8.5 KiB
ZipponQL
ZipponDB uses its own query language, ZipponQL or ZiQL for short. Here are the key points to remember:
- 4 actions available:
GRAB,ADD,UPDATE,DELETE - All queries start with an action followed by a struct name
{}are filters[]specify how much and what data()contain new or updated data (not already in files)||are additional options- By default, all members that are not links are returned
Disclaimer: A lot of features are still missing, and the language may change over time.
Making errors
When you make an error writing ZiQL, you should see something like this to help you understand where you made a mistake:
Error: Expected string
GRAB User {name = Bob}
^^^
Error: Expected ( or member name.
GRAB User {name = 'Bob' AND {age > 10}}
^
Filters
What is between {} are filters. You can see it as a list of condition. This filter is use when parsing files and evaluate every struct one by one and return true
or false.
For example { name = 'Bob' } will return true if the member name of the evaluated struct is equal to Bob. This is the most important thing in ZipponDB.
You can see it as WHERE in SQL.
Link query - Not yet implemented
You can also link query. Each query returns a list of UUID of a specific struct. You can use it in the next query.
Here an example where I create a new Comment that I then append to the list of comment of one specific User.
ADD Comment (content='Hello world', at=NOW, like_by=[]) => added_comment => UPDATE User {id = '000'} TO (comments APPEND added_comment)
The name between => is the variable name of the list of UUID used for the next queries, you can have multiple one if the link has more than 2 queries.
You can also just use one => but the list of UUID is discarded in that case.
This can be use with GRAB too. So you can create variable before making the query. Here an example:
GRAB User {name = 'Bob'} => bobs =>
GRAB User {age > 18} => adults =>
GRAB User {IN adults AND !IN bobs}
Which is the same as:
GRAB User {name != 'Bob' AND age > 18}
Examples
GRAB
The main action is GRAB, this will parse files and return data.
Basic
Here's how to return all User entities without any filtering:
GRAB User
To get all User entities above 30 years old:
GRAB User {age > 30}
To return only the name member of User entities:
GRAB User [name] {age > 30}
To return the 10 first User entities:
GRAB User [10] {age > 30}
You can combine these options:
GRAB User [10; name] {age > 30}
Use multiple conditions:
GRAB User {name = 'Bob' AND (age > 30 OR age < 10)}
GRAB queries return a list of JSON objects with the data inside, e.g:
[{id:"1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894653", name: "Gwendolyn Ray", age: 70, email: "austin92@example.org", scores: [ 77 ], friends: [], }, ]
Ordering
Not yet implemented
To order the results by name:
GRAB User [10; name] {age > 10} |ASC name|
You can specify how much data to return and which members to include, even for links inside structs. In this example, I get 1 friend's name for 10 User entities:
GRAB User [10; friends [1; name]]
Array
You can use the IN operator to check if something is in an array:
GRAB User { age > 10 AND name IN ['Adrien' 'Bob']}
TODO: More
Relationship
2 main things to remember with relationship:
- You can use the dot
.to refer to a relationship. - You can use filter inside filter.
Get User that have a best friend named Adrien:
GRAB User { bestfriend IN { name = 'Adrien' } }
When using IN, it return all User that have AT LEAST one friend named Adrien:
GRAB User { friends IN { name = 'Adrien' } }
To get User entities with all friends named Adrien:
GRAB User { friends ALLIN { name = 'Adrien' } }
You can use IN on itself. Here I get all User entities that liked a Comment from 2024. Both queries return the same result:
GRAB User { IN Comment {at > '2024/01/01'}.like_by}
GRAB Comment.like_by { at > '2024/01/01'}
You can also return a relationship only. The filter will be applied to User entities, but will return Comment entities:
GRAB User.comments {name = 'Bob'}
You can do it as much as you like. This will return all User that liked comments from Bob:
GRAB User.comments.like_by {name = 'Bob'}
This can also be used inside filters. Note that we need to specify User because it is a different struct than Post. Here, I get all Post entities that have a comment from Bob:
GRAB Post {comments IN User{name = 'Bob'}.comments}
You can also do the same but only for the first Bob found:
GRAB Post {comments IN User [1] {name = 'Bob'}.comments}
Be careful; this will return all User that liked a comment from 10 User named Bob:
GRAB User.comments.like_by [10] {name = 'Bob'}
To get 10 User that liked a comment from any User named Bob, you need to use:
GRAB User.comments.like_by [comments [like_by [10]]] {name = 'Bob'}
!
You can use ! to return the opposite. When used with IN, it checks if something is NOT in the list. When used with filters, it returns entities that do not match the filter.
This will return all User entities that didn't like a Comment in 2024:
GRAB User { !IN Comment {at > '2024/01/01'}.like_by}
Be careful because this does not return the same thing as above; it returns all User entities that liked a Comment not in 2024:
GRAB Comment.like_by !{ at > '2024/01/01'}
Which is the same as:
GRAB Comment.like_by { at < '2024/01/01'}
ADD
The ADD action adds one entity to the database. The syntax is similar to GRAB, but uses (). This signifies that the data is not yet in the database.
Here's an example:
ADD User (name = 'Bob', age = 30, email = 'bob@email.com', scores = [1 100 44 82])
You need to specify all members when adding an entity (default values in roadmap).
The ADD query will return a list of added IDs, e.g.:
["1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894653", "1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894654", ]
Not yet implemented
And you can also add them in batch
ADD User (name = 'Bob', age = 30, email = 'bob@email.com', scores = [1 100 44 82]) (name = 'Bob2', age = 33, email = 'bob2@email.com', scores = [])
You don't need to specify the members in the second entity as long as the order is respected:
ADD User (name = 'Bob', age = 30, email = 'bob@email.com', scores = [1 100 44 82]) ('Bob2', 33, 'bob2@email.com', [])
DELETE
Similar to GRAB but deletes all entities found using the filter and returns a list of deleted UUIDs.
DELETE User {name = 'Bob'}
The DELETE query will return a list of deleted IDs, e.g.:
["1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894653", "1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894654", ]
UPDATE
A mix of GRAB and ADD. It takes a filter first, then the new data.
Here, we update the first 5 User entities named 'adrien' to capitalize the name and become 'Adrien':
UPDATE User [5] {name='adrien'} TO (name = 'Adrien')
Note that, compared to ADD, you don't need to specify all members between (). Only the ones specified will be updated.
The UPDATE query will return a list of updated IDs, e.g.:
["1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894653", "1e170a80-84c9-429a-be25-ab4657894654", ]
Not yet implemented
You can use operations on values themselves when updating:
UPDATE User {name = 'Bob'} TO (age += 1)
You can also manipulate arrays, like adding or removing values:
UPDATE User {name='Bob'} TO (scores APPEND 45)
UPDATE User {name='Bob'} TO (scores APPEND [45 99])
UPDATE User {name='Bob'} TO (scores REMOVEAT [0 1 2])
Currently, there will be four keywords for manipulating lists:
APPEND: Adds a value to the end of the list.REMOVE: Checks the list, and if the same value is found, deletes it.REMOVEAT: Deletes the value at a specific index.CLEAR: Removes all values from the array.
Except for CLEAR, which takes no value, each keyword can use one value or an array of values. If you choose an array, it will perform the operation on all values in the array.
For relationships, you can use filters:
UPDATE User {name='Bob'} TO (comments APPEND {id = '000'})
UPDATE User {name='Bob'} TO (comments REMOVE { at < '2023/12/31'})
I may include more options later.