{SPAM 01.8} Re: [development] Data-driven database tables and updates

[Larry Garfield]

On Saturday 10 June 2006 14:25, Gerhard Killesreiter wrote:

> > I didn't want to see us write an sql parser, but if one already exists
> > (which coincidentally happens to
> > be written by a trusted drupal contributor) we should definitely use it.
>
> Just for the record: I don't really like parsers.
>
> I'd prefer we write our SQL as structured arrays. It will still be
> readable as SQL and it is easier to manipulate, ie insert additional
> conditions or remove them.
>
> Cheers,
>     Gerhard

Would this be the appropriate time to say that I've a patch awaiting feedback 
that does exactly that for INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements? :-)

http://drupal.org/node/53488

(Originally written because I despise SQL's INSERT syntax, but I've found them 
very convenient for flexibility, too.)

Doing the same for SELECT statements is harder, because SELECT statements are 
potentially an order of magnitude more complex.  It has been done, though, 
(PEAR::DB_DataObjects comes to mind), if we really want to go that route.  
That's a separate issue, though.

As for database/table/schema creation, yes please!  As a module developer, I 
work in MySQL because that's what my hosts have and what I know.  At the same 
time, I don't want to make my module non-Postgres friendly simply through 
ignorance but really don't have the time to learn Postgres' ins and outs.  A 
simple way to support all Drupal-supported databases for table creation means 
more modules that support Postgres out of the box.  (They could still have 
MySQLisms in the code itself, but that's less likely and a separate issue.)  

More to the point, it means that if the Oracle or MSSQL or SQLite support 
patches ever hit core, they'll have a grand total of 0 contrib modules that 
support them right now.  If most of contrib were using some thin table 
creation abstraction layer, then Oracle or whatnot would have support of most 
of core out of the box.  That's a good thing.

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
larry at garfieldtech.com		ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
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