Ok so I have made an ORM library for PHP. It uses syntax like so:
*(assume that $business_locations is an array)*
Business::type(Business:TYPE_AUTOMOTIVE)->
size(Business::SIZE_SMALL)->
left_join(BusinessOwner::table(), BusinessOwner::business_id(), SQL::OP_EQUALS, Business::id())->
left_join(Owner::table(), SQL::OP_EQUALS, Owner::id(), BusinessOwner::owner_id())->
where(Business::location_id(), SQL::in($business_locations))->
group_by(Business::id())->
select(SQL::count(BusinessOwner::id());
Which can also be represented as:
$query = new Business();
$query->set_type(Business:TYPE_AUTOMOTIVE);
$query->set_size(Business::SIZE_SMALL);
$query->left_join(BusinessOwner::table(), BusinessOwner::business_id(), SQL::OP_EQUALS, $query->id());
$query->left_join(Owner::table(), SQL::OP_EQUALS, Owner::id(), BusinessOwner::owner_id());
$query->where(Business::location_id(), SQL::in($business_locations));
$query->group_by(Business::id());
$query->select(SQL::count(BusinessOwner::id());
This would produce a query like:
SELECT COUNT(`business_owners`.`id`)
FROM `businesses`
LEFT JOIN `business_owners`
ON `business_owners`.`business_id` = `businesses`.`id`
LEFT JOIN `owners`
ON `owners`.`id` = `business_owners`.`owner_id`
WHERE `businesses`.`type` = 'automotive'
AND `businesses`.`size` = 'small'
AND `businesses`.`location_id` IN ( 1, 2, 3, 4 )
GROUP BY `businesses`.`id`
Please keep in mind that the syntax might not be prefectly correct (I only wrote this off the top of my head)
Any way, what do you think of this style of querying?
Is the first method or second better/clearer/cleaner/etc?
What would you do to improve it?
