Deprecate getting query parts from QueryBuilder

[morozov]

Q	A
Type	deprecation

The methods were removed in #3836.

[morozov]

The DB2 builds are failing due to a 500: Internal Server Error from an IBM server. This is a known regularly happening issue.

[janklan]

I have a use case where one of the class methods accepts a QueryBuilder instance that's meant to supply a query producing a list of IDs used in an article.tag_id IN ( subquery ) condition.

My application has various situation where the list of "tags in scope" is generated using vastly different logic, and I always end up running a query that fetches the same kind of data, but with varying result set, depending on what the result of the subquery is.

I wanted to ensure a correct Query Builder is passed by checking whether the SQL parts contain precisely one SELECT statement with a single property of a particular name. The name enforcement is a convention detail I can live without, but I do need the method to be supplied with a query producing a single-column result.

A realistic pseudo code of the use case might look like this:

class ArticleRepository
{
    public function __construct(private readonly EntityManagerInterface $entityManager) {}

    // This method allows the developer to pass a custom query builder object that should generate a sub query, whatever the logic may be - ArticleRepository is not (should not) be concerned with what the subquery internal logic is.
    public function getArticlesWithTagsInScopeQueryBuilder(QueryBuilder $tagScopeQueryBuilder): QueryBuilder
    {
        $baseQueryBuilder = $this->getBaseQueryBuilder();

        // Here is the key step that's now deprecated: ensuring the query won't fail. Again, an example to prove my point. The logic may be more complex than counting the number of select statements. 
        if (1 !== count($tagScopeQueryBuilder->getQueryPart('select'))) {
            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('The Tag Query Builder must be usable in a subquery, so it must yield a single column of Tags or Tag IDs.');
        }

        return $baseQueryBuilder
            ->andWhere(
                $baseQueryBuilder->expr()->in(
                    x: 'article.tag_id',
                    y: $tagScopeQueryBuilder->getSQL() // <------------- more likely to work, because if the subquery was not useful like this, we'd be able to reject it. 
                )
            );
    }

    private function getBaseQueryBuilder(): QueryBuilder
    {
        // IRL, this would be a fairly complex query fetching some additional entities etc.
        return $this->entityManager->createQueryBuilder()
            ->select('article')
            ->from(Article::class, 'article');
    }
}

and the usage might be, from anywhere else in the code:

$customQueryBuilder = $entityManager->getRepository(Tag::class)->createQueryBuilder()->select('tag.id');

$articleRepository->getArticlesWithTagsInScopeQueryBuilder(
    $customQueryBuilder
);

I found this PR through the deprecation notice in QueryBuilder::getQueryPart(), and I'm wondering whether there is any other way to check the contents of the query builder other than parsing the resulting SQL?

---

Update: greg0ire suggested I add a better piece of code to explain my intentions, so I did just that.

[mdumoulin]

Hi there ! Despite I understand the intention behind getQueryPart methods removal, I am not sure it serves the purpose of a query builder. If this object is about being able to build a query, we should be able to manipulate it in every possible way and get the SQL for it.
I think the getter removal is oriented by the fact that the builder also contains execute*() methods, but is it really the main goal of the builder ?

---

Here is a relevant use case I think :

Let's say I get every people with lastname starting by A:

function getPeopleQuery(): Builder
{
	$builder = $connection->createQueryBuilder();
	$builder
    	->select([
    	'p.firstname',
    	'p.lastname',
    	'p.email'
    	])
    	->from('people', 'p')
    	->where('p.lastname LIKE :lastname')
    	->setParameter('lastname', 'A%')
    	->orderBy('p.lastname', 'ASC');
    
	return $builder;
}

If I want to get the number of result of this query, I need to change the query in something like this :

$builder = $connection->createQueryBuilder();
$builder
	->select('COUNT(*)')
	->from('people', 'p')
	->where('p.lastname LIKE :lastname')
	->setParameter('lastname', 'D%');

If the 2nd part is not in the same place than the first one, I am no longer able to do it by modifying the first query :

$selectQuery = getPeopleQuery();
$countQuery = countFromQuery($builder);