ModelDefinition

Model definition is made by adding the Clear::Model mixin in your class.

Simple Model

class MyModel
  include Clear::Model

  column my_column : String
end

We just created a new model, linked to your database, mapping the column my_column of type String (text in postgres).

Now, you can play with your model:

  row = MyModel.new # create an empty row
  row.my_column = "This is a content"
  row.save! # insert the new row in the database !

By convention, the table name will follow an underscore, plural version of your model: my_models. A model into a module will prepend the module name before, so Logistic::MyModel will check for logistic_my_models in your database. You can force a specific table name using:

class MyModel
  include Clear::Model
  self.table = "another_table_name"
end

Presence validation

Unlike many ORM around, Clear carry about non-nullable pattern in crystal. Meaning column my_column : String assume than a call to row.my_column will return a String.

But it exists case where the column is not yet initialized:

When the object is built with constructor without providing the value (See above).
When an object is semi-fetched through the database query. This is useful to ignore some large fields non-interesting in the body of the current operation.

For example, this code will compile:

  row = MyModel.new # create an empty row
  puts row.my_column

However, it will throw a runtime exception You cannot access to the field 'my_column' because it never has been initialized

Same way, trying to save the object will raise an error:

  row.save # Will return false
  pp row.errors # Will tell you than `my_column` presence is mandatory.

Thanks to expressiveness of the Crystal language, we can handle presence validation by simply using the Nilable type in crystal:

class MyModel
  include Clear::Model

  column my_column : String? # Now, the column can be NULL or text in postgres.
end

This time, the code above will works; in case of no value, my_column will be nil by default.

Querying your code

Whenever you want to fetch data from your database, you must create a new collection query:

MyModel.query #Will setup a vanilla 'SELECT * FROM my_models'

Queries are fetchable using each:

MyModel.query.each do |model|
  # Do something with your model here.
end

Refining your query

A collection query offers a lot of functionalities. You can read the API for more informations.

Column type

By default, Clear map theses columns types:

String => text
Numbers (any from 8 to 64 bits, float, double, big number, big float) => int, large int etc... (depends of your choice)
Bool => text or bool
Time => timestamp without timezone or text
JSON::Any => json and jsonb
Nilable => NULL (treated as special !)

NOTE: The crystal-pg gems map also some structures like GIS coordinates, but their implementation is not tested in Clear. Use them at your own risk. Tell me if it's working 😉

If you need to map special structure, see Mapping Your Data guides for more informations.

Primary key

Primary key is essential for (relational mapping)[RelationMapping]. Currently Clear support only one column primary key, even if it's planned to change this is the future.

A model without primary key can work in sort of degraded mode, throwing error in case of using some methods on them:

collection#first will be throwing error if no order_by has been setup

To setup a primary key, you can add the modifier primary: true to the column:

class MyModel
  include Clear::Model
  
  column id : Int32, primary: true, presence: false
  column my_column : String?
end

Note the flag presence: false added to the column. This tells Clear than presence checking on save is not mandatory. Usually this happens if you setup a default value in postgres. In the case of our primary key id, we use a serial auto-increment default value. Therefore, saving the model without primary key will works. The id will be fetched after insertion:

m = MyModel
m.save!
m.id # Now the id value is setup.

Helpers

Clear provides various built-in helpers to facilitate your life:

Timestamps

class MyModel
  include Clear::Model
  timestamps #Will map the two columns 'created_at' and 'updated_at', and map some hooks to update their values.
end

Theses fields are automatically updated whenever you call save methods, and works as Rails ActiveRecord.

With Serial Pkey

class MyModel
  include Clear::Model
  with_serial_pkey "my_primary_key"
end

Basically rewrite column id : UInt64, primary: true, presence: false

Argument is optional (default = id)

Setup of the ORM

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