[Developers] OR operator in query

[Warren Harris]

A little while ago, I too tried to duplicate all the information  
returned for our topic pages in a single schema query. Here's what I  
came up with (sorry, it's rather unwieldy):

{
"id":"/en/the_departed",
"star_star:type":[{
  "name":null, "id":null, "guid":null,
  "properties":[{
     "optional":true,
     "id":null, "name":null,
     "index" : null, "sort":"index", "expected_type":null,
     "o:links":[{
         "source": {"id": "/en/the_departed","limit":0},
         "target_value":null,
         "target":{
             "id":null, "guid":null, "name":null,
             "/type/reflect/any_master":[{
                 "name":null, "id":null, "guid":null,
                 "link":{"master_property":{
                             "/freebase/property_hints/ 
disambiguator":true,
                             "/type/property/expected_type":null,
                             "id":null, "name":null},
                         "target": {"id": "/en/ 
the_departed","optional":"forbidden"}},
                 "optional":true
             }],
             "/type/reflect/any_value":[{
                 "value":null, "type":null,
                 "link":{"master_property":{
                             "/freebase/property_hints/ 
disambiguator":true,
                             "id":null, "name":null},
                         "target": {"id": "/en/ 
the_departed","optional":"forbidden"}},
                 "optional":true
             }],
             "/common/image/size":{"x":null, "y":null, "optional":true},
             "/common/image/image_caption": [],
             "/common/webpage/description": []
         },
         "limit":10,
         "optional":true
     }],
     "master_property":{
         "id":null, "name":null, "expected_type":null,
         "i:links":[{
             "target": {"id": "/en/the_departed","limit":0},
             "target_value":null,
             "source":{
                 "id":null, "guid":null, "name":null,
                 "/type/reflect/any_master":[{
                     "name":null, "id":null, "guid":null,
                     "link":{"master_property":{
                                 "/freebase/property_hints/ 
disambiguator":true,
                                 "/type/property/expected_type":null,
                                 "id":null, "name":null},
                             "target": {"id": "/en/ 
the_departed","optional":"forbidden"}},
                     "optional":true
                 }],
                 "/type/reflect/any_value":[{
                     "value":null, "type":null,
                     "link":{"master_property":{
                                 "/freebase/property_hints/ 
disambiguator":true,
                                 "/type/property/expected_type":null,
                                 "id":null, "name":null}},
                     "optional":true
                 }],
                 "/common/image/size":{"x":null, "y":null,  
"optional":true},
                 "/common/image/image_caption": [],
                 "/common/webpage/description": []
             },
             "limit":10,
             "optional":true
         }],
         "optional":true
     }
     }]
  }]
}

We have been considering extending MQL to simplify this kind of query  
via the wildcard notation:

{ "id" : "/en/the_departed",
  "*" : [{
    "id": null,
    "index": null,
    "guid": null,
    "name": null,
    "link": {"master_property": {
      "/freebase/property_hints/disambiguator":true,
      "/type/property/expected_type":null,
      "id":null, "name":null
    }},
    "/common/image/size":{"x":null, "y":null, "optional":true},
    "/common/image/image_caption": [],
    "/common/webpage/description": [],
    "value": null
  }]
}

I'd be very interested in your feedback on this proposed feature.

Warren


On Jun 19, 2008, at 8:03 PM, Christian Hirsch wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm starting with a topic id (e.g. /en/the_departed) and like to query
> all of its properties (e.g. all actors starring in the movie, awards
> won, etc.).
>
> At the moment I'm using separate queries for each type which is
> associated with the topic to get all these information, e.g.:
>
> {
>  "*" : [],
>  "id" : "/en/the_departed",
>  "type" : "/film/film"
> }
>
> ------------
>
> {
>  "*" : [],
>  "id" : "/en/the_departed",
>  "type" : "/award/award_winning_work"
> }
>
> ------------
>
> etc.
>
> This works well but is not very efficient.
> First of all a query is needed to get the types of the topic:
> {
>  "id" : "/en/the_departed",
>  "type" : []
> }
>
> ...and then a query is needed for each type as described above.
>
>
> What would be the best way to reduce the number of queries?
>
> I just tried to use an OR operator, e.g.:
>
> {
>    "*" : [],
>    "id" : "/en/the_departed",
>    "type" : [],
>    "type|=" : [
>      "/film/film",
>      "/award/award_winning_work"
>    ]
> }
>
> but it doesn't give the desired results. Is there some syntax error,
> or does the OR not work in this case?
>
> Cheers,
> Christian
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