Add support for splats in shapes

Is there a way to get all the attributes of an object, maybe on the first level.

these statements do not work, (not explained in the documentation).

SELECT User {};
SELECT User {*};

[1st1]

We’re now considering adding support for splats in shapes:

SELECT User { ...User };

  # or

SELECT User { ...UserFragmentView };

  # or

SELECT User {
  name,
  ...UserFragment1,
  ...UserFragment2
}

Using ... makes more sense than * since it’s more readable to a non-Python programmer and is similar to the corresponding GraphQL syntax.

[MarcusCemes]

That sounds like a really good idea @haikyuu . I imagine introducing something like into the query builder would have lower development cost and lower misstep cost than introducing it into the core EdgeQL syntax. Good way to test out the concept.

Just a suggestion from a new user, I was looking for a way to quickly inspect objects inside of the egdedb interactive REPL and found my way to this issue.

I find it useful during development to be able to poke around the database and play with objects, modify them, delete them, before the application is completely working. People who have tried Elixir and iex will understand how amazing solid introspection can be. At the moment it’s a lot of typing to select properties, even if autocomplete is outstanding.

edgedb> select User filter .username = "Alice";
{default::User {id: d5ceabf2-c252-11ec-8820-9bb3eb36643f}}

This is not very useful when the cardinality is one, especially if a User has a lot of table properties to keep them localised in memory/on disk.

It would be a lot more ergonomic to either have a wildcard operator or just be a lot more verbose in the REPL, possibly run a count on links, …

edgedb> select User filter .username = "Alice";
{default::User {
    id: d5ceabf2-c252-11ec-8820-9bb3eb36643f,
    username: 'Alice',
    sessions: <12 default::Session>
}}

I also understand the wish to keep EdgeQL as “unpolluted” as possible, perhaps this could be an extension of the REPL, or a GUI browser such as Prisma Studio (even if I find REPL more ergonomic)?