[Dbix-class] retrieve_from_sql

[Darren Duncan]

At 1:17 AM +0100 8/1/05, Matt S Trout wrote:
>Does anybody use this? More importantly, is anybody using it out of choice
>or is it purely being used to get round Class::DBI (or whatever ORM) having
>insufficient flexibility to let you construct the query in an asbtract
>fashion?

If you want to be 100% adaptable, it is a good idea to allow the use 
of raw SQL.  However, that feature should be strongly recommended 
against, and only be exploited by saavy individuals that know why 
they are doing it and that whatever ORM doesn't have "native" support 
for what the person wants.

>It's part of the Class::DBI API so we need to support it in the compat layer
>at least, but if we're going to abstract away the database layer entirely
>(which is necessary for e.g. Rosetta, let alone something like an LDAP
>backend) I think we should probably only support abstract formats in core,
>primarily SQL::Abstract style as currently and perhaps Tangram style later.

FYI, if you look at SQL::Routine, it actually *does* support SQL 
string pass-thru; see the "circumventions" feature and "sql_fragment" 
Node type.  However, this is clearly documented as only for use by 
saavy individuals that have no other option to get what they want. 
So I rarely talk about it.  And adding a feature to the native API 
instead is recommended.  Suffice it to say, you can still use it for 
this.

-- Darren Duncan