add reusable helpers recipe and implement missing expression features (…

…#1085)

* add reusable helpers recipe and implement missing expression features

* force node 22.4.1 in CI because of an npm bug

.github/workflows/test.yml

@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ jobs:
 
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        node-version: [18.x, 20.x, 22.x]
+        node-version: [18.x, 20.x, 22.4.1]
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ jobs:
 
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        node-version: [18.x, 20.x, 22.x]
+        node-version: [18.x, 20.x, 22.4.1]
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Use Node.js
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
-          node-version: 22.x
+          node-version: 22.4.1
           cache: 'npm'
 
       - name: Install dependencies
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Use Node.js
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
-          node-version: 22.x
+          node-version: 22.4.1
           cache: 'npm'
 
       - name: Install dependencies
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Use Node.js
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
-          node-version: 22.x
+          node-version: 22.4.1
           cache: 'npm'
 
       - name: Install dependencies
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Use Node.js
         uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
-          node-version: 22.x
+          node-version: 22.4.1
           cache: 'npm'
 
       - name: Install dependencies

site/docs/recipes/0001-reusable-helpers.md

@@ -0,0 +1,238 @@
+# Reusable helpers
+
+:::info
+[Here's](https://kyse.link/qm67s) a playground link containing all the code in this recipe.
+:::
+
+Let's say you want to write the following query:
+
+```sql
+SELECT id, first_name
+FROM person
+WHERE upper(last_name) = $1
+```
+
+Kysely doesn't have a built-in `upper` function but there are at least three ways you could write this:
+
+```ts
+const lastName = 'STALLONE'
+
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .select(['id', 'first_name'])
+  // 1. `sql` template tag. This is the least type-safe option.
+  // You're providing the column name without any type-checking,
+  // and plugins won't affect it.
+  .where(
+    sql<string>`upper(last_name)`, '=', lastName
+  )
+  // 2. `sql` template tag with `ref`. Anything passed to `ref`
+  // gets type-checked against the accumulated query context.
+  .where(({ eb, ref }) => eb(
+    sql<string>`upper(${ref('last_name')})`, '=', lastName
+  ))
+  // 3. The `fn` function helps you avoid missing parentheses/commas
+  // errors and uses refs as 1st class arguments.
+  .where(({ eb, fn }) => eb(
+    fn<string>('upper', ['last_name']), '=', lastName
+  ))
+  .execute()
+```
+
+but each option could be more readable or type-safe.
+
+Fortunately Kysely allows you to easily create composable, reusable and type-safe helper functions:
+
+```ts
+import { Expression, sql } from 'kysely'
+
+function upper(expr: Expression<string>) {
+  return sql<string>`upper(${expr})`
+}
+
+function lower(expr: Expression<string>) {
+  return sql<string>`lower(${expr})`
+}
+
+function concat(...exprs: Expression<string>[]) {
+  return sql.join<string>(exprs, sql`||`)
+}
+```
+
+Using the `upper` helper, our query would look like this:
+
+```ts
+const lastName = 'STALLONE'
+
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .select(['id', 'first_name'])
+  .where(({ eb, ref }) => eb(
+    upper(ref('last_name')), '=', lastName
+  ))
+  .execute()
+```
+
+The recipe for helper functions is simple: take inputs as `Expression<T>` instances where `T` is the type of the expression. For example `upper` takes in any `string` expression since it transforms strings to upper case. If you implemented the `round` function, it'd take in `Expression<number>` since you can only round numbers.
+
+The helper functions should then use the inputs to create an output that's also an `Expression`. Everything you can create using the expression builder is an instance of `Expression`. So is the output of the `sql` template tag and all methods under the `sql` object. Same goes for `SelectQueryBuilder` and pretty much everything else in Kysely. Everything's an expression.
+
+See [this recipe](https://kysely.dev/docs/recipes/expressions) to learn more about expressions.
+
+So we've learned that everything's an expression and that expressions are composable. Let's put this idea to use:
+
+```ts
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .select(['id', 'first_name'])
+  .where(({ eb, ref, val }) => eb(
+    concat(
+      lower(ref('first_name')),
+      val(' '),
+      upper(ref('last_name'))
+    ),
+    '=',
+    'sylvester STALLONE'
+  ))
+  .execute()
+```
+
+So far we've only used our helper functions in the first argument of `where` but you can use them anywhere:
+
+```ts
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .innerJoin('pet', (join) => join.on(eb => eb(
+    'person.first_name', '=', lower(eb.ref('pet.name'))
+  )))
+  .select(({ ref, val }) => [
+    'first_name',
+    // If you use a helper in `select`, you need to always provide an explicit
+    // name for it using the `as` method.
+    concat(ref('person.first_name'), val(' '), ref('pet.name')).as('name_with_pet')
+  ])
+  .orderBy(({ ref }) => lower(ref('first_name')))
+  .execute()
+```
+
+## Reusable helpers using `ExpressionBuilder`
+
+Here's an example of a helper function that uses the expression builder instead of raw SQL:
+
+```ts
+import { Expression, expressionBuilder } from 'kysely'
+
+function idsOfPersonsThatHaveDogNamed(name: Expression<string>) {
+  const eb = expressionBuilder<DB>()
+
+  // A subquery that returns the identifiers of all persons
+  // that have a dog named `name`.
+  return eb
+    .selectFrom('pet')
+    .select('pet.owner_id')
+    .where('pet.species', '=', 'dog')
+    .where('pet.name', '=', name)
+}
+```
+
+And here's how you could use it:
+
+```ts
+const dogName = 'Doggo'
+
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .selectAll('person')
+  .where((eb) => eb(
+    'person.id', 'in', idsOfPersonsThatHaveDogNamed(eb.val(dogName))
+  ))
+  .execute()
+```
+
+Note that `idsOfPersonsThatHaveDogNamed` doesn't execute a separate query but instead returns a subquery expression that's compiled as a part of the parent query:
+
+```sql
+select
+  person.*
+from
+  person
+where
+  person.id in (
+    select pet.owner_id
+    from pet
+    where pet.species = 'dog'
+    and pet.name = ?
+  )
+```
+
+In all our examples we've used the following syntax:
+
+```ts
+.where(eb => eb(left, operator, right))
+```
+
+When the expression builder `eb` is used as a function, it creates a binary expression. All binary expressions with a comparison operator are represented as a `Expression<SqlBool>`. You don't always need to return `eb(left, operator, right)` from the callback though. Since `Expressions` are composable and reusable, you can return any `Expression<SqlBool>`.
+
+This means you can create helpers like this:
+
+```ts
+function isOlderThan(age: Expression<number>) {
+  return sql<SqlBool>`age > ${age}`
+}
+```
+
+```ts
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .select(['id', 'first_name'])
+  .where(({ val }) => isOlderThan(val(60)))
+  .execute()
+```
+
+## Dealing with nullable expressions
+
+If you want your helpers to work with nullable expressions (nullable columns etc.), you can do something like this:
+
+```ts
+import { Expression } from 'kysely'
+
+// This function accepts both nullable and non-nullable string expressions.
+function toInt<T extends string | null>(expr: Expression<T>) {
+  // This returns `Expression<number | null>` if `expr` is nullable
+  // and `Expression<number>` otherwise.
+  return sql<T extends null ? (number | null) : number>`(${expr})::integer`
+}
+```
+
+## Passing select queries as expressions
+
+Let's say we have the following query:
+
+```ts
+const expr: Expression<{ name: string }> = db
+  .selectFrom('pet')
+  .select('pet.name')
+```
+
+The expression type of our query is `Expression<{ name: string }>` but SQL allows you to use a query like that as an `Expression<string>`. In other words, SQL allows you to use single-column record types like scalars. Most of the time Kysely is able to automatically handle this case but with helper functions you need to use `$asScalar()` to convert the type. Here's an example:
+
+```ts
+const persons = await db
+  .selectFrom('person')
+  .select((eb) => [
+    'id',
+    'first_name',
+    upper(
+      eb.selectFrom('pet')
+        .select('name')
+        .whereRef('person.id', '=', 'pet.owner_id')
+        .limit(1)
+        .$asScalar() // <-- This is needed
+        .$notNull()
+    ).as('pet_name')
+  ])
+```
+
+The subquery is an `Expression<{ name: string }>` but our `upper` function only accepts `Expression<string>`. That's why we need to call `$asScalar()`. `$asScalar()` has no effect on the generated SQL. It's simply a type-level helper.
+
+We also used `$notNull()` in the example because our simple `upper` function doesn't support nullable expressions.