+=item by_key PRIMARY_KEY_VALUE
+
+This is a class method that returns the record with the given primary key
+value. This method is only useful in FS::Record subclasses. For example:
+
+ my $cust_main = FS::cust_main->by_key(1); # retrieve customer with custnum 1
+
+is equivalent to:
+
+ my $cust_main = qsearchs('cust_main', { 'custnum' => 1 } );
+
+=cut
+
+sub by_key {
+ my ($class, $pkey_value) = @_;
+
+ my $table = $class->table
+ or croak "No table for $class found";
+
+ my $dbdef_table = dbdef->table($table)
+ or die "No schema for table $table found - ".
+ "do you need to create it or run dbdef-create?";
+ my $pkey = $dbdef_table->primary_key
+ or die "No primary key for table $table";
+
+ return qsearchs($table, { $pkey => $pkey_value });
+}
+