github / github/codeql-cli-binaries

Suggestion: `boolean(<formula>)` expression

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#56 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
CLI enhancement
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Description

Especially when debugging queries it can often be interesting to know whether a predicate (or a relation) holds or not. However, you can only use expressions in result sets, requiring you to manually get a `boolean` value for the predicate in question, e.g.:
```ql
import java

from Method m, boolean isStatic
where
if m.isStatic() then isStatic = true
else isStatic = false
select m, isStatic
```

Therefore it might be useful to introduce a `boolean()` expression. If the formula holds, then the result is `true`, otherwise `false`:
```ql
import java

from Method m
select m, boolean(m.isStatic())
```

Contributor guide

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Research direction

The issue names no files, tests, or implementation entry points. Start by locating the query-expression implementation and existing result-set expression tests, then compare their handling of predicates with the examples in the issue. Done means a boolean() expression evaluates to true or false and is covered by tests.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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