Putting parentheses into complex doctrine sql queries

Consider this query:

SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE
  ( status IN ('A','B') OR access IN ('X','Y') )
  AND created_at > '2010-01-01';

Doctrine offers no way to do this! The following code makes a query without the parentheses, meaning it will return all records with status of A or B, whatever their creation date.

$q=Doctrine_Query::create() ->from('mytable');
$q->whereIn('status',$statusList);
$q->orWhereIn('access',$accessList);
$q->andWhere('created>?','2010-01-01');

If your IN lists are of fixed length you could do it like this (untested):

$q=Doctrine_Query::create() ->from('mytable');
$q->where('( status IN (?,?) OR access in (?,?) )',array('A','B','X','Y'));
$q->andWhere('created>?','2010-01-01');

But a far better solution is suggested on Scott Daniel's blog

I changed his code in two ways. First I put it straight into Doctrine/Query.php, which saves me having to change the class name in my source code. I'm comfortable doing this as I have the Doctrine source in SVN, meaning I won't lose my change when updating Doctrine. Secondly I used an explicit reference to save having to reassign the variable. I doubt there is any difference in speed, but this way looks clearer to me. So the full code I put at the end of Query.php looks like this:

/**
* Custom addition to Doctrine, to allow wrapping a set of OR clauses
* in parentheses, so that they can be combined with AND clauses.
*
* @see http://danielfamily.com/techblog/?p=37
* I modified it slightly to use an explicit reference.
*
* @return Doctrine_Query this object
*/
public function whereParenWrap()
{
  $where = &$this->_dqlParts['where'];
  if (count($where) > 0) {
    array_unshift($where, '(');
    array_push($where, ')');
    }
  return $this;
}

To use it simply add a call to whereParenWrap() just after your OR clauses. For instance, here is how my original example is modified:

$q=Doctrine_Query::create() ->from('mytable');
$q->whereIn('status',$statusList);
$q->orWhereIn('access',$accessList);

$q->whereParenWrap();

$q->andWhere('created>?','2010-01-01');

In my actual code this required me to shuffle things around so the OR clauses were defined first, then the straightforward AND clauses came last. But that was no hardship.

However there is one flaw in this approach: if you need to have two such sets of OR clauses, which are themselves joined by an OR or AND. I thought a more generic approach might work: openParenthesis() and closeParenthesis() functions which you call exactly where you want them. But openParenthesis goes wrong (it ends up making "WHERE ((AND status IN..."; i.e. the "(" looks like an existing clause to Doctrine). I'm sure this could be made to work, but it will be more intrusive. So I'm going to be pragmatic and worry about this should I ever actually need it.