Is `HasMany!` still required for joins?

[jnferner]

The macro HasMany!

• isn't documented much (Do you have to treat the participating structs different afterwards?)
• is not tested anywhere in the repo
• has special annotation syntax (#[table_name(name)] vs #[table_name="name"])
• Hasn't been significantly touched in a while
• requires you to duplicate your code if you need the parent struct to be pub, e.g.

#[table_name="question"]
#[derive(Queryable, Identifiable)]
pub struct Question {
    pub id: i32,
    pub category_id: i32,
    pub text: String,
}

#[table_name="category"]
#[derive(Queryable, Identifiable, Debug)]
pub struct Category {
    pub id: i32,
    pub text: String,
}

HasMany! {
    (question, foreign_key = category_id)
    #[table_name(category)]
    #[derive(Queryable, Identifiable, Debug)]
    pub struct Category {
        pub id: i32,
        pub text: String,
    }
}

The last point makes me very uncomfortable with the macro, As I have many 1:n relations in my database.
Is there an alternative?
Did I understand something wrong?

[sgrif]

isn't documented much

It's documented at http://docs.diesel.rs/diesel/associations/index.html

(Do you have to treat the participating structs different afterwards?)

No

is not tested anywhere in the repo

yes it is

has special annotation syntax

This is the same as all other derives

Hasn't been significantly touched in a while

Unsure why this is something that you have a problem with?

Is there an alternative?

Not using it. All #[has_many] does right now is enable parent_table.inner_join(child_table). If you always join in the reverse direction, or use belonging_to and grouped_by, you don't need it.

[jnferner]

That was quick! Thank you for your help. Really enjoying diesel so far :)