Cypher: comparing properties with multiple types

[Aseem Kishore]

We're giving our nodes a `usedAt` property whose type can vary:

- If the node has been "used", the property is a timestamp -- e.g. an int.

- If the node hasn't been "used", the property is false -- i.e. a boolean.

This presents a problem using Cypher today: we're unable to perform queries that compare that property.

E.g. ORDER BY: http://console.neo4j.org/r/ecedap

E.g. WHERE >: http://console.neo4j.org/r/ghhhrk

It'd be nice if Neo4j supported flexible typing like this. E.g. in this case:

- ORDER BY could order types just as it orders values, e.g. nulls before booleans before ints before strings.

- WHERE could support a function for querying the property's type, e.g. TYPE(n.usedAt) = 'number', so that we could properly filter before comparing.

Thanks!

Aseem

[Michael Hunger]

I like the type() function

As a workaround I'd suggest for now:

not to have a property for not used items. after all you can check for property existence when querying

Or coerce them all into strings

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[Wes Freeman]

Yeah, as Michael says, use str()?

http://console.neo4j.org/r/uuwg8t

Wes

[Aseem Kishore]

STR() is an interesting workaround. (I wasn't aware of it since it's post-1.8.) It's not really a substitute, as it's too error-prone for general usage, but can work for now. Thanks.

Removing the property would work in this particular case, but not in others we're exploring, e.g. enabledAt = (timestamp if this node is to be considered enabled at some point, OR false if this node should be disabled [e.g. abuse], defaulting to true if missing).

TYPE() for properties would solve this for us. Thanks guys!

Aseem

[Wes Freeman]

Agree, +1 for Type()! Wouldn't be too hard, either. Maybe I'll do it.

Wes

[Wes Freeman]

We also need an Int() and Float() and Bool() to try to cast things, imo.

Wes