Repeated ST::distanceSphere(***) in example

[LamprosPitsillos]

Why is the expression ST::distanceSphere($currentShipPosition, 'location') used 3 times here ? is this necessary for the query building process ?

Since we named it as distance_to_ship couldn't we just reference it us such?

$currentShipPosition = Point::makeGeodetic(50.107471773560114, 8.679861151457937);
$portsWithDistance = Port::select()
    ->addSelect(ST::distanceSphere($currentShipPosition, 'location')->as('distance_to_ship'))
    ->where(ST::distanceSphere($currentShipPosition, 'location'), '<=', 50000)
    ->orderBy(ST::distanceSphere($currentShipPosition, 'location'))
    ->get();

[saibotk]

Yes you are right, this is just to show that the expressions can be used in all those cases.

We might need to refactor this to be less confusing though!

[LamprosPitsillos]

That would be great,thank you!

Just out of curiosity, to what does the above expression evaluate?

Is the ST::* return just a string embedded in to the query?

[saibotk]

More or less yes. They use the new DB Expressions feature of Laravel and will be translated to text before being sent to the DB.
These are more of a utility these days and help you with visibility and some type safety when using the different PostGIS methods