[jifty-devel] Modeling Hierarchies

[Rob Duncan]

I've been trying to reimplement an existing web app using Jifty.  I really
like what I've seen with this framework so far.  What I haven't seen is a
way to express a hierarchical relationship using the orm schema.  Any
pointers, including "we answered that question on the list in July" would
be most appreciated.

For example, suppose I have a Model Tree:

package MyApp::Model::Tree;
use Jifty::DBI::Schema;

use MyApp::Record schema {

  column name =>
    type is 'text',
    length is 60,
    is mandatory;

  column parent =>
    type is 'INTEGER',
    refers_to MyApp::Model::Tree,
    render_as 'Text';
};

I can easily get to a (parent) node by its id.  I can also display its
children by
my $subtree = MyApp::Model::TreeCollection->new();
$subtree->limit(column => 'parent', operator => '=', value => $parent_id);

Two questions:
1) What would be the best way to add a 'parent' method to the model? 
Right now I am doing the ugly:
  {
  my $pt = MyApp::Model::TreeCollection->new();
  $pt->limit(column => 'id', operator => '=', value => parent_id);
  $parent = $pt->first();
  }
in a template, where I don't think it belongs.

2) What's the best way to display a master/detail record set on a page?
(stuff about the parent, followed by the collection of children.)