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Database Objects#

WoltLab Suite uses a unified interface to work with database rows using an object based approach instead of using native arrays holding arbitrary data. Each database table is mapped to a model class that is designed to hold a single record from that table and expose methods to work with the stored data, for example providing assistance when working with normalized datasets.

Developers are required to provide the proper DatabaseObject implementations themselves, they're not automatically generated, all though the actual code that needs to be written is rather small. The following examples assume the fictional database table wcf1_example, exampleID as the auto-incrementing primary key and the column bar to store some text.

DatabaseObject#

The basic model derives from wcf\data\DatabaseObject and provides a convenient constructor to fetch a single row or construct an instance using pre-loaded rows.

files/lib/data/example/Example.class.php
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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;
use wcf\data\DatabaseObject;

class Example extends DatabaseObject {}

The class is intended to be empty by default and there only needs to be code if you want to add additional logic to your model. Both the class name and primary key are determined by DatabaseObject using the namespace and class name of the derived class. The example above uses the namespace wcf\… which is used as table prefix and the class name Example is converted into exampleID, resulting in the database table name wcfN_example with the primary key exampleID.

You can prevent this automatic guessing by setting the class properties $databaseTableName and $databaseTableIndexName manually.

DatabaseObjectDecorator#

If you already have a DatabaseObject class and would like to extend it with additional data or methods, for example by providing a class ViewableExample which features view-related changes without polluting the original object, you can use DatabaseObjectDecorator which a default implementation of a decorator for database objects.

files/lib/data/example/ViewableExample.class.php
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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;
use wcf\data\DatabaseObjectDecorator;

class ViewableExample extends DatabaseObjectDecorator {
    protected static $baseClass = Example::class;

    public function getOutput() {
        $output = '';

        // [determine output]

        return $output;
    }
}

It is mandatory to set the static $baseClass property to the name of the decorated class.

Like for any decorator, you can directly access the decorated object's properties and methods for a decorated object by accessing the property or calling the method on the decorated object. You can access the decorated objects directly via DatabaseObjectDecorator::getDecoratedObject().

DatabaseObjectEditor#

This is the low-level interface to manipulate data rows, it is recommended to use AbstractDatabaseObjectAction.

Adding, editing and deleting models is done using the DatabaseObjectEditor class that decorates a DatabaseObject and uses its data to perform the actions.

files/lib/data/example/ExampleEditor.class.php
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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;
use wcf\data\DatabaseObjectEditor;

class ExampleEditor extends DatabaseObjectEditor {
    protected static $baseClass = Example::class;
}

The editor class requires you to provide the fully qualified name of the model, that is the class name including the complete namespace. Database table name and index key will be pulled directly from the model.

Create a new row#

Inserting a new row into the database table is provided through DatabaseObjectEditor::create() which yields a DatabaseObject instance after creation.

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<?php
$example = \wcf\data\example\ExampleEditor::create([
    'bar' => 'Hello World!'
]);

// output: Hello World!
echo $example->bar;

Updating an existing row#

The internal state of the decorated DatabaseObject is not altered at any point, the values will still be the same after editing or deleting the represented row. If you need an object with the latest data, you'll have to discard the current object and refetch the data from database.

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<?php
$example = new \wcf\data\example\Example($id);
$exampleEditor = new \wcf\data\example\ExampleEditor($example);
$exampleEditor->update([
    'bar' => 'baz'
]);

// output: Hello World!
echo $example->bar;

// re-creating the object will query the database again and retrieve the updated value
$example = new \wcf\data\example\Example($example->id);

// output: baz
echo $example->bar;

Deleting a row#

Similar to the update process, the decorated DatabaseObject is not altered and will then point to an inexistent row.

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<?php
$example = new \wcf\data\example\Example($id);
$exampleEditor = new \wcf\data\example\ExampleEditor($example);
$exampleEditor->delete();

DatabaseObjectList#

Every row is represented as a single instance of the model, but the instance creation deals with single rows only. Retrieving larger sets of rows would be quite inefficient due to the large amount of queries that will be dispatched. This is solved with the DatabaseObjectList object that exposes an interface to query the database table using arbitrary conditions for data selection. All rows will be fetched using a single query and the resulting rows are automatically loaded into separate models.

files/lib/data/example/ExampleList.class.php
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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;
use wcf\data\DatabaseObjectList;

class ExampleList extends DatabaseObjectList {
    public $className = Example::class;
}

The following code listing illustrates loading a large set of examples and iterating over the list to retrieve the objects.

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<?php
$exampleList = new \wcf\data\example\ExampleList();
// add constraints using the condition builder
$exampleList->getConditionBuilder()->add('bar IN (?)', [['Hello World!', 'bar', 'baz']]);
// actually read the rows
$exampleList->readObjects();
foreach ($exampleList as $example) {
    echo $example->bar;
}

// retrieve the models directly instead of iterating over them
$examples = $exampleList->getObjects();

// just retrieve the number of rows
$exampleCount = $exampleList->countObjects();

DatabaseObjectList implements both SeekableIterator and Countable.

Additionally, DatabaseObjectList objects has the following three public properties that are useful when fetching data with lists:

  • $sqlLimit determines how many rows are fetched. If its value is 0 (which is the default value), all results are fetched. So be careful when dealing with large tables and you only want a limited number of rows: Set $sqlLimit to a value larger than zero!
  • $sqlOffset: Paginated pages like a thread list use this feature a lot, it allows you to skip a given number of results. Imagine you want to display 20 threads per page but there are a total of 60 threads available. In this case you would specify $sqlLimit = 20 and $sqlOffset = 20 which will skip the first 20 threads, effectively displaying thread 21 to 40.
  • $sqlOrderBy determines by which column(s) the rows are sorted in which order. Using our example in $sqlOffset you might want to display the 20 most recent threads on page 1, thus you should specify the order field and its direction, e.g. $sqlOrderBy = 'thread.lastPostTime DESC' which returns the most recent thread first.

For more advanced usage, there two additional fields that deal with the type of objects returned. First, let's go into a bit more detail what setting the $className property actually does:

  1. It is the type of database object in which the rows are wrapped.
  2. It determines which database table is actually queried and which index is used (see the $databaseTableName and $databaseTableIndexName properties of DatabaseObject).

Sometimes you might use the database table of some database object but wrap the rows in another database object. This can be achieved by setting the $objectClassName property to the desired class name.

In other cases, you might want to wrap the created objects in a database object decorator which can be done by setting the $decoratorClassName property to the desired class name:

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<?php
$exampleList = new \wcf\data\example\ExampleList();
$exampleList->decoratorClassName = \wcf\data\example\ViewableExample::class;

Of course, you do not have to set the property after creating the list object, you can also set it by creating a dedicated class:

files/lib/data/example/ViewableExampleList.class.php
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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;

class ViewableExampleList extends ExampleList {
    public $decoratorClassName = ViewableExample::class;
}

AbstractDatabaseObjectAction#

Row creation and manipulation can be performed using the aforementioned DatabaseObjectEditor class, but this approach has two major issues:

  1. Row creation, update and deletion takes place silently without notifying any other components.
  2. Data is passed to the database adapter without any further processing.

The AbstractDatabaseObjectAction solves both problems by wrapping around the editor class and thus provide an additional layer between the action that should be taken and the actual process. The first problem is solved by a fixed set of events being fired, the second issue is addressed by having a single entry point for all data editing.

files/lib/data/example/ExampleAction.class.php
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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;
use wcf\data\AbstractDatabaseObjectAction;

class ExampleAction extends AbstractDatabaseObjectAction {
    public $className = ExampleEditor::class;
}

Executing an Action#

The method AbstractDatabaseObjectAction::validateAction() is internally used for AJAX method invocation and must not be called programmatically.

The next example represents the same functionality as seen for DatabaseObjectEditor:

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<?php
use wcf\data\example\ExampleAction;

// create a row
$exampleAction = new ExampleAction([], 'create', [
    'data' => ['bar' => 'Hello World']
]);
$example = $exampleAction->executeAction()['returnValues'];

// update a row using the id
$exampleAction = new ExampleAction([1], 'update', [
    'data' => ['bar' => 'baz']
]);
$exampleAction->executeAction();

// delete a row using a model
$exampleAction = new ExampleAction([$example], 'delete');
$exampleAction->executeAction();

You can access the return values both by storing the return value of executeAction() or by retrieving it via getReturnValues().

Events initializeAction, validateAction and finalizeAction

Custom Method with AJAX Support#

This section is about adding the method baz() to ExampleAction and calling it via AJAX.

AJAX Validation#

Methods of an action cannot be called via AJAX, unless they have a validation method. This means that ExampleAction must define both a public function baz() and public function validateBaz(), the name for the validation method is constructed by upper-casing the first character of the method name and prepending validate.

The lack of the companion validate* method will cause the AJAX proxy to deny the request instantaneously. Do not add a validation method if you don't want it to be callable via AJAX ever!

create, update and delete#

The methods create, update and delete are available for all classes deriving from AbstractDatabaseObjectAction and directly pass the input data to the DatabaseObjectEditor. These methods deny access to them via AJAX by default, unless you explicitly enable access. Depending on your case, there are two different strategies to enable AJAX access to them.

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<?php
namespace wcf\data\example;
use wcf\data\AbstractDatabaseObjectAction;

class ExampleAction extends AbstractDatabaseObjectAction {
    // `create()` can now be called via AJAX if the requesting user posses the listed permissions
    protected $permissionsCreate = ['admin.example.canManageExample'];

    public function validateUpdate() {
        // your very own validation logic that does not make use of the
        // built-in `$permissionsUpdate` property

        // you can still invoke the built-in permissions check if you like to
        parent::validateUpdate();
    }
}

Allow Invokation by Guests#

Invoking methods is restricted to logged-in users by default and the only way to override this behavior is to alter the property $allowGuestAccess. It is a simple string array that is expected to hold all methods that should be accessible by users, excluding their companion validation methods.

ACP Access Only#

Method access is usually limited by permissions, but sometimes there might be the need for some added security to avoid mistakes. The $requireACP property works similar to $allowGuestAccess, but enforces the request to originate from the ACP together with a valid ACP session, ensuring that only users able to access the ACP can actually invoke these methods.


Last update: 2021-07-08