Article
· Mar 17, 2021 3m read

Making the most of $Query

I ran into an interesting ObjectScript use case today with a general solution that I wanted to share.

Use case:

I have a JSON array (specifically, in my case, an array of issues from Jira) that I want to aggregate over a few fields - say, category, priority, and issue type. I then want to flatten the aggregates into a simple list with the total for each of the groups. Of course, for the aggregation, it makes sense to use a local array in the form:

agg(category, priority, type) = total

Such that for each record in the input array I can just:

Do $increment(agg(category, priority, type))

But once I've done the aggregation, I want to get that into an easier form to iterate over, like an integer-subscripted array:

summary = n
summary(1) = $listbuild(total1, category1, priority1, type1)
...
summary(n) = $listbuild(totalN, categoryN, priorityN, typeN)

Basic Solution:

The simple approach is just to have three nested For loops with $Order - for example:

Set category = ""
For {
    Set category = $Order(agg(category))
    Quit:category=""
    
    Set priority = ""
    For {
        Set priority = $Order(agg(category,priority))
        Quit:priority=""
        
        Set type = ""
        For {
            Set type = $Order(agg(category,priority,type),1,total)
            Quit:type=""
            
            Set summary($i(summary)) = $listbuild(total,category,priority,type)
        }
    }

}

That's what I started out with, but it's a lot of code, and if I had more dimensions to aggregate over it'd get unwieldy quickly. It made me wonder - is there a general solution to accomplish the same thing? It turns out, there is!

Better Solution with $Query:

I decided that using $query would help. Note that this solution assumes uniform depth of subscripts/values across the whole local array; weird things would happen if this assumption was violated.

ClassMethod Flatten(ByRef deep, Output flat) [ PublicList = deep ]
{
    Set reference = "deep"
    For {
        Set reference = $query(@reference)
        Quit:reference=""
        Set value = $listbuild(@reference)
        For i=1:1:$qlength(reference) {
            Set value = value_$listbuild($qsubscript(reference,i))
        }
        Set flat($i(flat)) = value
    }
}

So the above snippet is replaced with:

Do ..Flatten(.agg,.summary)

A few things to note about this solution:

  • deep needs to be in the PublicList for $query to be able to operate on it
  • in each iteration, reference is changed to reference the next set of subscripts in deep that has a value - e.g., the value might be: deep("foo","bar")
  • $qlength returns the number of subscripts in reference
  • $qsubscript returns the value of the i'th subscript of reference
  • When $listbuild lists are concatenated, a valid $listbuild list with the combined lists is the result (this is way better than using any other delimiter!)

Summary

$query, $qlength, and $qsubscript are handy for dealing with globals/local arrays of arbitrary depth.

Further Reading

$Query: https://docs.intersystems.com/irisforhealthlatest/csp/docbook/DocBook.UI...
$QSubscript: https://docs.intersystems.com/irisforhealthlatest/csp/docbook/Doc.View.c...
$QLength: https://docs.intersystems.com/irisforhealthlatest/csp/docbook/Doc.View.c...

Discussion (10)2
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Just a small fix that makes the PublicList unnecessary:

ClassMethod Flatten(reference, Output flat)
{
    For {
        Set reference = $query(@reference)
        Quit:reference=""
        Set value = $listbuild(@reference)
        For i=1:1:$qlength(reference) {
            Set value = value_$listbuild($qsubscript(reference,i))
        }
        Set flat($i(flat)) = value
    }
}

The fixed method should be called in a slightly different way:

Method SomeMethod(...) [ PublicList = agg ]
{
  ...
  Do ..Flatten($name(agg),.summary)
  ...
}

Nice article Tim! For posterity, I will try to clarify two statements you made:

  1. "Note that this solution assumes uniform depth of subscripts/values across the whole local array; weird things would happen if this assumption was violated."
  2. "$query, $qlength, and $qsubscript are handy for dealing with globals/local arrays of arbitrary depth."

Some readers might see a conflict in these two statements (I added the bold), but there is no conflict. Statement #2 is correct. Statement #1 applies to using $query for the specific goal Tim had in mind.

It's Friday afternoon, so I thought I'd play with a variation that avoids $Query. This is for no particular reason, as I think the $Q solution is fine, but I wondered if I could:

ClassMethod Flatten(ByRef array, ref = "array") As %List [ PublicList = array ]
{
                S sub="",list=""
                F {
                                S sub=$O(@ref@(sub),1,data)
                                I sub="" Q
                                I $G(data)'="" {
                                                S line=""
                                                F i=1:1:$QLength(ref) S line=line_$LB($QSubscript(ref,i))
                                                S list=list_$LB($LB(data)_line_$LB(sub))
                                }
                                I $D(@ref@(sub))\10 { ; if there are deeper nodes, go down
                                                S nextRef=$S(ref["(":$E(ref,1,*-1)_",""",1:ref_"(""")_sub_""")"
                                                S list=list_..Flatten(.array,nextRef)
                                }
                }
                Return list
}

It's recursive, which is dangerous but powerful stuff! :-)  Call it by something like:  out=..Flatten(.in)

It also avoids output variables in the parameter list, which I find confusing and against Uncle Bob's clean coding principals (okay, he'd also be horrified by "S" for "set", but I'm old-school). Instead, it returns a list of lists which is just as easy to step through. / Mike