Finders

ORM::ActiveRecord provides a range of class-level finder methods for locating records.

find#

find($id) looks up a record by primary key. It raises X::RecordNotFound if no row matches.

use ORM::ActiveRecord::X;

my $user = User.find(42);

try {
  User.find(99_999);

  CATCH {
    when X::RecordNotFound {
      say .message;   # Couldn't find User with id=99999
    }
  }
}

find-by#

find-by(%conditions) returns the first matching record, or Nil if there is no match.

my $user = User.find-by({fname => 'Greg'});
if $user.defined {
  say $user.lname;
}

find-by-bang(%conditions) raises X::RecordNotFound instead of returning Nil.

my $user = User.find-by-bang({fname => 'Greg'});

first / last / take#

first and last return a single record ordered by id. take returns up to N records with no order guarantee.

User.where({active => True}).first;   # ORDER BY id LIMIT 1
User.where({active => True}).last;    # ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1

User.take;        # one record (LIMIT 1)
User.take(5);     # up to five records

When you need a different order, chain .order before .first / .last:

User.order('lname').first;

first(N) / last(N)#

Pass an integer to get back an array of up to N records.

User.first(3);                       # first three by id ASC
User.last(3);                        # last three rows, returned in id ASC

User.where({active => True}).first(2);
User.order('fname').last(2);         # reverses the order, returns trailing
                                     # rows in the original direction

first(0) and last(0) return an empty list.

sole / find-sole-by#

sole returns the single record matched by a relation. Raises X::RecordNotFound if there are zero matches, or X::SoleRecordExceeded if there are two or more.

use ORM::ActiveRecord::Errors::X;

my $admin = User.where({role => 'admin'}).sole;     # exactly one or raise

find-sole-by(%conditions) is the class-level shorthand:

my $row = User.find-sole-by({email => 'greg@example.com'});

find-or-create-by / find-or-initialize-by#

find-or-create-by(%attrs) returns the first row matching %attrs, or creates one with those attributes if no row matches. The returned record may be invalid if creation failed validation — is-invalid is True and errors is populated.

my $u = User.find-or-create-by({email => 'greg@example.com'});
if $u.is-invalid {
  say $u.errors.full-messages;
}

find-or-create-by-bang(%attrs) raises X::RecordInvalid instead of returning an invalid record.

find-or-initialize-by(%attrs) is the no-save variant: returns the existing record if found, or builds an unsaved record otherwise.

my $u = User.find-or-initialize-by({email => 'new@example.com'});
$u.fname = 'Greg';
$u.save;

When called on a relation, prior where conditions are merged into the create attributes:

User.where({role => 'admin'}).find-or-create-by({email => 'a@example.com'});
# WHERE role='admin' AND email='a@example.com'
# If missing: creates with role='admin', email='a@example.com'

create-with#

create-with(%attrs) attaches default attributes to a relation. They flow into a record created via find-or-create-by / find-or-initialize-by, but are not used as where conditions for the find step.

User.create-with({role => 'admin'}).find-or-create-by({email => 'a@example.com'});
# Find ignores `role`; if created, the new row has role='admin' as well.

Find-step parameters always win over create-with defaults if a key overlaps.

pick#

pick(*@cols) returns a single row's values without instantiating a model. For one column, it returns the scalar value. For multiple columns, it returns an array. Returns Any when no row matches.

my $fname = User.order('id').pick('fname');
my $row   = User.order('id').pick('fname', 'lname');   # ['Alice', 'Anderson']

my $none  = User.where({fname => 'Zelda'}).pick('fname');   # Any

exists#

exists returns True if any row matches.

User.exists;                       # True if the table has any rows
User.exists({fname => 'Greg'});    # True if at least one match

Composite primary keys#

A model whose rows are identified by more than one column declares it with primary-key, passing the key columns in order. This pairs with a table whose DDL declares the same composite key (see the migrations guide).

class ShopWidget is Model {
  method table-name { 'shop_widgets' }
}

ShopWidget.primary-key('shop_id', 'id');

ShopWidget.primary-key;                  # ('shop_id', 'id')
ShopWidget.has-composite-primary-key;    # True
User.primary-key;                        # 'id'

find takes the key as a tuple, in the declared column order, and raises X::RecordNotFound when no row matches:

my $widget = ShopWidget.find([1, 1]);    # WHERE shop_id = 1 AND id = 1

update, save, and destroy locate the row by every key column, so two rows that share an id under different shop_id values stay distinct:

ShopWidget.find([1, 1]).update({quantity => 99});   # only shop 1's row changes
ShopWidget.find([2, 1]).destroy;                     # only shop 2's row is removed

query-constraints#

query-constraints keeps id as the lookup key for find but scopes every write (update, destroy, reload) by the listed columns. Use it when id is unique only within a tenant or shard rather than globally:

class TenantNote is Model {
  method table-name { 'tenant_notes' }
}

TenantNote.query-constraints('tenant_id', 'id');

my $note = TenantNote.find-by({tenant_id => 1, id => 1});
$note.update({body => 'edited'});   # WHERE tenant_id = 1 AND id = 1