[postmodern-devel] Dash in Postgresql Column name - "query-dao"

[Phil]

On Wed, 2008-12-03 at 17:16 +0100, Maciej Pasternacki wrote:
> On 2008-12-03, at 16:28, Phil wrote:
> 
> >>> query-dao does not seem to like column names with a dash in them  
> >>> like
> >>> column-name and I suspect it would have the same problem with  
> >>> spaces.
> >>>
> >>> I know that the preffered for postgresql would be column_name but I
> >>> though that being able to use the dash would simplify going from  
> >>> db to
> >>> dao object to html and back, well at least for me.
> >>>
> >>> Is column names with dashes just not supported, a bug or on the wish
> >>> list?
> >>
> >> Everything is supported with :RAW sql-op:  (select-dao 'foo (:= (:raw
> >> "\"foo-bar\"") 23)) calls query (SELECT * FROM foo WHERE ("foo-bar" =
> >> 23)) (SELECT-DAO is a shortcut for QUERY-DAO, where you supply only
> >> the WHERE clause).  There doesn't seem to exist any other way now,  
> >> but
> >> it may be possible to add a bit of macro sugar.
> >
> > Ok maybe I should have been a bit more precise in my description. I  
> > was
> > not using the columns names in the query.
> >
> > Here follows a quick repeatable test:
> >
> > CREATE TABLE test
> > (
> >  id integer NOT NULL,
> >  "some" character varying NOT NULL,
> >  "test-dash" character varying
> > )
> > WITH (OIDS=FALSE);
> > ALTER TABLE test OWNER TO postgres;
> >
> > insert into test (id,"some","test-dash") values(1, 'some','dash-1');
> >
> > (defclass test ()
> >  ((id :col-type string :initarg :id
> >   :accessor biographical-id)
> >   (some :col-type  (or db-null string) :initarg :some
> >     :accessor biographical-some)
> >   (test-dash :col-type  (or db-null string) :initarg :test-dash
> >    :accessor biographical-test-dash))
> >  (:metaclass postmodern:dao-class)
> >  (:keys id))
> >
> > (postmodern:query-dao 'test (:select '* :from 'test))
> >
> > That last bit produces the following error:
> >
> > No slot named test-dash in class TEST. DAO out of sync with table, or
> > incorrect query used.
> >   [Condition of type SIMPLE-ERROR]
> 
> 
> I see.  It was SELECT-DAO that made me think there's problem in the  
> query.  What you write about is not supported at the moment, and while  
> it's easy to add this, it's not trivial.
> 
> I just looked into postmodern/table.lisp and I see that in class  
> DIRECT-COLUMN-SLOT there is a slot SQL-NAME.  It would seem trivial to  
> add an initarg, e.g. :COL-SQL-NAME, for this slot, and modify SHARED- 
> INITIALIZE of DIRECT-COLUMN-SLOT to set this slot only if it's not  
> already bound by an initarg.  This way it would be possible to  
> add :COL-SQL-NAME initarg to the slot to explicitly set column name,  
> with upside being it wouldn't need to be a symbol.
> 
> However, this slot seems to be rarely used, and there are many cases  
> where simple TO-SQL-NAME is called on slot name, which would need to  
> be fixed.  Also, column name would need to be properly double-quoted  
> everywhere.
> 
> Your problem seems interesting and it looks like it would be useful to  
> support your case.  If all that was needed would be adding the initarg  
> to :COL-SQL-NAME, the patch would be probably already attached to this  
> post ;) but the way it is, I can only give these starting points so  
> that you can fix it yourself.  It shouldn't be hard, but testing the  
> patch may be a bit time-consuming.
> 
> Regards,
> Maciej.
> 

Maciej thanx for the reply. Unfortunatley what I know about LISP is
dangerous and what I know about CLOS is non existant (think I read to
many of Paul Grahams articles, not a fan of objects...lol). I had to
re-read your explanation a couple of times just to get the jist of
it...lol

I would be more than willing to do the grunt work if it would be
something that could be incorperated into postmodern, but I would need a
lot more guidence. I dont want to go hacking postmodern for myself (with
bad lisp style) and then end up with a version that is broken if and
when postmodern is updated.

Regards
Phil