zzzeek

Ticket 798, allow conjunctions to act as column elements, is complete after a long wait, finally attended to for the great reason that I suddenly needed this feature myself ;). A few tweaks and we can now talk about asking yes/no questions of our database.

As we head into the 0.5 era of SQLAlchemy, one theme is that if we're using the ORM, we're going to need select() constructs a lot less, if at all. Most things can now be done using Query objects. The other day, I needed to ask my database a question regarding if some particular data were available, and that's it. The query needed to be as fast as possible so I wanted to use EXISTS, so that the database needs to only access the first row of the selected rows in order to give an answer. Additionally, I needed to ask this question of a few different sets of criterion, which could be most efficiently achieved by combining them together into a single statement using OR.

Using the current trunk of SQLAlchemy 0.5, we can use Query() against boolean values:

from sqlalchemy import *
from sqlalchemy.orm import *
engine = create_engine('sqlite://', echo=True)
Session = scoped_session(sessionmaker(bind=engine))

true, false = literal(True), literal(False)

(ret, ), = Session.query(true)
print ret

which returns:

True

The question we just asked our SQLite database is SELECT 1, where "1" is SQLite's way of representing true (in Postgres it's true, in MySQL it can be 1 or true. Using literal(True) means we don't have to worry about this). SQLite tells us, "yes, True is True". Note the way I'm getting the row out of Query. At the moment that seems to be a fun way to go, but you could also say:

ret, = Session.query(true).one()

and of course:

ret = Session.query(true).one()[0]

We can also ask our database about boolean values combined with OR and AND:

>>> (ret, ), = Session.query(or_(true, false))
>>> ret
True

>>> (ret, ), = Session.query(and_(true, false))
>>> ret
False

To demonstrate EXISTS, let's build a table. We're using declarative, which is pretty much the only way I roll these days (hey, better late than never....):

from sqlalchemy.ext.declarative import declarative_base
Base = declarative_base()
class Keyword(Base):
    __tablename__ = "keyword"
    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    name = Column(String(255))

Base.metadata.create_all(engine)

One way we could find out if our Keyword table has any of a certain set of keywords, is to do something familiar and ask for a count:

keywords = ["beans", "lentils", "legumes"]
(ret, ), = Session.query(func.count(Keyword.id)).filter(Keyword.name.in_(keywords))

But to eliminate the need for the database to actually count the full set of rows, we can ask it just if any rows at all exist, using the exists() construct:

(ret, ), = Session.query(exists().where(Keyword.name.in_(keywords)))

Which issues the SQL:

SELECT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM keyword WHERE keyword.name IN (?, ?, ?)) AS anon_1

The return value is boolean, indicating True for rows were found, False for no rows were found. In my case, I was querying among a bunch of tables. Let's suppose we have a database which represents cookbooks and individual recipes, both of which have lists of keywords associated. Let's declare that:

recipe_keywords = Table("recipe_keyword", Base.metadata,
                    Column("recipe_id", Integer, ForeignKey("recipe.id")),
                    Column("keyword_id", Integer, ForeignKey("keyword.id"))
                    )

cookbook_keywords = Table("cookbook_keyword", Base.metadata,
                    Column("cookbook_id", Integer, ForeignKey("cookbook.id")),
                    Column("keyword_id", Integer, ForeignKey("keyword.id"))
                    )

class Recipe(Base):
    __tablename__ = "recipe"
    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    description = Column(Text)
    keywords = relation(Keyword, secondary=recipe_keywords)

class Cookbook(Base):
    __tablename__ = "cookbook"
    id = Column(Integer, primary_key=True)
    description = Column(Text)
    keywords = relation(Keyword, secondary=cookbook_keywords)

Base.metadata.create_all(engine)

The above schema defines a recipe and a cookbook table, each of which relate to keyword via the recipe_keyword or cookbook_keyword association tables, respectively.

The question of "Do any recipes feature any of our above three keywords?" can be answered by:

(ret, ), = Session.query(
    exists().where(Recipe.id==recipe_keywords.c.recipe_id).
            where(recipe_keywords.c.keyword_id==Keyword.id).
            where(Keyword.name.in_(keywords))
)

Above we ask "do any rows exist, where the ID of the recipe table matches the recipe ID of the recipe_keywords table, and the keyword ID of the recipe_keywords table matches the ID of a keyword table row, and the name of the keyword is in the list ["beans", "lentils", "legumes"]". SQL is:

SELECT EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM recipe, recipe_keyword, keyword
WHERE (recipe.id = recipe_keyword.recipe_id AND recipe_keyword.keyword_id = keyword.id)
AND keyword.name IN (?, ?, ?)) AS anon_1

Spelling out the full join from Recipe to Keyword above is a little bit verbose. We have the option to let SQLAlchemy create this for us using the Recipe.keywords relation already set up, using the ORM level join() function, which provides direct access to the ORM's join algorithm:

from sqlalchemy.orm import join
(ret, ), = Session.query(
        exists().select_from(join(Recipe, Keyword, Recipe.keywords)).
                where(Keyword.name.in_(keywords))
)

This generates:

SELECT EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM recipe JOIN recipe_keyword AS recipe_keyword_1 ON
recipe.id = recipe_keyword_1.recipe_id JOIN keyword ON
keyword.id = recipe_keyword_1.keyword_id
WHERE keyword.name IN (?, ?, ?)) AS anon_1

We now know how to ask the database if it has any recipe rows which relate to a given set of keyword names. To ask the database if it has any cookbook rows or recipe rows matching our keywords at the same time, we can double up on exists() clauses using or_():

(ret, ), = Session.query(or_(
        exists().select_from(join(Recipe, Keyword, Recipe.keywords)).
                where(Keyword.name.in_(keywords)),

        exists().select_from(join(Cookbook, Keyword, Cookbook.keywords)).
            where(Keyword.name.in_(keywords))
))

At this point, our eyes begin to glaze over when viewing the SQL itself. But that's fine; just remember that whenever this happens, somewhere in the world another "ORM's aren't worth it" blog post fades away:

SELECT ((EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM recipe JOIN recipe_keyword AS recipe_keyword_1 ON recipe.id = recipe_keyword_1.recipe_id
JOIN keyword ON keyword.id = recipe_keyword_1.keyword_id
WHERE keyword.name IN (?, ?, ?))) OR (EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM cookbook JOIN cookbook_keyword AS cookbook_keyword_1 ON
cookbook.id = cookbook_keyword_1.cookbook_id JOIN keyword ON
keyword.id = cookbook_keyword_1.keyword_id
WHERE keyword.name IN (?, ?, ?)))) AS anon_1

Those readers who are familiar with some of SQLA's advanced Query operators might recognize that the above EXISTS queries look a lot like an any() expression. This is because, they are! Though in this case, almost. As a review, an any() expression creates an EXISTS clause which is correlated with the enclosing query, such as:

rows = Session.query(Recipe).filter(Recipe.keywords.any(Keyword.name.in_(keywords))).all()

This query produces a regular SELECT from the recipe table, then embeds a correlated EXISTS inside the WHERE clause:

SELECT recipe.id AS recipe_id, recipe.description AS recipe_description
FROM recipe
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM recipe_keyword, keyword
WHERE (recipe.id = recipe_keyword.recipe_id AND keyword.id = recipe_keyword.keyword_id) AND
keyword.name IN (?, ?, ?))

When any() is used, it explicitly states that the exists() clause should correlate() to the recipe table, which allows it to work in scenarios where SQLAlchemy's usual "auto" correlation cannot make the right decision (we have tests which illustrate this). So to use any() in our "column-based" approach, we just need to turn off that correlation using correlate(None). Our "recipes/cookbooks which exist" query can be stated as:

(ret, ), = Session.query(or_(
    Recipe.keywords.any(Keyword.name.in_(keywords)).correlate(None),
    Cookbook.keywords.any(Keyword.name.in_(keywords)).correlate(None)
    ))

While the any() approach above is nice, the correlation part of it has me preferring the more explicit exists() version.

My previous post demonstrated how Mako's "defs with embedded content" feature was used to build a library of form tags, keeping all HTML and layout within templates, as well as a succinct method of linking them to form validation and data state. The "def with embedded content", a feature derived from HTML::Mason, is one feature that makes Mako highly unique in the Python world. The form demo also illustrated another unique feature, which is the ability to "export" the functionality of a def (essentially a subcomponent of a page) to other templates, without any dependency on inheritance or other structural relationship. Defs with embeddable content and exportable defs are two features I would never want to do without, which is why I ported HTML::Mason to Myghty, and later created Mako for Python.

A lesser known capability of the def is that they can be called not just by other templates but by any arbitrary caller, such as a controller. As it turns out, this capability is ideal in conjunction with asynchronous requests as well, a use case that didn't even exist when HTML::Mason was first created. Here I'll demonstrate my favorite way to do Ajax with Pylons and the unbelievably excellent jQuery. We'll introduce a new render() function that IMO should be part of Pylons, the same way as render_mako().

An asynchronous HTTP request is often used to render part of the page while leaving the rest unchanged, typically by taking the output of the HTTP request and rendering it into a DOM element. Jquery code such as the following can achieve this:

$("#some_element").load("/datafeed");

The above statement will render the output of the URI /datafeed into the DOM element with the id some_element. In Pylons, a controller and associated template would provide the output for the /datafeed URI, which would be HTML content forming a portion of the larger webpage.

In our example, we'll build a "pager" display which displays multiple pages of a document, one at a time, using the load() method to load new pages. One way we might do this looks like this:

<div id="display"></div>
<a href="javascript:showpage(1)">1</a>
<a href="javascript:showpage(2)">2</a>
<a href="javascript:showpage(3)">3</a>

<script>
    function showpage(num) {
        $("#display").load("/page/read/" + num);
    }
    showpage(1);
</script>

Above, we define display, which is a div where the pages render. Some javascript code defines the showpage() function, which given a page number calls the jQuery load() function to load the content from the page-appropriate URI into the div. Three links to three different pages each link to showpage(), given different page numbers.

In this version, the /page/read controller would probably define a separate template of some kind in order to format a the data, so the layout of what goes inside of display is elsewhere. Additionally, the initial display of the full layout requires two HTTP requests, one to deliver the enclosing layout and another to load the formatted content within display.

When using Mako, we often want to group together related components of display within a single file. The <%def> tag makes this possible - a compound layout of small, highly interrelated components need not be spread across many files with small amounts of HTML in each; they can all be defined together, which can cut down on clutter and speed up development.

Such as, if we built the above display entirely without any asynchronous functionality, we might say:

<div id="display">
    ${showpage(c.page)}
</div>
<a href="/page/read/1">1</a>
<a href="/page/read/2">2</a>
<a href="/page/read/3">3</a>

<%def name="showpage(page)">
<div class="page">
    <div class="pagenum">Page: ${page.number}</div>
    <h3>${page.title}</h3>

    <pre>${page.content}</pre>
</div>
</%def>

The above approach again defines showpage(), but it's now a server-side Mako def, which receives a single Page object as the thing to be rendered. The output is first displayed using the Page object placed at c.page by the controller, and subsequent controller requests re-render the full layout with the appropriate Page represented.

The missing link here is to use both of the above approaches at the same time - render the first Page object into the div without using an asynchronous request, allow subsequent Page requests to be rendered via Ajax, and finally to have the whole layout defined in a single file. For that, we need a new Pylons render function, which looks like this:

def render_def(template_name, name, **kwargs):
    globs = pylons_globals()

    if kwargs:
        globs = globs.copy()
        globs.update(kwargs)

    template = globs['app_globals'].mako_lookup.get_template(template_name).get_def(name)
    return template.render(**globs)

The above render_def() function is adapted from the standard Pylons boilerplate for building render functions. It's virtually the same as render_mako() except we're calling the extra get_def() method from the Mako Template object, and we're also passing some **kwargs straight to the def in addition to the standard Pylons template globals. A refined approach might involve building a render_mako() function that has the functionality to render both full Template objects as well as individual <%def> objects based on arguments; but we'll keep them separate for now.

With render_def(), the Ajax version of our page now looks like:

<div id="display">
     ${showpage(c.page)}
</div>
<a href="javascript:showpage(1)">1</a>
<a href="javascript:showpage(2)">2</a>
<a href="javascript:showpage(3)">3</a>

<script>
    function showpage(num) {
        $("#display").load("/page/read/" + num);
    }
</script>

<%def name="showpage(page)">
<div class="page">
    <div class="pagenum">Page: ${page.number}</div>
    <h3>${page.title}</h3>

    <pre>${page.content}</pre>
</div>
</%def>

Note above that there are two showpage functions; one is a Mako def, callable during the server's rendering of the template, the other a Javascript function which uses jQuery to issue a new request to load new content. The /page/read controller calls the showpage() def directly as its returned template. The net effect is that the server-side version of showpage() dual purposes itself in two different contexts; as a server-side component which participates in the composition of an enclosing template render, and as a "standalone" template which delivers new versions of its layout into the same overall display within its own HTTP request.

The controller, which locates Page objects using a simple SQLAlchemy model, in its entirety:

class PageController(BaseController):
    def index(self):
        c.number_of_pages = Session.query(Page).count()
        c.page = Session.query(Page).filter(Page.number==1).one()
        return render("/page.mako")

    def read(self, id):
        pagenum = int(id)

        page = Session.query(Page).filter(Page.number==pagenum).one()
        return render_def("/page.mako", "showpage", page=page)

I've packaged the whole thing as a demo application (using Pylons 0.9.7 and SQLAlchemy 0.5), which pages through a document we all should be well familiar with.

Download the ajax demo: ajax.tar.gz