diff --git a/src/mnshankar/Sphinxql/Sphinxql.php b/src/mnshankar/Sphinxql/Sphinxql.php
index bb855d2..7b16cfc 100644
--- a/src/mnshankar/Sphinxql/Sphinxql.php
+++ b/src/mnshankar/Sphinxql/Sphinxql.php
@@ -2,11 +2,11 @@
 namespace mnshankar\Sphinxql;
 class Sphinxql
 {
-    protected $library;   
+    protected $library;
     protected $hits;
     public function __construct(\Foolz\SphinxQL\SphinxQL $library)
     {
-        $this->library = $library;                
+        $this->library = $library;
     }
     /**
      * return the library SphinxQL object for chaining other calls
@@ -14,11 +14,19 @@ public function __construct(\Foolz\SphinxQL\SphinxQL $library)
      */
     public function query()
     {
-        return $this->library->forge($this->library->getConnection());        
+        return $this->library->forge($this->library->getConnection());
+    }
+    /**
+     * return the library SphinxQL helper object
+     * @return \Foolz\SphinxQL\Helper
+     */
+    public function helper()
+    {
+        return \Foolz\SphinxQL\Helper::create($this->library->getConnection());
     }
     /**
      * set the hits array
-     * @param array $hits - the array returned by executing the SphinxQL 
+     * @param array $hits - the array returned by executing the SphinxQL
      * @return \mnshankar\Sphinxql\Sphinxql
      */
     public function with($hits)
@@ -27,7 +35,7 @@ public function with($hits)
         return $this;
     }
     /**
-     * if name is null, return id's 
+     * if name is null, return id's
      * if name is class (model) return model->get()
      * if name is table return table->get()
      * @param string $name
@@ -35,28 +43,46 @@ public function with($hits)
      * @return mixed (either array or eloquentcollection)
      */
     public function get($name=null, $key='id')
-    {                
-        $matchids = array_pluck($this->hits, $key);        
+    {
+        $matchids = array_pluck($this->hits, $key);
         if ($name===null)
         {
             return $matchids;
-        }        
+        }
         if (class_exists($name))
-        {            
-             $result = call_user_func_array($name . "::whereIn", array($key, $matchids))->get();          
+        {
+             $result = call_user_func_array($name . "::whereIn", array($key, $matchids))->get();
         }
-        else 
+        else
         {
             $result = \DB::table($name)->whereIn($key, $matchids)->get();
-        }        
+        }
         return $result;
-    }    
+    }
     /**
-     * Execute raw query against the sphinx server 
+     * Execute raw query against the sphinx server
      * @param string $query
      */
     public function raw( $query )
     {
-       return $this->library->getConnection()->query($query);
+        return $this->library->getConnection()->query($query);
+    }
+    /**
+     * avoids having the expressions escaped
+     * @param string $string the string to keep unaltered
+     * @return \Foolz\SphinxQL\Expression the new Expression
+     */
+    public static function expr($string)
+    {
+        return \Foolz\SphinxQL\SphinxQL::expr($string);
+    }
+    /**
+     * escapes the input with \MySQLi::real_escape_string
+     * @param string $value the string to escape
+     * @return string the escaped string
+     */
+    public function escape($value)
+    {
+        return $this->library->getConnection()->escape($value);
     }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}