=head1 NAME
Tangram::Expr - manipulate expressions on database server side
=head1 SYNOPSIS
my ($r1, $r2) = $storage->remote(qw( ... ));
$r1->{field} operator $value
$r1->{field} operator $r2->{field2}
$r1->{collection}->includes( $obj )
$r1->{collection}->exists( $obj, $filter )
=head1 DESCRIPTION
Tangram::Expr objects represent expressions that will be evaluated on
the database server side.
Expression objects fall into one of the following categories: numeric,
string, reference or collection.
The methods in Expr are needed only by people extending Tangram. See
L<Tangram::Dialect>.
=head1 NUMERIC EXPRESSIONS
Numeric expression objects can be compared using the operators ==, !=,
<, >, <= and >=. The other operand must be either another numeric
expression object, or a normal Perl numeric value. The result of the
comparison is a Filter.
=head1 STRING EXPRESSIONS
String expression objects can be compared using the operators eq, ne,
lt, gt, le, and ge. The other operand must be either a string
expression object or any Perl scalar value. Tangram will automatically
quote the operand as required by the SQL syntax. The result of the
comparison is a Tangram::Filter.
String expression objects also support the method like($str), where
$str is a string that may contain SQL wildcards. The result is a
Tangram::Filter that translates to a SQL C<LIKE $str> predicate.
=head1 REFERENCE EXPRESSIONS
Reference expression objects can be compared for equality using
operators == and !=. The other operand must be another reference
expression, a persistent object or undef(). The result of the
comparison is a Filter.
=head1 COLLECTION EXPRESSIONS
Collection expression objects represents a collection inside an
object. It supports the includes() and exists() methods, which returns
a Tangram::Filter stating that the collection must contain the
operand. exists() uses a subselect.
The operand may be a Tangram::Remote, a persistent object,
or an object ID.
operator < is provided as a synonym for includes().
=head1 PREDICATES
Predicate objects represent logical expressions, or
conditions. Predicates support logical operators &, | and !. Note that
a I<single> ampersand or vertical bar must be used. The result is
another predicate.
=head1 CLASS METHODS
=head2 new($type, $expr, @remotes)
Returns a new instance.
$type is a Type object corresponding to this expression (see
L<Tangram::Type>).
$expr is a SQL expression. It will eventually become part of a
WHERE-CLAUSE.
@remotes contains the Remote objects (see L<Tangram::Remote>) that
participate in the expression. Tangram uses this list to insert the
corresponding tables in the FROM clause and conditions in the
WHERE-CLAUSE.
=head1 INSTANCE METHODS
=head2 expr()
Returns the SQL equivalent for this expression.
=head2 type()
Returns the Type (see L<Tangram::Type>) corresponding to this
expression.
=head2 objects()
Returns the list of the objects that participate in this
expression.
=head2 storage()
Returns the Storage associated with this expression.
=head1 EXAMPLES
$person is called 'Homer'
$person->{name} eq 'Homer'
$person's name ends with 'mer'
$person->{name}->like('%mer');
$person is older than 35
$person->{age} > 35
$person is married to $homer
$person->{partner} == $homer
$person is not $homer
$person != $homer
$person is not $homer and is older than 65
$person != $homer & $person->{age} > 65
$person is $bart's parent
$person->{children}->includes( $bart )
$person->{children} < $bart
$person is not $bart's parent
!$person->{children}->includes( $bart )
!($person->{children} < $bart)
=head1 SEE ALSO
L<Tangram::Remote>, L<Tangram::Expr>, L<Tangram::Storage>