mirror of
https://github.com/rails/rails.git
synced 2022-11-09 12:12:34 -05:00
150 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
150 lines
4.4 KiB
Markdown
# Arel [](http://travis-ci.org/rails/arel) [](https://gemnasium.com/rails/arel)
|
|
|
|
* http://github.com/rails/arel
|
|
|
|
## DESCRIPTION
|
|
|
|
Arel is a SQL AST manager for Ruby. It
|
|
|
|
1. Simplifies the generation of complex SQL queries
|
|
2. Adapts to various RDBMSes
|
|
|
|
It is intended to be a framework framework; that is, you can build your own ORM
|
|
with it, focusing on innovative object and collection modeling as opposed to
|
|
database compatibility and query generation.
|
|
|
|
## Status
|
|
|
|
For the moment, Arel uses Active Record's connection adapters to connect to the various engines, connection pooling, perform quoting, and do type conversion.
|
|
|
|
## A Gentle Introduction
|
|
|
|
Generating a query with Arel is simple. For example, in order to produce
|
|
|
|
```sql
|
|
SELECT * FROM users
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
you construct a table relation and convert it to sql:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users = Arel::Table.new(:users)
|
|
query = users.project(Arel.sql('*'))
|
|
query.to_sql
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
### More Sophisticated Queries
|
|
|
|
Here is a whirlwind tour through the most common relational operators. These will probably cover 80% of all interaction with the database.
|
|
|
|
First is the 'restriction' operator, `where`:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.where(users[:name].eq('amy'))
|
|
# => SELECT * FROM users WHERE users.name = 'amy'
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
What would, in SQL, be part of the `SELECT` clause is called in Arel a `projection`:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.project(users[:id])
|
|
# => SELECT users.id FROM users
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Joins resemble SQL strongly:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.join(photos).on(users[:id].eq(photos[:user_id]))
|
|
# => SELECT * FROM users INNER JOIN photos ON users.id = photos.user_id
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
What are called `LIMIT` and `OFFSET` in SQL are called `take` and `skip` in Arel:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.take(5) # => SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 5
|
|
users.skip(4) # => SELECT * FROM users OFFSET 4
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
`GROUP BY` is called `group`:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.project(users[:name]).group(users[:name])
|
|
# => SELECT users.name FROM users GROUP BY users.name
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The best property of the Relational Algebra is its "composability", or closure under all operations. For example, to restrict AND project, just "chain" the method invocations:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users \
|
|
.where(users[:name].eq('amy')) \
|
|
.project(users[:id]) \
|
|
# => SELECT users.id FROM users WHERE users.name = 'amy'
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
All operators are chainable in this way, and they are chainable any number of times, in any order.
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.where(users[:name].eq('bob')).where(users[:age].lt(25))
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The `OR` operator works like this:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
users.where(users[:name].eq('bob').or(users[:age].lt(25)))
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The `AND` operator behaves similarly.
|
|
|
|
### The Crazy Features
|
|
|
|
The examples above are fairly simple and other libraries match or come close to matching the expressiveness of Arel (e.g., `Sequel` in Ruby).
|
|
|
|
#### Inline math operations
|
|
|
|
Suppose we have a table `products` with prices in different currencies. And we have a table `currency_rates`, of constantly changing currency rates. In Arel:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
products = Arel::Table.new(:products)
|
|
# Attributes: [:id, :name, :price, :currency_id]
|
|
|
|
currency_rates = Arel::Table.new(:currency_rates)
|
|
# Attributes: [:from_id, :to_id, :date, :rate]
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
Now, to order products by price in user preferred currency simply call:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
products.
|
|
join(:currency_rates).on(products[:currency_id].eq(currency_rates[:from_id])).
|
|
where(currency_rates[:to_id].eq(user_preferred_currency), currency_rates[:date].eq(Date.today)).
|
|
order(products[:price] * currency_rates[:rate])
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
#### Complex Joins
|
|
|
|
Where Arel really shines in its ability to handle complex joins and aggregations. As a first example, let's consider an "adjacency list", a tree represented in a table. Suppose we have a table `comments`, representing a threaded discussion:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
comments = Arel::Table.new(:comments)
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
And this table has the following attributes:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
# [:id, :body, :parent_id]
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The `parent_id` column is a foreign key from the `comments` table to itself. Now, joining a table to itself requires aliasing in SQL. In fact, you may alias in Arel as well:
|
|
|
|
```ruby
|
|
replies = comments.alias
|
|
comments_with_replies = \
|
|
comments.join(replies).on(replies[:parent_id].eq(comments[:id]))
|
|
# => SELECT * FROM comments INNER JOIN comments AS comments_2 WHERE comments_2.parent_id = comments.id
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
This will return the first comment's reply's body.
|
|
|
|
### License
|
|
|
|
Arel is released under the [MIT License](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT).
|