Nullable arrays as parameters in drift file queries

[frankvollebregt]

I have a query like the following (ignore the absurdity of this example):

getCars(:brand AS TEXT OR NULL): SELECT * FROM cars WHERE brand = :brand;

Since cars.brand is not nullable, :brand will be a String by default. Like this, I can pass a String? to the query.

But is it also possible to do the same with an array expression? So I can pass a List<String>? right into my query?

getCarsMulti(:brands AS ??? OR NULL): SELECT * FROM cars WHERE :brands IS NOT NULL AND brand IN :brands;

(This example is even stranger, but hopefully illustrates the point)

[simolus3]

Thanks for the report. The model drift_dev uses internally can't represent the concepts of nullable arrays (only arrays with nullable elements), so this is indeed impossible.

but hopefully illustrates the point

I'm actually not sure I understand the point to be honest. What would you expect brand in :brand to evaluate to if :brand is null, also NULL? Since those checks are most commonly used in WHERE clauses, isn't that effectively equivalent to just passing an empty list?

FWIW, one thing that should work today is:

getCarsMulti: SELECT * FROM cars WHERE :brands IS NOT NULL AND $brands;

Then you can call this in Dart:

getCarsMulti(
  brands: (car) => switch (brands) {
    null => const Literal(null),
    var brands? => car.brand.isIn(brands)
  }
)

[frankvollebregt]

Thank you for your reply.

I agree it's a bit nonsensical, it is mainly to prevent wrapping my queries in NULL checks (and you're right, in this case adding ?? [] will fix the issue too).

If it was a small/trivial thing to add for drift_dev, it would've been convenient, but it's not a big deal. I'm starting to reconsider the use case where I needed this anyways :P