 rows from dual
1131 select => [ "'hello'" ],
1132 as => [ 'world' ],
1133 group_by => [ 'cube( 1, 2, 3, 4 )' ],
1134
1135
1136
d2f3e87b 1137=head2 Adding Indexes And Functions To Your SQL
362500af 1138
d2f3e87b 1139Often you will want indexes on columns on your table to speed up searching. To
1140do this, create a method called C<sqlt_deploy_hook> in the relevant source
1141class:
b0a20454 1142
d2f3e87b 1143 package My::Schema::Artist;
b0a20454 1144
d2f3e87b 1145 __PACKAGE__->table('artist');
1146 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(id => { ... }, name => { ... })
b0a20454 1147
d2f3e87b 1148 sub sqlt_deploy_hook {
1149 my ($self, $sqlt_table) = @_;
1150
1151 $sqlt_table->add_index(name => 'idx_name', fields => ['name']);
1152 }
1153
1154 1;
1155
1156Sometimes you might want to change the index depending on the type of the
1157database for which SQL is being generated:
1158
1159 my ($db_type = $sqlt_table->schema->translator->producer_type)
1160 =~ s/^SQL::Translator::Producer:://;
1161
1162You can also add hooks to the schema level to stop certain tables being
1163created:
1164
1165 package My::Schema;
1166
1167 ...
1168
1169 sub sqlt_deploy_hook {
1170 my ($self, $sqlt_schema) = @_;
1171
1172 $sqlt_schema->drop_table('table_name');
1173 }
1174
1175You could also add views or procedures to the output using
1176L<SQL::Translator::Schema/add_view> or
1177L<SQL::Translator::Schema/add_procedure>.
b0a20454 1178
362500af 1179=head2 Schema versioning
1180
1181The following example shows simplistically how you might use DBIx::Class to
1182deploy versioned schemas to your customers. The basic process is as follows:
1183
da4779ad 1184=over 4
1185
1186=item 1.
1187
1188Create a DBIx::Class schema
1189
1190=item 2.
1191
1192Save the schema
1193
1194=item 3.
1195
1196Deploy to customers
1197
1198=item 4.
1199
1200Modify schema to change functionality
1201
1202=item 5.
1203
1204Deploy update to customers
1205
1206=back
362500af 1207
d2f3e87b 1208B<Create a DBIx::Class schema>
362500af 1209
1210This can either be done manually, or generated from an existing database as
d2f3e87b 1211described under L</Creating Schemas From An Existing Database>
362500af 1212
d2f3e87b 1213B<Save the schema>
362500af 1214
d2f3e87b 1215Call L<DBIx::Class::Schema/create_ddl_dir> as above under L</Creating DDL SQL>.
362500af 1216
d2f3e87b 1217B<Deploy to customers>
362500af 1218
1219There are several ways you could deploy your schema. These are probably
1220beyond the scope of this recipe, but might include:
1221
da4779ad 1222=over 4
1223
1224=item 1.
1225
1226Require customer to apply manually using their RDBMS.
1227
1228=item 2.
1229
1230Package along with your app, making database dump/schema update/tests
362500af 1231all part of your install.
1232
da4779ad 1233=back
1234
d2f3e87b 1235B<Modify the schema to change functionality>
362500af 1236
264f1571 1237As your application evolves, it may be necessary to modify your schema
1238to change functionality. Once the changes are made to your schema in
1239DBIx::Class, export the modified schema and the conversion scripts as
d2f3e87b 1240in L</Creating DDL SQL>.
362500af 1241
d2f3e87b 1242B<Deploy update to customers>
362500af 1243
264f1571 1244Add the L<DBIx::Class::Schema::Versioned> schema component to your
1245Schema class. This will add a new table to your database called
ecea7937 1246C<dbix_class_schema_vesion> which will keep track of which version is installed
264f1571 1247and warn if the user trys to run a newer schema version than the
1248database thinks it has.
1249
1250Alternatively, you can send the conversion sql scripts to your
1251customers as above.
362500af 1252
d2f3e87b 1253=head2 Setting quoting for the generated SQL.
1254
1255If the database contains column names with spaces and/or reserved words, they
1256need to be quoted in the SQL queries. This is done using:
1257
1258 __PACKAGE__->storage->sql_maker->quote_char([ qw/[ ]/] );
1259 __PACKAGE__->storage->sql_maker->name_sep('.');
1260
1261The first sets the quote characters. Either a pair of matching
1262brackets, or a C<"> or C<'>:
1263
1264 __PACKAGE__->storage->sql_maker->quote_char('"');
1265
1266Check the documentation of your database for the correct quote
1267characters to use. C<name_sep> needs to be set to allow the SQL
1268generator to put the quotes the correct place.
1269
1270In most cases you should set these as part of the arguments passed to
1271L<DBIx::Class::Schema/conect>:
1272
1273 my $schema = My::Schema->connect(
1274 'dbi:mysql:my_db',
1275 'db_user',
1276 'db_password',
1277 {
1278 quote_char => '"',
1279 name_sep => '.'
1280 }
1281 )
1282
7be93b07 1283=head2 Setting limit dialect for SQL::Abstract::Limit
1284
324572ca 1285In some cases, SQL::Abstract::Limit cannot determine the dialect of
1286the remote SQL server by looking at the database handle. This is a
1287common problem when using the DBD::JDBC, since the DBD-driver only
1288know that in has a Java-driver available, not which JDBC driver the
1289Java component has loaded. This specifically sets the limit_dialect
1290to Microsoft SQL-server (See more names in SQL::Abstract::Limit
1291-documentation.
7be93b07 1292
1293 __PACKAGE__->storage->sql_maker->limit_dialect('mssql');
1294
324572ca 1295The JDBC bridge is one way of getting access to a MSSQL server from a platform
7be93b07 1296that Microsoft doesn't deliver native client libraries for. (e.g. Linux)
1297
d2f3e87b 1298The limit dialect can also be set at connect time by specifying a
1299C<limit_dialect> key in the final hash as shown above.
2437a1e3 1300
d2f3e87b 1301=head1 BOOTSTRAPPING/MIGRATING
2437a1e3 1302
d2f3e87b 1303=head2 Easy migration from class-based to schema-based setup
2437a1e3 1304
d2f3e87b 1305You want to start using the schema-based approach to L<DBIx::Class>
1306(see L<SchemaIntro.pod>), but have an established class-based setup with lots
1307of existing classes that you don't want to move by hand. Try this nifty script
1308instead:
1309
1310 use MyDB;
1311 use SQL::Translator;
1312
1313 my $schema = MyDB->schema_instance;
2437a1e3 1314
d2f3e87b 1315 my $translator = SQL::Translator->new(
1316 debug => $debug || 0,
1317 trace => $trace || 0,
1318 no_comments => $no_comments || 0,
1319 show_warnings => $show_warnings || 0,
1320 add_drop_table => $add_drop_table || 0,
1321 validate => $validate || 0,
1322 parser_args => {
1323 'DBIx::Schema' => $schema,
1324 },
1325 producer_args => {
1326 'prefix' => 'My::Schema',
1327 },
1328 );
1329
1330 $translator->parser('SQL::Translator::Parser::DBIx::Class');
1331 $translator->producer('SQL::Translator::Producer::DBIx::Class::File');
1332
1333 my $output = $translator->translate(@args) or die
1334 "Error: " . $translator->error;
1335
1336 print $output;
2437a1e3 1337
d2f3e87b 1338You could use L<Module::Find> to search for all subclasses in the MyDB::*
1339namespace, which is currently left as an exercise for the reader.
2437a1e3 1340
d2f3e87b 1341=head1 OVERLOADING METHODS
086b93a2 1342
ab872312 1343L<DBIx::Class> uses the L<Class::C3> package, which provides for redispatch of
1344method calls, useful for things like default values and triggers. You have to
1345use calls to C<next::method> to overload methods. More information on using
1346L<Class::C3> with L<DBIx::Class> can be found in
086b93a2 1347L<DBIx::Class::Manual::Component>.
1348
d2f3e87b 1349=head2 Setting default values for a row
1350
1351It's as simple as overriding the C<new> method. Note the use of
1352C<next::method>.
1353
1354 sub new {
1355 my ( $class, $attrs ) = @_;
1356
1357 $attrs->{foo} = 'bar' unless defined $attrs->{foo};
1358
1359 my $new = $class->next::method($attrs);
1360
1361 return $new;
1362 }
1363
1364For more information about C<next::method>, look in the L<Class::C3>
1365documentation. See also L<DBIx::Class::Manual::Component> for more
1366ways to write your own base classes to do this.
1367
1368People looking for ways to do "triggers" with DBIx::Class are probably
1369just looking for this.
1370
1371=head2 Changing one field whenever another changes
086b93a2 1372
1373For example, say that you have three columns, C<id>, C<number>, and
1374C<squared>. You would like to make changes to C<number> and have
1375C<squared> be automagically set to the value of C<number> squared.
1376You can accomplish this by overriding C<store_column>:
1377
1378 sub store_column {
1379 my ( $self, $name, $value ) = @_;
1380 if ($name eq 'number') {
1381 $self->squared($value * $value);
1382 }
1383 $self->next::method($name, $value);
1384 }
1385
1386Note that the hard work is done by the call to C<next::method>, which
324572ca 1387redispatches your call to store_column in the superclass(es).
086b93a2 1388
d2f3e87b 1389=head2 Automatically creating related objects
086b93a2 1390
324572ca 1391You might have a class C<Artist> which has many C<CD>s. Further, if you
086b93a2 1392want to create a C<CD> object every time you insert an C<Artist> object.
ccbebdbc 1393You can accomplish this by overriding C<insert> on your objects:
086b93a2 1394
1395 sub insert {
ccbebdbc 1396 my ( $self, @args ) = @_;
1397 $self->next::method(@args);
086b93a2 1398 $self->cds->new({})->fill_from_artist($self)->insert;
1399 return $self;
1400 }
1401
1402where C<fill_from_artist> is a method you specify in C<CD> which sets
1403values in C<CD> based on the data in the C<Artist> object you pass in.
1404
d2f3e87b 1405=head2 Wrapping/overloading a column accessor
1406
1407B<Problem:>
1408
1409Say you have a table "Camera" and want to associate a description
1410with each camera. For most cameras, you'll be able to generate the description from
1411the other columns. However, in a few special cases you may want to associate a
1412custom description with a camera.
1413
1414B<Solution:>
1415
1416In your database schema, define a description field in the "Camera" table that
1417can contain text and null values.
1418
1419In DBIC, we'll overload the column accessor to provide a sane default if no
1420custom description is defined. The accessor will either return or generate the
1421description, depending on whether the field is null or not.
1422
1423First, in your "Camera" schema class, define the description field as follows:
1424
1425 __PACKAGE__->add_columns(description => { accessor => '_description' });
1426
1427Next, we'll define the accessor-wrapper subroutine:
1428
1429 sub description {
1430 my $self = shift;
1431
1432 # If there is an update to the column, we'll let the original accessor
1433 # deal with it.
1434 return $self->_description(@_) if @_;
1435
1436 # Fetch the column value.
1437 my $description = $self->_description;
1438
1439 # If there's something in the description field, then just return that.
1440 return $description if defined $description && length $descripton;
1441
1442 # Otherwise, generate a description.
1443 return $self->generate_description;
1444 }
1445
1446=head1 DEBUGGING AND PROFILING
1447
1448=head2 DBIx::Class objects with Data::Dumper
1def3451 1449
1450L<Data::Dumper> can be a very useful tool for debugging, but sometimes it can
1451be hard to find the pertinent data in all the data it can generate.
1452Specifically, if one naively tries to use it like so,
1453
1454 use Data::Dumper;
1455
1456 my $cd = $schema->resultset('CD')->find(1);
1457 print Dumper($cd);
1458
1459several pages worth of data from the CD object's schema and result source will
1460be dumped to the screen. Since usually one is only interested in a few column
1461values of the object, this is not very helpful.
1462
1463Luckily, it is possible to modify the data before L<Data::Dumper> outputs
1464it. Simply define a hook that L<Data::Dumper> will call on the object before
1465dumping it. For example,
1466
1467 package My::DB::CD;
1468
1469 sub _dumper_hook {
99fb1058 1470 $_[0] = bless {
1471 %{ $_[0] },
1def3451 1472 result_source => undef,
99fb1058 1473 }, ref($_[0]);
1def3451 1474 }
1475
1476 [...]
1477
1478 use Data::Dumper;
1479
22139027 1480 local $Data::Dumper::Freezer = '_dumper_hook';
1def3451 1481
1482 my $cd = $schema->resultset('CD')->find(1);
1483 print Dumper($cd);
1484 # dumps $cd without its ResultSource
1485
1486If the structure of your schema is such that there is a common base class for
1487all your table classes, simply put a method similar to C<_dumper_hook> in the
1488base class and set C<$Data::Dumper::Freezer> to its name and L<Data::Dumper>
1489will automagically clean up your data before printing it. See
1490L<Data::Dumper/EXAMPLES> for more information.
1491
4c248161 1492=head2 Profiling
1493
85f78622 1494When you enable L<DBIx::Class::Storage>'s debugging it prints the SQL
4c248161 1495executed as well as notifications of query completion and transaction
1496begin/commit. If you'd like to profile the SQL you can subclass the
1497L<DBIx::Class::Storage::Statistics> class and write your own profiling
1498mechanism:
1499
1500 package My::Profiler;
1501 use strict;
1502
1503 use base 'DBIx::Class::Storage::Statistics';
1504
1505 use Time::HiRes qw(time);
1506
1507 my $start;
1508
1509 sub query_start {
1510 my $self = shift();
1511 my $sql = shift();
1512 my $params = @_;
1513
70f39278 1514 $self->print("Executing $sql: ".join(', ', @params)."\n");
4c248161 1515 $start = time();
1516 }
1517
1518 sub query_end {
1519 my $self = shift();
1520 my $sql = shift();
1521 my @params = @_;
1522
70f39278 1523 my $elapsed = sprintf("%0.4f", time() - $start);
1524 $self->print("Execution took $elapsed seconds.\n");
4c248161 1525 $start = undef;
1526 }
1527
1528 1;
1529
1530You can then install that class as the debugging object:
1531
70f39278 1532 __PACKAGE__->storage->debugobj(new My::Profiler());
1533 __PACKAGE__->storage->debug(1);
4c248161 1534
1535A more complicated example might involve storing each execution of SQL in an
1536array:
1537
1538 sub query_end {
1539 my $self = shift();
1540 my $sql = shift();
1541 my @params = @_;
1542
1543 my $elapsed = time() - $start;
1544 push(@{ $calls{$sql} }, {
1545 params => \@params,
1546 elapsed => $elapsed
1547 });
1548 }
1549
1550You could then create average, high and low execution times for an SQL
1551statement and dig down to see if certain parameters cause aberrant behavior.
70f39278 1552You might want to check out L<DBIx::Class::QueryLog> as well.
4c248161 1553
7aaec96c 1554
40dbc108 1555=cut