RE: Torque 4.0 - Add delete() / loadByPk(...) methods to Record object

How about this:

Assuming we add a mechanism to determine if a field
value has been set (e.g. via being loaded from the DB
or set by application code), have just a method like:

load();

The rules for load would work like this:

If the record has a primary key(s) defined and the 
object has this set, the object will be loaded (or reloaded)
from the DB.

If there is no primary key or one is not set, it will 
attempt to find a single record that matches all of the 
"set" fields. If there is only one match, it load the 
object.  If there is more than one, it throws an exception.

This would be similar to the current Peer methods that 
take an record object and build criteria from it.

The nice thing about this is that if you have tables
with other unique attributes, e.g. say a users table with
a numeric PK, but the userId is also unique. You can 
do code like:

User u = new User();
u.setUserId("foo");  
u.setPassword("secret");
u.load();

or

User u = new User();
u.setId(123);  
u.load();

or
 
User u = new User();
u.setEmail("foo@xxxxxxx");
u.load();

Depending on your needs.  And if you have an existing
object and need to ensure the values match the database
one, just do:

rec.load();

FWIW, I started with the assumption about tracking field
level state because of the problems that can occure if
there are default values. IMHO, default values make the
current way to find things using the record object methods
very unreliable.  The defaults get added into the Criteria 
that is built and so you may not get what you expected 
using these methods.

Thus the need for tracking "set" values vs defaults.  Even 
with true support for determining NULL values is not enough
because the field value you want to search for might be NULL.
E.g., if I have a table with 10 fields that have default 
values and allow NULLS, and do something like:

RecordOm rec = new RecordOm();
rec.setField1(value1);
rec.setField2(value2);
rec.setField3(null);
List results = RecordOmPeer.doSelect(rec);

I should get records with field1=value1, field2=value2, and
field3=NULL and no more.

A way to do this would be to only allow the field storage
objects be accessed via "set" methods. Preferrably a single
set method for each fields (or a common setByName.... type
method). I.e. this.privateField= ... should be discouraged
internally in the generated objects. We should always use
the setField(..) methods unless absolutely needed.

This way, anytime a value is set, a field state flag could
be set as well. This would allow for a method like:

isModified( columnName );

Note that default values would be set by object constructors
and not set the field state.  This way a record object can be 
examined to determine what fields need to be used in creating
a matching Criteria.  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Thomas Fischer [mailto:tfischer@xxxxxxxxxx] 
> Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2006 10:10 AM
> To: Apache Torque Developers List
> Subject: Re: Torque 4.0 - Add delete() / loadByPk(...) 
> methods to Record object
> 
> +1 on both. Would it make sense to rename the loadByPk() 
> method reload() ?
> If yes, it could make sense to generate the method also if no 
> pk exists but then throwing an exception.
> 
> I also like Thoams' idea of sessing isNew to triue after the 
> object has been deleted.
> 
> Do you mind adding this to the wiki page ?
> http://wiki.apache.org/db-torque/NextRelease
> 
>       Thomas
> 
> On Tue, 5 Dec 2006, Greg Monroe wrote:
> 
> > I've often thought it would be nice for the generated 
> record object to 
> > have a delete() and loadByPk() methods.  It would help 
> simplify a lot 
> > of code.
> >
> > Of course the loadByPK method would only be added if there is a 
> > primary key.  And if there are multiple primary keys, the 
> method sig. 
> > would be something like:
> >
> > loadByPk( <colType> key1, <colType> key2...)
> >   throw NoRowsException, TooManyRowsException
> >
> > and the delete() method would throw an exception if called on a new 
> > record.
> > Greg Monroe <Monroe@xxxxxxxxxx> (919)680-5050 C&IS 
> Solutions Team Lead 
> > Duke Corporate Education, Inc.
> > 333 Liggett St.
> > Durham, NC 27701
> >
> >
> >
> >
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