Relational object persistance framework
Project description
Overview
Dobbin is a relational database abstraction layer supporting a semi-transparent object persistance model.
It relies on descriptive attribute and field declarations based on zope.interface and zope.schema.
Tables are created automatically with a 1:1 correspondence to an interface with no inheritance (minimal interface). As such, objects are modelled as a join between the interfaces it implements.
Todo
Containers
Dictionaries (zope.schema.Dict)
Polymorphic relations (zope.interface.Attribute)
Developer documentation
Dobbin creates ORM mappers based on class specification. Columns are infered from interface schema fields and attributes, and a class may be provided as the mapper metatype.
Interface mapping
An mapper adapter is provided.
>>> from z3c.dobbin.mapper import getMapper >>> component.provideAdapter(getMapper)
We begin with a database session.
>>> import ore.alchemist >>> session = ore.alchemist.Session()
Define a schema interface:
>>> class IAlbum(interface.Interface): ... artist = schema.TextLine( ... title=u"Artist", ... default=u"") ... ... title = schema.TextLine( ... title=u"Title", ... default=u"")
We can then fabricate an instance that implements this interface by using the create method.
>>> from z3c.dobbin.factory import create >>> album = create(IAlbum)
Set attributes.
>>> album.artist = "The Beach Boys" >>> album.title = u"Pet Sounds"
Interface inheritance is supported. For instance, a vinyl record is a particular type of album.
>>> class IVinyl(IAlbum): ... rpm = schema.Int( ... title=u"RPM", ... default=33)>>> vinyl = create(IVinyl)
What actually happens on the database side is that columns are mapped to the interface that they provide.
Let’s demonstrate that the mapper instance actually implements the defined fields.
>>> vinyl.artist = "Diana Ross and The Supremes" >>> vinyl.title = "Taking Care of Business" >>> vinyl.rpm = 45
Or a compact disc.
>>> class ICompactDisc(IAlbum): ... year = schema.Int(title=u"Year")>>> cd = create(ICompactDisc)
Let’s pick a more recent Diana Ross, to fit the format.
>>> cd.artist = "Diana Ross" >>> cd.title = "The Great American Songbook" >>> cd.year = 2005
To verify that we’ve actually inserted objects to the database, we commit the transacation, thus flushing the current session.
>>> session.save(album) >>> session.save(vinyl) >>> session.save(cd)>>> import transaction >>> transaction.commit()
We get a reference to the database metadata object, to locate each underlying table.
>>> from ore.alchemist.interfaces import IDatabaseEngine >>> engine = component.getUtility(IDatabaseEngine) >>> metadata = engine.metadata
Tables are given a name based on the dotted path of the interface they describe. A utility method is provided to create a proper table name for an interface.
>>> from z3c.dobbin.mapper import encode
Verify tables for IVinyl, IAlbum and ICompactDisc.
>>> session.bind = metadata.bind >>> session.execute(metadata.tables[encode(IVinyl)].select()).fetchall() [(2, 45)]>>> session.execute(metadata.tables[encode(IAlbum)].select()).fetchall() [(1, u'Pet Sounds', u'The Beach Boys'), (2, u'Taking Care of Business', u'Diana Ross and The Supremes'), (3, u'The Great American Songbook', u'Diana Ross')]>>> session.execute(metadata.tables[encode(ICompactDisc)].select()).fetchall() [(3, 2005)]
Now we’ll create a mapper based on a concrete class. We’ll let the class implement the interface that describes the attributes we want to store, but also provides a custom method.
>>> class Vinyl(object): ... interface.implements(IVinyl) ... ... artist = title = u"" ... rpm = 33 ... ... def __repr__(self): ... return "<Vinyl %s: %s (@ %d RPM)>" % \ ... (self.artist, self.title, self.rpm)
Although the symbols we define in this test report that they’re available from the __builtin__ module, they really aren’t.
We’ll manually add these symbols.
>>> import __builtin__ >>> __builtin__.IVinyl = IVinyl >>> __builtin__.Vinyl = Vinyl
Create an instance using the create factory.
>>> vinyl = create(Vinyl)
Verify that we’ve instantiated and instance of our class.
>>> isinstance(vinyl, Vinyl) True
Copy the attributes from the Diana Ross vinyl record.
>>> diana = session.query(IVinyl.__mapper__).select_by( ... IAlbum.__mapper__.c.id==2)[0]>>> vinyl.artist = diana.artist >>> vinyl.title = diana.title >>> vinyl.rpm = diana.rpm
Verify that the methods on our Vinyl-class are available on the mapper.
>>> repr(vinyl) '<Vinyl Diana Ross and The Supremes: Taking Care of Business (@ 45 RPM)>'
If we’re mapping a concrete class, and run into class properties, we won’t instrument them even if they’re declared by the schema.
>>> class Experimental(Vinyl): ... @property ... def rpm(self): ... return len(self.title+self.artist)>>> experimental = create(Experimental) >>> experimental.artist = vinyl.artist >>> experimental.title = vinyl.title
Let’s see how fast this record should be played back.
>>> experimental.rpm 50
Instances of mappers automatically join the object soup.
>>> mapper = getMapper(Vinyl) >>> instance = mapper() >>> instance.uuid is not None True
Relations
Most people have a favourite record.
>>> class IFavorite(interface.Interface): ... item = schema.Object(title=u"Item", schema=IVinyl)
Let’s make our Diana Ross record a favorite.
>>> favorite = create(IFavorite) >>> favorite.item = vinyl >>> favorite.item <Vinyl Diana Ross and The Supremes: Taking Care of Business (@ 45 RPM)>>>> session.save(favorite)
Get back the object.
>>> favorite = session.query(IFavorite.__mapper__).select_by( ... IFavorite.__mapper__.c.spec==IFavorite.__mapper__.__spec__)[0]
When we retrieve the related items, it’s automatically reconstructed to match the specification to which it was associated.
>>> favorite.item <Vinyl Diana Ross and The Supremes: Taking Care of Business (@ 45 RPM)>
We can create relations to objects that are not mapped. Let’s model an accessory item.
>>> class IAccessory(interface.Interface): ... name = schema.TextLine(title=u"Name of accessory")>>> class Accessory(object): ... interface.implements(IAccessory) ... ... def __repr__(self): ... return "<Accessory '%s'>" % self.name
If we now instantiate an accessory and assign it as a favorite item, we’ll implicitly create a mapper from the class specification and insert it into the database.
>>> cleaner = Accessory() >>> cleaner.name = u"Record cleaner"
Set up relation.
>>> favorite.item = cleaner
Let’s try and get back our record cleaner item.
>>> __builtin__.Accessory = Accessory >>> favorite.item <Accessory 'Record cleaner'>
Within the same transaction, the relation will return the original object, maintaining integrity.
>>> favorite.item is cleaner True
Internally, this is done by setting an attribute on the original object that points to the database item, and maintaining a list of pending objects on the current database session:
>>> cleaner._d_uuid in session._d_pending True
However, once we commit the transaction, the relation is no longer attached to the relation source, and the correct data will be persisted in the database.
>>> cleaner.name = u"CD cleaner" >>> transaction.commit() >>> favorite.item.name u'CD cleaner'
This behavior should work well in a request-response type environment, where the request will typically end with a commit.
Collections
Let’s set up a record collection as a list.
>>> class ICollection(interface.Interface): ... records = schema.List( ... title=u"Records", ... value_type=schema.Object(schema=IAlbum) ... )>>> __builtin__.ICollection = ICollection>>> collection = create(ICollection) >>> collection.records []
Add the Diana Ross record, and save the collection to the session.
>>> collection.records.append(diana) >>> session.save(collection)
We can get our collection back.
>>> from z3c.dobbin.relations import lookup >>> collection = lookup(collection.uuid)
Let’s verify that we’ve stored the Diana Ross record.
>>> record = collection.records[0]>>> record.artist, record.title (u'Diana Ross and The Supremes', u'Taking Care of Business')>>> transaction.commit()
When we create a new, transient object and append it to a list, it’s automatically saved on the session.
>>> collection = lookup(collection.uuid)>>> vinyl = create(IVinyl) >>> vinyl.artist = u"Kool & the Gang" >>> vinyl.album = u"Music Is the Message" >>> vinyl.rpm = 33>>> collection.records.append(vinyl) >>> [record.artist for record in collection.records] [u'Diana Ross and The Supremes', u'Kool & the Gang']>>> transaction.commit() >>> session.update(collection)
We can remove items.
>>> collection.records.remove(vinyl) >>> len(collection.records) == 1 True
And extend.
>>> collection.records.extend((vinyl,)) >>> len(collection.records) == 2 True
Items can appear twice in the list.
>>> collection.records.append(vinyl) >>> len(collection.records) == 3 True
We can add concrete instances to collections.
>>> vinyl = Vinyl() >>> collection.records.append(vinyl) >>> len(collection.records) == 4 True
And remove them, too.
>>> collection.records.remove(vinyl) >>> len(collection.records) == 3 True
For good measure, let’s create a new instance without adding any elements to its list.
>>> _ = create(ICollection)
Security
The security model from Zope is applied to mappers.
>>> from zope.security.checker import getCheckerForInstancesOf
Our Vinyl class does not have a security checker defined.
>>> mapper = getMapper(Vinyl) >>> getCheckerForInstancesOf(mapper) is None True
Let’s set a checker and regenerate the mapper.
>>> from zope.security.checker import defineChecker, CheckerPublic >>> defineChecker(Vinyl, CheckerPublic)>>> from z3c.dobbin.mapper import createMapper >>> mapper = createMapper(Vinyl) >>> getCheckerForInstancesOf(mapper) is CheckerPublic True
Known limitations
Certain names are disallowed, and will be ignored when constructing the mapper.
>>> class IKnownLimitations(interface.Interface): ... __name__ = schema.TextLine()>>> from z3c.dobbin.interfaces import IMapper>>> mapper = IMapper(IKnownLimitations) >>> '__name__' in mapper.c False
Cleanup
Commit session.
>>> transaction.commit()
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