NAME
   Class::DBI::mysql - Extensions to Class::DBI for MySQL

SYNOPSIS
     package Film;
     use base 'Class::DBI::mysql';
     __PACKAGE__->set_db('Main', 'dbi:mysql:dbname', 'user', 'password');
     __PACKAGE__->set_up_table("film");

     __PACKAGE__->autoinflate(dates => 'Time::Piece');

     # Somewhere else ...

     my $type = $class->column_type('column_name');
     my @allowed = $class->enum_vals('column_name');

     my $tonights_viewing  = Film->retrieve_random;

DESCRIPTION
   This is an extension to Class::DBI, containing several functions and
   optimisations for the MySQL database. Instead of setting Class::DBI as
   your base class, use this instead.

METHODS
 set_up_table
           __PACKAGE__->set_up_table("table_name");

   Traditionally, to use Class::DBI, you have to set up the columns:

           __PACKAGE__->columns(All => qw/list of columns/);
           __PACKAGE__->columns(Primary => 'column_name');

   Whilst this allows for more flexibility if you're going to arrange your
   columns into a variety of groupings, sometimes you just want to create
   the 'all columns' list. Well, this information is really simple to
   extract from MySQL itself, so why not just use that?

   This call will extract the list of all the columns, and the primary key
   and set them up for you. It will die horribly if the table contains no
   primary key, or has a composite primary key.

 autoinflate
     __PACKAGE__->autoinflate(column_type => 'Inflation::Class');

     __PACKAGE__->autoinflate(timestamp => 'Time::Piece');
     __PACKAGE__->autoinflate(dates => 'Time::Piece');

   This will automatically set up has_a() relationships for all columns of
   the specified type to the given class.

   We currently assume that all classess passed will be able to inflate and
   deflate without needing extra has_a arguments, with the example of
   Time::Piece objects, which we deal with using Time::Piece::mysql (which
   you'll have to have installed!).

   The special type 'dates' will autoinflate all columns of type date,
   datetime or timestamp.

 create_table
           $class->create_table(q{
                   name    VARCHAR(40)     NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
                   rank    VARCHAR(20)     NOT NULL DEFAULT 'Private',
                   serial  INTEGER         NOT NULL
           });

   This creates the table for the class, with the given schema. If the
   table already exists we do nothing.

   A typical use would be:

           Music::CD->table('cd');
           Music::CD->create_table(q{
             cdid   MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
             artist MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
                   title  VARCHAR(255),
                   year   YEAR,
                   INDEX (artist),
                   INDEX (title)
           });
           Music::CD->set_up_table;

 drop_table
           $class->drop_table;

   Drops the table for this class, if it exists.

 column_type
           my $type = $class->column_type('column_name');

   This returns the 'type' of this table (VARCHAR(20), BIGINT, etc.)

 enum_vals
           my @allowed = $class->enum_vals('column_name');

   This returns a list of the allowable values for an ENUM column.

 retrieve_random
           my $film = Film->retrieve_random;

   This will select a random row from the database, and return you the
   relevant object.

   (MySQL 3.23 and higher only, at this point)

SEE ALSO
   Class::DBI. MySQL (http://www.mysql.com/)

AUTHOR
   Tony Bowden

BUGS and QUERIES
   Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to:
   [email protected]

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
     Copyright (C) 2001-2005 Tony Bowden.

     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
     the terms of the GNU General Public License; either version 2 of the License,
     or (at your option) any later version.

     This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
     ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
     FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.