CoreStore/Sources/QueryableSource.swift

//
//  QueryableSource.swift
//  CoreStore
//
//  Copyright © 2016 John Rommel Estropia
//
//  Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
//  of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
//  in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
//  to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
//  copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
//  furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
//
//  The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
//  copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
//  THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
//  IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
//  FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
//  AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
//  LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
//  OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
//  SOFTWARE.
//

import Foundation
import CoreData


// MARK: - QueryableSource

/**
 Encapsulates containers which manages an internal `NSManagedObjectContext`, such as `DataStack`s and transactions, that can be used for querying values. CoreStore provides implementations for this protocol and should be used as a read-only abstraction.
 */
public protocol QueryableSource: class {
    
    /**
     Queries aggregate values as specified by the `QueryClause`s. Requires at least a `Select` clause, and optional `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.

     A "query" differs from a "fetch" in that it only retrieves values already stored in the persistent store. As such, values from unsaved transactions or contexts will not be incorporated in the query result.

     - parameter from: a `From` clause indicating the entity type
     - parameter selectClause: a `Select<U>` clause indicating the properties to fetch, and with the generic type indicating the return type.
     - parameter queryClauses: a series of `QueryClause` instances for the query request. Accepts `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.
     - returns: the result of the the query. The type of the return value is specified by the generic type of the `Select<U>` parameter.
     */
    func queryValue<T: DynamicObject, U: QueryableAttributeType>(_ from: From<T>, _ selectClause: Select<U>, _ queryClauses: QueryClause...) -> U?

    /**
     Queries aggregate values as specified by the `QueryClause`s. Requires at least a `Select` clause, and optional `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.

     A "query" differs from a "fetch" in that it only retrieves values already stored in the persistent store. As such, values from unsaved transactions or contexts will not be incorporated in the query result.

     - parameter from: a `From` clause indicating the entity type
     - parameter selectClause: a `Select<U>` clause indicating the properties to fetch, and with the generic type indicating the return type.
     - parameter queryClauses: a series of `QueryClause` instances for the query request. Accepts `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.
     - returns: the result of the the query. The type of the return value is specified by the generic type of the `Select<U>` parameter.
     */
    func queryValue<T: DynamicObject, U: QueryableAttributeType>(_ from: From<T>, _ selectClause: Select<U>, _ queryClauses: [QueryClause]) -> U?

    /**
     Queries a dictionary of attribute values as specified by the `QueryClause`s. Requires at least a `Select` clause, and optional `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.

     A "query" differs from a "fetch" in that it only retrieves values already stored in the persistent store. As such, values from unsaved transactions or contexts will not be incorporated in the query result.

     - parameter from: a `From` clause indicating the entity type
     - parameter selectClause: a `Select<U>` clause indicating the properties to fetch, and with the generic type indicating the return type.
     - parameter queryClauses: a series of `QueryClause` instances for the query request. Accepts `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.
     - returns: the result of the the query. The type of the return value is specified by the generic type of the `Select<U>` parameter.
     */
    func queryAttributes<T: DynamicObject>(_ from: From<T>, _ selectClause: Select<NSDictionary>, _ queryClauses: QueryClause...) -> [[String: Any]]?

    /**
     Queries a dictionary of attribute values as specified by the `QueryClause`s. Requires at least a `Select` clause, and optional `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.

     A "query" differs from a "fetch" in that it only retrieves values already stored in the persistent store. As such, values from unsaved transactions or contexts will not be incorporated in the query result.

     - parameter from: a `From` clause indicating the entity type
     - parameter selectClause: a `Select<U>` clause indicating the properties to fetch, and with the generic type indicating the return type.
     - parameter queryClauses: a series of `QueryClause` instances for the query request. Accepts `Where`, `OrderBy`, `GroupBy`, and `Tweak` clauses.
     - returns: the result of the the query. The type of the return value is specified by the generic type of the `Select<U>` parameter.
     */
    func queryAttributes<T: DynamicObject>(_ from: From<T>, _ selectClause: Select<NSDictionary>, _ queryClauses: [QueryClause]) -> [[String: Any]]?
    
    /**
     The internal `NSManagedObjectContext` managed by this `QueryableSource`. Using this context directly should typically be avoided, and is provided by CoreStore only for extremely specialized cases.
     */
    func unsafeContext() -> NSManagedObjectContext
}