[Dbix-class] how to add a method that performs a database lookup?

[Adam Witney]

>>
>> I am new to DBIx::Class, but have so far been impressed with how  
>> easy it is to use, so thanks to those that have developed and  
>> continue to develop it.
>>
>> I wanted to know, is there a way of adding a method to a class that  
>> performs a separate database lookup. I have used the Cookbook  
>> example for "Arbitrary SQL through a custom ResultSource", but this  
>> returns a query that is plugged into a sub-select. Can i access the  
>> database connection handle at all (eg $dbh) to build my own SQL  
>> query?
>>
>> thanks for any help
>>
>> adam
>>
>>
>
> You can, but before I tell you how I'm going to ask what kind of  
> query you want. Give us SQL and we'll tell you if you can do it  
> without going via the raw DBH.

ok i have several places i think I might need this!

I have two tables containing data that originated from files; one  
table contains the filename, format etc and the other table contains  
the data itself. The data table contains about 100 million rows now  
and the data needs only be retrieved in chunks (about 5k-10k rows)  
corresponding to the whole file (one row of first table), although the  
required columns may very between queries. I was thinking that  
creating a class and hence an object per row would make this slower,  
so i thought i could write a method  that pulls back the whole data in  
one go for the main class/object.

The second place i might need this is that i have some data in a  
second database and so i would have to interact with this using dblink  
(I am using PostgreSQL). This seems easier to just write the query in  
a method?

Again thanks for your help and apologies if my approach is extremely  
daft! :-)

adam