Sort users by most recent note updates using Prisma raw SQL queries. Follow step-by-step instructions.

AI assistants like GitHub Copilot for SQL queries: benefits, best practices, code review, productivity, accuracy. 

Leveraging AI Assistance for Writing SQL Queries

[00:00] So there have been a couple of times as we've been working that I've used an AI assistant to help me fill out the different bits of code and things, and I've had to correct it sometimes. For some reason it really wants my IDs to be numbers, for example. But for the most part it's actually super duper helpful, and I want you to use AI assistants in your programming as well.

[00:18] So we're going to use an AI assistant to help us write this order by. So I'm going to copy this, I'm going to pull up GitHub Copilot in VS Code. I'm going to say I need to fill in this order by as a nested query, please help. So here we're going to pass this and we'll say

[00:37] here are the requirements. And I'm going to copy those requirements from our instructions. It says we want to select the updated at from the note model where the owner ID matches the user ID and order that by the updated at descending and get only the first one. So let's see what Copilot

[00:58] can do for us here. So we've got our select that's unchanged, we've got our from, our left join, our where, all that, and it just inserted this order by. So let's copy this, and oh it just inserted it for us. Well that's that is handy, thank you. And then let's just see, it looks like

[01:16] actually that totally worked. Cody is the most recent user and so would be the most recent editor of a note. But let's just look over this query and make sure it's correct because you'd be very ill-advised to just accept what the AI generated for you without reviewing it.

[01:35] So here this is, we can, when we're doing a nested query like this, we can actually just look at the query by itself outside of the context of the whole thing and then we can expand it to the context of the whole thing. So let's just pretend we're, what we're looking for is the most recently

[01:50] updated note per user here. So we're going to say select the updated at field, that's all that we really care about here, we want the most recently updated thing, so that's the only thing that we are going to be selecting, from the note table where the owner of the note, that owner id,

[02:06] equals the user id. So this, like we are kind of peeking into the outer query, but that's the idea, so we're looking for a particular user's most recently updated note. And then we're going to order that by the updated at descending, so most recently updated, and limit to the first updated

[02:24] note. And then order that by, the result of that, by the descending, so that we get the most recently, most recently updated. And that is, yeah, that's exactly what we wanted to do in this query.

[02:40] So now let's just make sure that it actually does work. We'll go to Lori here, and let's go update Lori's note. And now if we go to here, Lori is there first. We're in a good place here. So in review, what we did here was we just used AI to help us write some SQL, but hopefully

[02:58] this gives you an idea of how to do that nested select, as well as shows you how to use AI assistance to help you work through your product requirements. Again, I try to limit the amount of stuff that AI is generating for me to something small and reviewable like this. I do not recommend

[03:17] that you let AI just write a whole lot of stuff for you, because that's harder to review. There are probably lots of bugs in it. So AI assistance, they rock. I recommend you use them in your day to day coding, but just look very carefully at the code that they generate. Another thing I'm

[03:34] going to do just to add some clarity here is I'm going to add the table prefix to all of this, just to make sure that it's more clear that this owner ID is coming from the note, this updated ads coming from the note, et cetera. So there we go. That is our SQL query that allows

[03:50] us to accomplish all of the product requirements for this user search page.

Sorting Users by Recent Entry with Raw SQL

[00:00] Well, now our product manager is doing the product manager thing and wants to make sure that these users are sorted by their recent activity. And we determine recent activity based on how recently they updated any of their notes, right? So we need to have some sort of way

[00:18] to sort these users by the notes that they are taking and when they've last updated their note, which adds a fair bit of complexity to our query. But it's actually the entire reason why we're using raw SQL for this in the first place, because so far what we have here,

[00:37] there's nothing here that we couldn't just do with Prisma. This is the feature that requires us to use our query raw from Prisma, because Prisma, as of today, is not capable of doing this type of a query. So your job is to add a nested order by query

[00:55] here so that we can select all of the user's notes and order those by the most recently updated. And then we can use that to order the users by the user that has the most recently updated note. And so that way we can sort these by the most active users.

[01:13] So that is your objective here. You will have some good instructions showing you how to accomplish this in the instructions. So take a whack at it and have a good time.

Data modeling is as a critical skill for the full stack developer. After all, data is the foundation of your application.

If you don't do it right, you'll find yourself stuck before you even get started. A poorly designed database schema can lead to a lot of headaches down the road when you need to make changes or add new features. Inefficient queries can slow down your application, leading to a poor user experience. Analyzing root causes to issues like these can be a time-consuming and frustrating process.

Web developers spend a ton of time into making their UI handle a slow backend well which is great and you should do that too (you don’t control network latency after all). But *****great***** web developers put effort into making it so their users hardly ever experience that great pending UI by making the backend as fast as possible. Your UI can’t be any faster than your slowest database query.

The Data Modeling Deep Dive Workshop will help you develop a keen understanding of databases and how to manage them. You'll learn the same tools and techniques used at the top tech companies to design robust database architectures and optimize query performance.

We'll be using production grade tools like Prisma and SQLite, but the concepts you learn in this workshop will be applicable to other database systems as well.

## Database Schema

A well-designed database schema is the foundation of your application. It's critical to get it right from the start, as it can be difficult to make changes down the road. This section provides a background on SQL before introducing Prisma's suite of tools. You'll learn:

- SQLite database initialization with Prisma
- Prisma's Object Relational Mapper (ORM)
- Defining a schema with Prisma's declarative schema language
- Converting a schema to SQL with the Prisma CLI
- Viewing and editing your database in Prisma Studio

## Relationships

Poorly planned relationships between database models can lead to data inconsistencies and increased query complexities and performance problems. To avoid these issues, you need to understand the different types of relationships and how to implement them. This section provides you with practical experience in recognizing relationships:

- One-to-many relationships (User has many Notes)
- One-to-one relationships (User has one UserImage)
- Updating the database with Prisma
- Planning models for the future
- Generate an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) for visualization

## Migrations

As your application evolves, so will your database schema. It's not uncommon for there to be "breaking changes" that affects one or more of your database models. This is where migrations come in.

Migrations allow you to track and synchronize schema changes across environments. Traditionally migrations have been tricky to manage, but this section will teach you how to use migrations to ensure your development, staging, and production environments are always in sync:

- Generating SQL migration code with Prisma
- Best practices for documenting & tracking migrations
- The "widen then narrow" approach for eliminating downtime
- Experimenting with migrations before permanently applying them

## Seeding Data

Manually adding data to a database is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors. Scripting to the rescue!

Here you'll learn how to populate your databases with consistent data for development and testing purposes:

- Initializing a SQLite database
- Idempotent scripting
- Resetting the database with Prisma
- Nesting SQL queries to simplify foreign key connections

## Generating Seed Data

Using hardcoded seed data works great for small applications, but it won't provide the best idea of how your application will perform at scale. You also shouldn't use real user data during development for plenty of obvious reasons.

A better approach is to use a library like Faker.js. This section will teach you how to use Faker.js to generate seed data for your database:

- Balancing realism with practicality when generating data
- Creating realistic user information
- Varying data quantities and randomness
- Validating against the schema
- Enforce data uniqueness

## Querying Data

In SQL, queries are written with the `SELECT` statement. This is one of the most powerful statements available, but it can also be one of the most complex. This is where tools like Object Relational Mappers (ORMs) come in, helping developers write SQL in a more intuitive way. Although it isn't a traditional ORM, the Prisma Client is an indispensable tool for modern web development. In this section, you'll learn how to get the most out of it:

- Understanding how Prisma's API maps to SQL
- Handling Hot Module Replacement (HMR)
- Logging slow queries
- Pre-connecting the client to the database

## Updating Data

Data mutation is a common task, but doing it incorrectly can lead to data corruption or loss. Especially when a single user action results in multiple database changes (for example, transferring money between user’s bank accounts). Getting mutations wrong can be a serious problem for your app’s success. This section will walk you through techniques for working safely:

- Deleting and updating data
- Conditional upserts
- Combining multiple queries into a transaction
- Rolling back to a previous transaction

## SQL

No matter how great an ORM is, sometimes you have to write raw SQL. In this section, you'll learn how to write raw SQL queries and execute them with Prisma. You'll also practice with:

- Wildcard queries
- Runtime schema validation with Zod
- Using joins to enable more complex queries
- Specifying query result ordering for more efficient searching

## Query Optimization

Nobody likes a slow application.

There are many stories of companies spending millions of dollars on scaling hardware, adding multiple levels of caching, and even rewriting their entire application in pursuit of a faster performance– only to find out later that the solution was optimizing their database indexes and queries.

In this final section, you'll learn how to optimize your queries for maximum performance:

- Identifying the index
- Analyzing raw SQL queries
- Multi-column indexing
- Balancing premature optimization with practicality

The Data Modeling Deep Dive Workshop will teach you best practices for designing database schemas, managing relationships, data mutations, and optimizations.

Data Modeling Deep Dive

Kent C. Dodds

Full Stack Vol 1

Intro to Data Modeling Deep Dive Workshop

Intro to Data Modeling Deep Dive

Intro to Database Schema 

Learn how to set up your database using Prisma, including initializing the schema and configuring new files.

Learn how to create a SQLite database using Prisma, define models with unique fields, and explore data using Prisma Studio. 

Database with Prisma and SQLite

Setting Up the Database with Prisma

Dad Joke Break Database Schema

Database Schema

Intro to Data Relationships

Create a one-to-many relationship: Users own multiple notes; note model handles the relationship, user model stays unaware. 

Learn how to establish one-to-many relationships between models in Prisma, including configuring relationship attributes and avoiding common pitfalls.

One-to-Many Relationships in Prisma

One-to-Many Relationships 

Optimize image storage in a DB: no polymorphism, future-proof for web apps. Learn why it's best for new projects.

Master Prisma relationships: one-to-one, one-to-many, foreign keys, cascading, unique constraints. Dive into DB schema design flexibilities & limits.

One-to-One and One-to-Many Relationships in Prisma

Database Design

Dad Joke Break Data Relationships

Data Relationships

Intro to Data Migrations

Master Prisma migration: create tables, modify props, spin up DBs, deploy across environments with confidence.

Prisma migrations: Seamlessly evolve your DB schema, reap benefits of flexibility and easy updates.

Database Migrations with Prisma

Creating Migration Files for Database Management with Prisma

Dad Joke Break Data Migrations

Data Migrations

Intro to Seeding Data

Configuring Prisma for seamless data seeding using seed scripts in your application.

Creating and Managing Data with Prisma Seed Scripts

Configuring Prisma for Seed Script Execution

Leverage Prisma nested mutations for efficient data handling, query optimization, and seamless retrieval. 

Efficiently manage relational records with nested queries. Explore benefits and considerations of nesting in DB ops.

Nested Queries in Database Operations

Optimizing Queries with Nested Mutations in Prisma

Dad Joke Break Seeding Data

Seeding Data

Intro to Generating Seed Data

Automatically generate realistic fake data for efficient testing with powerful tools.

Use Faker.js for realistic random user and note data, automating database population matching your schema. 

Generating Random User Data with Faker.js for Database Seeding

Generating Fake Data for Efficient Testing

Effortlessly generate dynamic web app data: user profiles, images, notes, with time-saving techniques.  

Create dynamic seed data with Faker and Prisma: random users, notes, images. Boost data generation efficiency and flexibility.

Generating Dynamic Seed Data 

Dynamically Generating Data

Enforce Unique: Seed user data with unique values, reduce collisions, and optimize queries.

Create seed data with unique valid usernames, enforce integrity, and safeguard against failures.

Generating Unique and Valid Usernames in Seed Data

Creating Unique User Data with Enforce Unique Library

Dad Joke Break Generating Seed Data

Generating Seed Data

Intro to Querying Data

Learn how to migrate from an in-memory database to a real database using Prisma and SQLite, enabling the loading of actual data in your application.

Optimize Prisma Client: Lazy connections, custom logging, and speed up app with query performance.

Optimizing Prisma Client for Efficient Database Operations

Connecting to a Real Database with Prisma and SQLite

Transition from in-memory to real database with Prisma, efficient SELECT queries for user data, type safety advantages.

Shift to Prisma SQLite DB, type-safe queries for specific fields, end-to-end type safety in web apps. 

Using Prisma to Retrieve User Data from a SQLite Database

Transitioning to Real Database with Prisma API

Learn how to optimize note loading by combining multiple queries into a single query and migrating to Prisma for real database integration.

Optimize data retrieval with Prisma, subselects for efficiency, TypeScript error-catching, and migration guidance. 

Efficient Data Retrieval with Prisma and Subselects

Database Queries and Migrating to Prisma 

Dad Joke Break Querying Data

Querying Data

Intro to Updating Data

Delete data from the actual database using Prisma. This exercise introduces a straightforward mutation before diving into more complex concepts.

Discover how easy it is to delete data using Prisma's syntax and APIs. 

Deleting Data with Prisma

Mutating Data with Prisma

Mutations for updating images and notes on a page, including cache control considerations and utilizing helpful utilities for easier data manipulation.

Learn how to update and delete data in a form using Prisma, while handling image updates, removing deleted images, and creating new images. 

Efficiently Updating and Deleting Data in a Form with Prisma

Updating Page Mutations for Images and Notes with Efficient Cache Control

Learn how to use transactions to ensure that data operations within your application either succeed completely or fail entirely. 

Learn how to use prisma.transaction to ensure a group of database operations either all succeed or all fail together

Implementing Transactions with Prisma for Atomic Database Operations

Implementing Transactions for Reliable Data Operations

Learn how to use nested queries in Prisma to combine multiple database operations into a single optimized query, reducing the number of calls made to the db. 

Learn how to optimize database updates using Prisma by combining multiple related queries into a single transaction, resulting in cleaner, more efficient code. 

Efficient Database Updates with Prisma's Nested Queries

Optimizing Database Calls with Nested Queries in Prisma

Dad Joke Break Updating Data

Updating Data

Intro to SQL

Master advanced user search with Prisma: Write raw SQL queries, iterate from basic search to SQLite database display.

Search users with Prisma raw queries by criteria, handle TypeScript hurdles, prep for adding images.

User Search with Prisma and SQL

SQL Queries for User Search in Prisma

Tackle TypeScript errors in Prisma raw queries, ensure type safety with Zod runtime checks. Weigh Prisma's trade-offs.

Embrace runtime type checks in Prisma for robust DB interaction, handle schema changes and parsing errors.

Runtime Type Checking and Parsing in Prisma with Raw Queries

Handling TypeScript Errors and Runtime Type Checking with Prisma and Zod

Efficiently combine data with SQL joins: inner, left, right, full. Get user profile photos without performance issues.

Master left joins in Prisma/SQLite, resolve conflicts, enrich schema, and improve UI with extra properties.

Left Joins with Prisma and SQLite

Working with Joins in SQL

Dad Joke Break SQL

Intro to Query Optimization

Boost Prisma query performance: Add non-unique foreign key indexes, verify with 'explain query' for speed!

Optimize DB queries with user-specific note indexes, boosting performance and reducing scan times.

Optimizing Database Queries with Indexes

Optimizing Query Performance with Indexes in Prisma

Enhance slow user search with single index in SQLite, sidestep caching complexities, grasp query plans, and boost DB performance.

Learn how to analyze query plans and optimize query performance by adding indexes to improve speed and avoid unnecessary scans and temporary data structures.

Data Modeling Deep Dive

Data Modeling Deep Dive

Transcript

Sorting Users by Recent Entry with Raw SQL

Transcript