I agree with Ovid -- this is a very strange schema design. However, assuming you did it this way just to see if Class::DBI can handle something strange, there is a much more elegant way to deal with this. You are trying to use a linking table here, which is supported by Class::DBI using has_many (see the style refs example in the docs) but it's confusing. Another approach is to write the query directly in the names class, like this: 
package Name;
...
__PACKAGE__->set_sql(by_person => q/
    SELECT n.name
    FROM   name n, person_name pn
    WHERE  (n.name_id = pn.firstname
    OR      n.name_id = pn.lastname)
    AND    pn.person = ?
    /);

package Person;
...
sub names {
    my $self = shift;
    Name->search_by_person($self);
}

[download]
it seems like Class::DBI forces you to name references without any ending '_id' if you want some nifty named methods in your classes?

No, you can name things whatever you want. Look at the section on changing accessor names in the docs.

In reply to Re: Class::DBI and - possibly - complex data structures by perrin
in thread Class::DBI and - possibly - complex data structures by Evil Attraction

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