feat(docs): add an FAQ (#1319)

FAQ.md

@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+SQLx Frequently Asked Questions
+===============================
+
+----------------------------------------------------------------
+### How can I do a `SELECT ... WHERE foo IN (...)` query?
+
+
+In 0.6 SQLx will support binding arrays as a comma-separated list for every database,
+but unfortunately there's no general solution for that currently in SQLx itself.
+You would need to manually generate the query, at which point it
+cannot be used with the macros.
+
+However, **in Postgres** you can work around this limitation by binding the arrays directly and using `= ANY()`:
+
+```rust
+let db: PgPool = /* ... */;
+let foo_ids: Vec<i64> = vec![/* ... */];
+
+let foos = sqlx::query!(
+    "SELECT * FROM foo WHERE id = ANY($1)",
+    // a bug of the parameter typechecking code requires all array parameters to be slices
+    &foo_ids[..]
+)
+    .fetch_all(&db)
+    .await?;
+```
+
+Even when SQLx gains generic placeholder expansion for arrays, this will still be the optimal way to do it for Postgres,
+as comma-expansion means each possible length of the array generates a different query 
+(and represents a combinatorial explosion if more than one array is used).
+
+See also: [Postgres Manual, Section 9.24: Row and Array Comparisons](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-comparisons.html)
+
+-----
+### How can I bind an array to a `VALUES()` clause? How can I do bulk inserts?
+
+Like the above, SQLx currently does not support this in the general case right now but will in 0.6.
+
+However, **Postgres** also has a feature to save the day here! You can pass an array to `UNNEST()` and
+it will treat it as a temporary table:
+
+```rust
+let foo_texts: Vec<String> = vec![/* ... */];
+
+sqlx::query!(
+    // because `UNNEST()` is a generic function, Postgres needs the cast on the parameter here
+    // in order to know what type to expect there when preparing the query
+    "INSERT INTO foo(text_column) SELECT * FROM UNNEST($1::text[])",
+    &foo_texts[..]
+)
+    .execute(&db)
+    .await?; 
+```
+
+`UNNEST()` can also take more than one array, in which case it'll treat each array as a column in the temporary table:
+
+```rust
+// this solution currently requires each column to be its own vector
+// in 0.6 we're aiming to allow binding iterators directly as arrays
+// so you can take a vector of structs and bind iterators mapping to each field
+let foo_texts: Vec<String> = vec![/* ... */];
+let foo_bools: Vec<bool> = vec![/* ... */];
+let foo_ints: Vec<i64> = vec![/* ... */];
+
+sqlx::query!(
+    "
+        INSERT INTO foo(text_column, bool_column, int_column) 
+        SELECT * FROM UNNEST($1::text[], $2::bool[], $3::int8[]])
+    ",
+    &foo_texts[..],
+    &foo_bools[..],
+    &foo_ints[..]
+)
+    .execute(&db)
+    .await?;
+```
+
+Again, even with comma-expanded lists in 0.6 this will likely still be the most performant way to run bulk inserts
+with Postgres--at least until we get around to implementing an interface for `COPY FROM STDIN`, though
+this solution with `UNNEST()` will still be more flexible as you can use it in queries that are more complex
+than just inserting into a table.
+
+Note that if some vectors are shorter than others, `UNNEST` will fill the corresponding columns with  `NULL`s
+to match the longest vector.
+
+For example, if `foo_texts` is length 5, `foo_bools` is length 4, `foo_ints` is length 3, the resulting table will
+look like this:
+
+| Row # | `text_column`  | `bool_column`  | `int_column`  |
+| ----- | -------------- | -------------- | ------------- |
+| 1     | `foo_texts[0]` | `foo_bools[0]` | `foo_ints[0]` |
+| 2     | `foo_texts[1]` | `foo_bools[1]` | `foo_ints[1]` |
+| 3     | `foo_texts[2]` | `foo_bools[2]` | `foo_ints[2]` |
+| 4     | `foo_texts[3]` | `foo_bools[3]` | `NULL`        |
+| 5     | `foo_texts[4]` | `NULL`         | `NULL`        |
+
+See Also:
+* [Postgres Manual, Section 7.2.1.4: Table Functions](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/queries-table-expressions.html#QUERIES-TABLEFUNCTIONS)
+* [Postgres Manual, Section 9.19: Array Functions and Operators](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-array.html)
+
+----
+### How do I compile with the macros without needing a database, e.g. in CI?
+
+The macros support an offline mode which saves data for existing queries to a JSON file,
+so the macros can just read that file instead of talking to a database.
+
+See the following:
+
+* [the docs for `query!()`](https://docs.rs/sqlx/0.5.5/sqlx/macro.query.html#offline-mode-requires-the-offline-feature)
+* [the README for `sqlx-cli`](sqlx-cli/README.md#enable-building-in-offline-mode-with-query)
+
+To keep `sqlx-data.json` up-to-date you need to run `cargo sqlx prepare` before every commit that
+adds or changes a query; you can do this with a Git pre-commit hook:
+
+```shell
+$ echo "cargo sqlx prepare > /dev/null 2>&1; git add sqlx-data.json > /dev/null" > .git/hooks/pre-commit 
+```
+
+Note that this may make committing take some time as it'll cause your project to be recompiled, and
+as an ergonomic choice it does _not_ block committing if `cargo sqlx prepare` fails.
+
+We're working on a way for the macros to save their data to the filesystem automatically which should be part of SQLx 0.6,
+so your pre-commit hook would then just need to stage the changed files.
+
+----
+
+### How do the query macros work under the hood?
+
+The macros work by talking to the database at compile time. When a(n) SQL client asks to create a prepared statement 
+from a query string, the response from the server typically includes information about the following:
+
+* the number of bind parameters, and their expected types if the database is capable of inferring that
+* the number, names and types of result columns, as well as the original table and columns names before aliasing 
+
+In MySQL/MariaDB, we also get boolean flag signaling if a column is `NOT NULL`, however 
+in Postgres and SQLite, we need to do a bit more work to determine whether a column can be `NULL` or not.
+
+After preparing, the Postgres driver will first look up the result columns in their source table and check if they have 
+a `NOT NULL` constraint. Then, it will execute `EXPLAIN (VERBOSE, FORMAT JSON) <your query>` to determine which columns 
+come from half-open joins (LEFT and RIGHT joins), which makes a normally `NOT NULL` column nullable. Since the
+`EXPLAIN VERBOSE` format is not stable or completely documented, this inference isn't perfect. However, it does err on
+the side of producing false-positives (marking a column nullable when it's `NOT NULL`) to avoid errors at runtime.
+
+If you do encounter false-positives please feel free to open an issue; make sure to include your query, any relevant
+schema as well as the output of `EXPLAIN (VERBOSE, FORMAT JSON) <your query>` which will make this easier to debug.
+
+The SQLite driver will pull the bytecode of the prepared statement and step through it to find any instructions
+that produce a null value for any column in the output.
+
+---
+### Why can't SQLx just look at my database schema/migrations and parse the SQL itself?
+
+Take a moment and think of the effort that would be required to do that.
+
+To implement this for a single database driver, SQLx would need to:
+
+* know how to parse SQL, and not just standard SQL but the specific dialect of that particular database
+* know how to analyze and typecheck SQL queries in the context of the original schema
+* if inferring schema from migrations it would need to simulate all the schema-changing effects of those migrations
+
+This is effectively reimplementing a good chunk of the database server's frontend, 
+
+_and_ maintaining and ensuring correctness of that reimplementation,
+
+including bugs and idiosyncrasies,
+
+for the foreseeable future,
+
+for _every_ database we intend to support. 
+
+Even Sisyphus would pity us.
+
+---------

README.md

@@ -55,6 +55,12 @@
 
 <br />
 
+<div align="center">
+    <h5>Have a question? Be sure to <a href="FAQ.md">check the FAQ first!</a></h5>
+</div>
+
+<br />
+
 SQLx is an async, pure Rust<sub>†</sub> SQL crate featuring compile-time checked queries without a DSL.
 
 -   **Truly Asynchronous**. Built from the ground-up using async/await for maximum concurrency.