def before(self, value):
        """
        Sets the operator type to Query.Op.Before and sets the value to 
        the amount that this query should be lower than.  This is functionally
        the same as doing the lessThan operation, but is useful for visual
        queries for things like dates.
        
        :param      value   | <variant>
        
        :return     <Query>
        
        :usage      |>>> from orb import Query as Q
                    |>>> query = Q('dateStart').before(date.today())
                    |>>> print query
                    |dateStart before 2011-10-10
        """
        newq = self.copy()
        newq.setOp(Query.Op.Before)
        newq.setValue(value)
        return newq
Sets the operator type to Query.Op.Before and sets the value to 
        the amount that this query should be lower than.  This is functionally
        the same as doing the lessThan operation, but is useful for visual
        queries for things like dates.
        
        :param      value   | <variant>
        
        :return     <Query>
        
        :usage      |>>> from orb import Query as Q
                    |>>> query = Q('dateStart').before(date.today())
                    |>>> print query
                    |dateStart before 2011-10-10