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Database: Query Builder

Introduction​

Stability: 2 - Stable

TinyORM's database query builder provides a convenient, fluent interface to creating and running database queries. It can be used to perform most database operations in your application.

The TinyORM query builder uses QSqlQuery parameter binding to protect your application against SQL injection attacks. There is no need to clean or sanitize strings passed to the query builder as query bindings.

danger

QSqlQuery does not support binding column names. Therefore, you should never allow user input to dictate the column names referenced by your queries, including "order by" columns.

danger

The QMYSQL Qt driver contains a bug, if your table contains a json column type, then you must explicitly name columns other than json columns instead of the * shorthand, otherwise, you will get an empty result, or all column values will be invalid QVariant-s, or it may even return half of the columns. The QPSQL driver returns correct results and doesn't have problem with json columns. It was fixed in the Qt 5.15.12, 6.2.7, 6.5.0 QTBUG-101680.

Running Database Queries​

Retrieving All Rows From A Table​

You may use the table method provided by the DB facade to begin a query. The table method returns a fluent query builder instance for the given table, allowing you to chain more constraints onto the query and then finally retrieve the results of the query using the get method:

#include <orm/db.hpp>

// Log a list of all of the application's users
auto query = DB::table("users")->get();

while (query.next())
    qDebug() << "id :" << query.value("id").toULongLong() << ";"
             << "name :" << query.value("name").toString();

The get method returns a QSqlQuery containing the results of the query where each result can be accessed by QSqlQuery::next method, look into the QSqlQuery documentation how to obtain results from the "query". You may access each column's value by QSqlQuery::value method. The first bool return value is the value returned from QSqlQuery::exec method:

#include <QDebug>

#include <orm/db.hpp>

auto users = DB::table("users")->get();

while(users.next())
    qDebug() << users.value("name").toString();

Retrieving A Single Row / Column From A Table​

If you just need to retrieve a single row from a database table, you may use the QueryBuilder::first method. This method will return a QSqlQuery object, on which was internally called QSqlQuery::first method. This method retrieves the first record in the result, if available, and positions the query on the retrieved record:

auto user = DB::table("users")->whereEq("name", "John").first();

user.value("email").toString();

If you don't need an entire row, you may extract a single value from a record using the value method. This method will return the value of the column directly as QVariant:

auto email = DB::table("users")->whereEq("name", "John").value("email").toString();

To retrieve a single row by its id column value, use the find method. This method retrieves the first record in the result, if available, and positions the query on the retrieved record:

auto user = DB::table("users")->find(3);

user.value("email").toString();

Retrieving A List Of Column Values​

If you would like to retrieve the QList<QVariant> instance containing the values of a single column, you may use the pluck method. In this example, we'll retrieve a collection of user titles:

#include <QDebug>

#include <orm/db.hpp>

const auto titles = DB::table("users")->pluck("title");

for (const auto &title : titles)
    qDebug() << title.value<QString>();

You may specify the column that the resulting collection should use as its keys by providing a second argument to the pluck method, following example returns the std::map<QString, QVariant> of "titles" keyed by "names":

#include <orm/db.hpp>

auto titles = DB::table("users")->pluck<QString>("title", "name");

for (auto &&[name, title] : titles)
    qDebug() << name << ":" << title.value<QString>();

You may also use pluck<quint64>("name", "id"), it returns the std::map<quint64, QVariant> of "names" keyed by its "ids".

note

This second pluck overload returns std::map<T, QVariant> so you have to provide a template argument for the key type.

Concatenate column values​

The implode method can be used to join column values. For example, you may use this method to concatenate prices with the , character as the glue:

DB::table("orders")->where("price", ">", 100).implode("price", ", ");

Chunking Results​

If you need to work with thousands of database records, consider using the chunk method provided by the DB facade. This method retrieves a small chunk of results at a time and feeds each chunk into a lambda expression for processing. For example, let's retrieve the entire users table in chunks of 100 records at a time:

DB::table("users")->orderBy("id").chunk(100, [](QSqlQuery &users, const int page)
{
    while (users.next()) {
        //
    }

    return true;
});

You may stop further chunks from being processed by returning false from the closure:

DB::table("users")->orderBy("id").chunk(100, [](QSqlQuery &users, const int page)
{
    // Process the records...

    return false;
});

If you are updating database records while chunking results, your chunk results could change in unexpected ways. If you plan to update the retrieved records while chunking, it is always best to use the chunkById method instead. This method will automatically paginate the results based on the record's primary key:

DB::table("users")
    ->whereEq("active", false)
    .orderBy("id")
    .chunkById(100, [](QSqlQuery &users, const int /*unused*/)
    {
        while (users.next())
            DB::table("users")
                ->whereEq("id", users.value("id"))
                .update({{"active", true}});

        return true;
    });
caution

When updating or deleting records inside the chunk lambda expression, any changes to the primary key or foreign keys could affect the chunk query. This could potentially result in records not being included in the chunked results, it can be avoided using the chunkById method.

Aggregates​

The query builder also provides a variety of methods for retrieving aggregate values like count, max, min, avg, and sum. You may call any of these methods after constructing your query:

#include <orm/db.hpp>

auto users = DB::table("users")->count();

auto price = DB::table("orders")->max("price");

Of course, you may combine these methods with other clauses to fine-tune how your aggregate value is calculated:

auto price = DB::table("orders")
                 ->whereEq("finalized", 1)
                 .avg("price");

Determining If Records Exist​

Instead of using the count method to determine if any records exist that match your query's constraints, you may use the exists and doesntExist methods:

if (DB::table("orders")->whereEq("finalized", 1).exists()) {
    // ...
}

if (DB::table("orders")->whereEq("finalized", 1).doesntExist()) {
    // ...
}

Select Statements​

Specifying A Select Clause​

You may not always want to select all columns from a database table. Using the select method, you can specify a custom "select" clause for the query:

#include <orm/db.hpp>

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->select({"name", "email as user_email"})
                 .get();

The distinct method allows you to force the query to return distinct results:

auto users = DB::table("users")->distinct().get();

If you already have a query builder instance and you wish to add a column to its existing select clause, you may use the addSelect method:

auto query = DB::table("users")->select("name");

auto users = query.addSelect("age").get();
note

You can also pass subqueries to the select and addSelect methods. A subquery can be a lambda expression, raw string, or the QueryBuilder instance.

Raw Expressions​

Sometimes you may need to insert an arbitrary string into a query. To create a raw string expression, you may use the raw method provided by the DB facade:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->select(DB::raw("count(*) as user_count, status"))
                 .where("status", "<>", 1)
                 .groupBy("status")
                 .get();
danger

Raw statements will be injected into the query as strings, so you should be extremely careful to avoid creating SQL injection vulnerabilities.

Raw Methods​

Instead of using the DB::raw method, you may also use the following methods to insert a raw expression into various parts of your query. Remember, TinyORM can not guarantee that any query using raw expressions is protected against SQL injection vulnerabilities.

selectRaw​

The selectRaw method can be used in place of addSelect(DB::raw(...)). This method accepts an optional vector of bindings as its second argument:

auto orders = DB::table("orders")
                  ->selectRaw("price * ? as price_with_tax", {1.0825})
                  .get();

fromRaw​

The fromRaw method may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the "from" clause:

auto users = DB::connection("postgres").query()
                 ->fromRaw("(select id, name from users where id < ?) as u", {5})
                 .where("id", "<", 3)
                 .get();

whereRaw / orWhereRaw​

The whereRaw and orWhereRaw methods can be used to inject a raw "where" clause into your query. These methods accept an optional vector of bindings as their second argument:

auto orders = DB::table("orders")
                  ->whereRaw("price > IF(state = \"TX\", ?, 100)", {200})
                  .get();

groupByRaw​

The groupByRaw method may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the group by clause:

auto orders = DB::table("orders")
                  ->select({"city", "state"})
                  .groupByRaw("city, state")
                  .get();

havingRaw / orHavingRaw​

The havingRaw and orHavingRaw methods may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the "having" clause. These methods accept an optional vector of bindings as their second argument:

auto orders = DB::table("orders")
                  ->select({"department", DB::raw("SUM(price) as total_sales")})
                  .groupBy("department")
                  .havingRaw("SUM(price) > ?", {2500})
                  .get();

orderByRaw​

The orderByRaw method may be used to provide a raw string as the value of the "order by" clause:

auto orders = DB::table("orders")
                  ->orderByRaw("updated_at - created_at DESC")
                  .get();

Joins​

Inner Join Clause​

The query builder may also be used to add join clauses to your queries. To perform a basic "inner join", you may use the join method on a query builder instance. The first argument passed to the join method is the name of the table you need to join to, while the remaining arguments specify the column constraints for the join. You may even join multiple tables in a single query:

#include <orm/db.hpp>

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->join("contacts", "users.id", "=", "contacts.user_id")
                 .join("orders", "users.id", "=", "orders.user_id")
                 .select({"users.*", "contacts.phone", "orders.price"})
                 .get();

Left Join / Right Join Clause​

If you would like to perform a "left join" or "right join" instead of an "inner join", use the leftJoin or rightJoin methods. These methods have the same signature as the join method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->leftJoin("posts", "users.id", "=", "posts.user_id")
                 .get();

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->rightJoin("posts", "users.id", "=", "posts.user_id")
                 .get();

Cross Join Clause​

You may use the crossJoin method to perform a "cross join". Cross joins generate a cartesian product between the first table and the joined table:

auto sizes = DB::table("sizes")
                 ->crossJoin("colors")
                 .get();

Advanced Join Clauses​

You may also specify more advanced join clauses. To get started, pass a lambda expression as the second argument to the join method. The lambda expression will receive a Orm::Query::JoinClause instance which allows you to specify constraints on the "join" clause:

#include <orm/db.hpp>
#include <orm/query/joinclause.hpp>

DB::table("users")
    ->join("contacts", [](auto &join)
    {
        join.on("users.id", "=", "contacts.user_id")
            .orOn(...);
    })
    .get();

If you would like to use a "where" clause on your joins, you may use the where and orWhere methods provided by the Orm::Query::JoinClause instance. Instead of comparing two columns, these methods will compare the column against a value:

DB::table("users")
    ->join("contacts", [](auto &join)
    {
        join.on("users.id", "=", "contacts.user_id")
            .where("contacts.user_id", ">", 5);
    })
    .get();

Subquery Joins​

You may use the joinSub, leftJoinSub, and rightJoinSub methods to join a query to a subquery. Each of these methods receives three arguments: the subquery, its table alias, and a lambda expression that defines the related columns. In this example, we will retrieve a collection of users where each user record also contains the created_at timestamp of the user's most recently published blog post:

auto latestPosts = DB::table("posts")
                   ->select({"user_id", DB::raw("MAX(created_at) as last_post_created_at")})
                   .whereEq("is_published", true)
                   .groupBy("user_id");

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->joinSub(latestPosts, "latest_posts", [](auto &join)
                 {
                     join.on("users.id", "=", "latest_posts.user_id");
                 }).get();

Basic Where Clauses​

Where Clauses​

You may use the query builder's where method to add "where" clauses to the query. The most basic call to the where method requires three arguments. The first argument is the name of the column. The second argument is an operator, which can be any of the database's supported operators. The third argument is the value to compare against the column's value.

For example, the following query retrieves users where the value of the votes column is equal to 100 and the value of the age column is greater than 35:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("votes", "=", 100)
                 .where("age", ">", 35)
                 .get();

For convenience, if you want to verify that a column is = to a given value, you may call whereEq method. Similar XxxEq methods are also defined for other commands:

auto users = DB::table("users")->whereEq("votes", 100).get();

As previously mentioned, you may use any operator that is supported by your database system:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("votes", ">=", 100)
                 .get();

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("votes", "<>", 100)
                 .get();

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("name", "like", "T%")
                 .get();

You may also pass a QList<Orm::WhereItem> of conditions to the where function. Each Orm::WhereItem structure should contain the four arguments typically passed to the where method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where({
                     {"status", 1}, // "=" by default
                     {"subscribed", 1, "<>"},
                 }).get();

Or Where Clauses​

When chaining together calls to the query builder's where method, the "where" clauses will be joined together using the and operator. However, you may use the orWhere or orWhereEq method to join a clause to the query using the or operator. The orWhere method accepts the same arguments as the where method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("votes", ">", 100)
                 .orWhere("name", "=", "John")
                 .orWhereEq("name", "Jack")
                 .get();

If you need to group an "or" condition within parentheses, you may pass a lambda expression as the first argument to the orWhere method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("votes", ">", 100)
                 .orWhere([](auto &query)
                 {
                     query.whereEq("name", "Abigail")
                          .where("votes", ">", 50);
                 })
                 .get();

The example above will produce the following SQL:

select * from users where votes > 100 or (name = "Abigail" and votes > 50)

Condition Operator Overriding​

The where method overload with a QList<Orm::WhereItem> as the first argument joins conditions using the and operator by default:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where({
                     {"first_name", "John"},
                     {"votes", 50, ">"},
                 }).get();

Conditions operator can be overridden by the fourth argument in the Orm::WhereItem structure:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where({
                     {"first_name", "John"},
                     {"votes", 50, ">", "or"},
                 }).get();

Or by the second where argument, in this case all conditions will be joined by this condition, but it is still possible to override them by the fourth argument in the Orm::WhereItem structure:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where({
                     {"first_name", "John"},
                     {"last_name", "Smith"},
                     {"votes", 50, ">", "and"},
                 }, "or")
                 .get();

The example above will produce the following SQL:

select * from users where (first_name = "John" or last_name = "Smith" and votes > 50)
tip

Still, it is a better idea to use Logical Grouping described few lines below, which allows better control of the parentheses.

Where Not Clauses​

The whereNot and orWhereNot methods may be used to negate a given group of query constraints. For example, the following query excludes products that are on clearance or which have a price that is less than ten:

auto products = DB::table("products")
                    ->whereNot([](auto &query) {
                        query.whereEq("clearance", true)
                             .orWhere("price", "<", 10);
                    })
                    .get();

Additional Where Clauses​

whereBetween / orWhereBetween

The whereBetween method verifies that a column's value is between two values:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereBetween("votes", {1, 100})
                 .get();

whereNotBetween / orWhereNotBetween

The whereNotBetween method verifies that a column's value lies outside of two values:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereNotBetween("votes", {1, 100})
                 .get();

whereBetweenColumns / orWhereBetweenColumns

The whereBetweenColumns method verifies that a column's value is between two values in given columns:

auto files = DB::table("files")
                 ->whereBetweenColumns("quota", {"min_allowed_quota", "max_allowed_quota"})
                 .get();

whereNotBetweenColumns / orWhereNotBetweenColumns

The whereNotBetweenColumns method verifies that a column's value lies outside of two values in given columns:

auto files = DB::table("files")
                 ->whereNotBetweenColumns("quota", {"min_allowed_quota", "max_allowed_quota"})
                 .get();

whereIn / whereNotIn / orWhereIn / orWhereNotIn

The whereIn method verifies that a given column's value is contained within the given QList<QVariant>:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereIn("id", {1, 2, 3})
                 .get();

The whereNotIn method verifies that the given column's value is not contained in the given QList<QVariant>:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereNotIn("id", {1, 2, 3})
                 .get();

whereNull / whereNotNull / orWhereNull / orWhereNotNull

The whereNull method verifies that the value of the given column is NULL:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereNull("updated_at")
                 .get();

The whereNotNull method verifies that the column's value is not NULL:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereNotNull("updated_at")
                 .get();

whereDate / whereTime / whereDay / whereMonth / whereYear

The whereDate method may be used to compare a column's value against a date:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereDate("created_at", EQ, QDate(2022, 11, 18))
                 .get();

The whereTime method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific time:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereTime("created_at", "=", QTime(11, 14, 23))
                 .get();

The whereDay method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific day of the month:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereDay("created_at", "<=", 15)
                 .get();

The whereMonth method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific month:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereEqMonth("created_at", 12)
                 .get();

The whereYear method may be used to compare a column's value against a specific year:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereEqYear("created_at", 2016)
                 .get();

The whereDate and whereTime methods also accept a QDateTime instance or you can pass values as a QString in 2022-12-31 or 09:15:11 formats.

The whereDay, whereMoth, and whereYear accept QDate or QDateTime instances, an integral number or a QString that contains an integral number.

info

All the above methods offer whereEqXyz and orWhereXyz shortcut methods.

whereColumn / orWhereColumn

The whereColumnEq method may be used to verify that two columns are equal:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereColumnEq("first_name", "last_name")
                 .get();

You may also pass a comparison operator to the whereColumn method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereColumn("updated_at", ">", "created_at")
                 .get();

You may also pass a QList<Orm::WhereColumnItem> of column comparisons to the whereColumn method. These conditions will be joined using the and operator:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereColumn({
                     {"first_name", "last_name"},
                     {"updated_at", "created_at", ">"},
                 }).get();

Conditions operator can also be overridden by the fourth argument in the Orm::WhereColumnItem structure:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereColumn({
                     {"first_name", "last_name"},
                     {"updated_at", "created_at", ">", "or"},
                 }).get();

Or by the second whereColumn argument:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereColumn({
                     {"first_name", "last_name"},
                     {"updated_at", "created_at", ">"},
                 }, "or")
                 .get();

Logical Grouping​

Sometimes you may need to group several "where" clauses within parentheses in order to achieve your query's desired logical grouping. In fact, you should generally always group calls to the orWhere method in parentheses in order to avoid unexpected query behavior. To accomplish this, you may pass a lambda expression to the where method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->where("name", "=", "John")
                 .where([](auto &query)
                 {
                     query.where("votes", ">", 100)
                          .orWhere("title", "=", "Admin");
                 })
                 .get();

As you can see, passing a lambda expression into the where method instructs the query builder to begin a constraint group. The lambda expression will receive a query builder instance which you can use to set the constraints that should be contained within the parenthesis group. The example above will produce the following SQL:

select * from users where name = "John" and (votes > 100 or title = "Admin")

Advanced Where Clauses​

Where Exists Clauses​

The whereExists method allows you to write "where exists" SQL clauses. The whereExists method accepts a lambda expression which will receive a query builder instance, allowing you to define the query that should be placed inside of the "exists" clause:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereExists([](auto &query)
                 {
                     query.select(DB::raw(1))
                          .from("orders")
                          .whereColumnEq("orders.user_id", "users.id");
                 })
                 .get();

Alternatively, you may provide a query object to the whereExists method instead of a lambda expression:

// Ownership of the std::shared_ptr<QueryBuilder>
auto builder = DB::table("orders");
auto orders = builder->select(DB::raw(1))
                      .whereColumnEq("orders.user_id", "users.id");

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereExists(orders)
                 .get();

Or directly:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->whereExists(DB::table("orders")
                                   ->select(DB::raw(1))
                                   .whereColumnEq("orders.user_id", "users.id"))
                 .get();

All of the examples above will produce the following SQL:

select * from users
where exists (
    select 1
    from orders
    where orders.user_id = users.id
)

Subquery Where Clauses​

Sometimes you may need to construct a "where" clause that compares the results of a subquery to a given value. You may accomplish this by passing a lambda expression and a value to the where method. For example, the following query will retrieve all users who have a recent "membership" of a given type:

#include "models/user.hpp"

auto users = User::whereEq([](auto &query)
{
    query.select("type")
         .from("membership")
         .whereColumnEq("membership.user_id", "users.id")
         .orderByDesc("membership.start_date")
         .limit(1);
}, "Pro")->get();

Or, you may need to construct a "where" clause that compares a column to the results of a subquery. You may accomplish this by passing a column, operator, and lambda expression to the where method. For example, the following query will retrieve all income records where the amount is less than average;

#include "models/income.hpp"

auto incomes = Income::where("amount", "<", [](auto &query)
{
    query.selectRaw("avg(i.amount)").from("incomes as i");
})->get();

Ordering, Grouping, Limit & Offset​

Ordering​

The orderBy Method​

The orderBy method allows you to sort the results of the query by a given column. The first argument accepted by the orderBy method should be the column you wish to sort by, while the second argument determines the direction of the sort and may be either asc or desc:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->orderBy("name", "desc")
                 .get();

To sort by multiple columns, you may simply invoke orderBy as many times as necessary:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->orderBy("name", "desc")
                 .orderBy("email", "asc")
                 .get();

The latest & oldest Methods​

The latest and oldest methods allow you to easily order results by date. By default, the result will be ordered by the table's created_at column. Or, you may pass the column name that you wish to sort by:

auto user = DB::table("users")
                ->latest()
                .first();

Random Ordering​

The inRandomOrder method may be used to sort the query results randomly. For example, you may use this method to fetch a random user:

auto randomUser = DB::table("users")
                      ->inRandomOrder()
                      .first();

Removing Existing Orderings​

The reorder method removes all of the "order by" clauses that have previously been applied to the query:

auto &query = DB::table("users")->orderBy("name");

auto unorderedUsers = query.reorder().get();

You may pass a column and direction when calling the reorder method in order to remove all existing "order by" clauses and apply an entirely new order to the query:

auto &query = DB::table("users")->orderBy("name");

auto usersOrderedByEmail = query.reorder("email", "desc").get();

Grouping​

The groupBy & having Methods​

As you might expect, the groupBy and having methods may be used to group the query results. The having method's signature is similar to that of the where method:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->groupBy("account_id")
                 .having("account_id", ">", 100)
                 .get();

You may pass multiple items to the groupBy method to group by multiple columns:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->groupBy({"first_name", "status"})
                 .having("account_id", ">", 100)
                 .get();

Limit & Offset​

The skip & take Methods​

You may use the skip and take methods to limit the number of results returned from the query or to skip a given number of results in the query:

auto users = DB::table("users")->skip(10).take(5).get();

Alternatively, you may use the limit and offset methods. These methods are functionally equivalent to the take and skip methods, respectively:

auto users = DB::table("users")
                 ->offset(10)
                 .limit(5)
                 .get();

Insert Statements​

The query builder also provides an insert method that may be used to insert records into the database table. The insert method accepts the QVariantMap of column names and values:

DB::table("users")->insert({
    {"email", "kayla@example.com"},
    {"votes", 0},
});

You may insert several records at once by passing a QList<QString> for column names as the first argument and QList<QList<QVariant>> for values as the second argument. Each QList<QVariant> represents a record that should be inserted into the table. This overload is useful for multi-insert and allows to specify column names only once:

DB::table("users")->insert({"email", "votes"},
{
    {"picard@example.com",  0},
    {"janeway@example.com", 0},
});

You may also insert several records at once by passing a QList<QVariantMap>. Each QVariantMap represents a record that should be inserted into the table:

DB::table("users")->insert({
    {{"email", "picard@example.com"},  {"votes", 0}},
    {{"email", "janeway@example.com"}, {"votes", 0}},
});

The insertOrIgnore method will ignore duplicate record errors while inserting records into the database and also provides the same overloads like the insert method. When using this method, you should be aware that duplicate record errors will be ignored and other types of errors may also be ignored depending on the database engine. For example, insertOrIgnore will bypass MySQL's strict mode:

DB::table("users")->insertOrIgnore({"id", "email"},
{
    {1, "sisko@example.com"},
    {2, "archer@example.com"},
});

DB::table("users")->insertOrIgnore({
    {{"id", 1}, {"email", "sisko@example.com"}},
    {{"id", 2}, {"email", "archer@example.com"}},
});

Auto-Incrementing IDs​

If the table has an auto-incrementing id, use the insertGetId method to insert a record and then retrieve the ID:

auto id = DB::table("users")->insertGetId({
    {"email", "john@example.com"},
    {"votes", 0},
});

Upserts​

The upsert method will insert records that do not exist and update the records that already exist with new values that you may specify. The method's first argument consists of the values to insert or update, while the second argument lists the column(s) that uniquely identify records within the associated table. The method's third and final argument is a vector of columns that should be updated if a matching record already exists in the database:

DB::table("flights")->upsert(
    {{{"departure", "Oakland"}, {"destination", "San Diego"}, {"price", 99}},
     {{"departure", "Chicago"}, {"destination", "New York"},  {"price", 150}}},
    {"departure", "destination"},
    {"price"}
);

In the example above, TinyORM will attempt to insert two records. If a record already exists with the same departure and destination column values, TinyORM will update that record's price column.

caution

All databases except SQL Server require the columns in the second argument of the upsert method to have a "primary" or "unique" index. In addition, the MySQL database driver ignores the second argument of the upsert method and always uses the "primary" and "unique" indexes of the table to detect existing records.

info

Row and column aliases will be used with the MySQL server >=8.0.19 instead of the VALUES() function as is described in the MySQL documentation. The MySQL server version is auto-detected and can be overridden in the configuration.

Update Statements​

In addition to inserting records into the database, the query builder can also update existing records using the update method. The update method, accepts a QList<Orm::UpdateItem> of column and value pairs, indicating the columns to be updated and returns a std::tuple<int, QSqlQuery> . You may constrain the update query using where clauses:

auto [affected, query] = DB::table("users")
                             ->whereEq("id", 1)
                             .update({{"votes", 1}});
note

An update and delete are affecting statements, so they return std::tuple<int, QSqlQuery>.

Update Or Insert​

Sometimes you may want to update an existing record in the database or create it if no matching record exists. In this scenario, the updateOrInsert method may be used. The updateOrInsert method accepts two arguments: a vector of conditions by which to find the record, and a vector of column and value pairs indicating the columns to be updated.

The updateOrInsert method will attempt to locate a matching database record using the first argument's column and value pairs. If the record exists, it will be updated with the values in the second argument. If the record can not be found, a new record will be inserted with the merged attributes of both arguments:

DB::table("users")
    ->updateOrInsert(
        {{"email", "john@example.com"}, {"name", "John"}},
        {{"votes", 2}}
    );

Increment & Decrement​

The query builder also provides convenient methods for incrementing or decrementing the value of a given column. Both of these methods accept at least one argument: the column to modify. A second argument may be provided to specify the amount by which the column should be incremented or decremented:

DB::table("users")->increment<int>("votes");

DB::table("users")->increment("votes", 5);

DB::table("users")->decrement<int>("votes");

DB::table("users")->decrement("votes", 5.2); // float or double type

You may also specify additional columns to update during the operation as a QList<Orm::UpdateItem>:

DB::table("users")->increment("votes", 1, {{"name", "John"}});

You should constrain increment, decrement by where to update only specific record in the database, otherwise a column in all records will be modified.

DB::table("users")->whereEq("id", 1).increment("votes", 5);

Delete Statements​

The query builder's remove, or an alias deleteRow method may be used to delete records from the table. You may constrain delete statements by adding "where" clauses before calling the delete method:

DB::table("users")->remove();

DB::table("users")->where("votes", ">", 100).remove();
note

delete can not be used as the method name because it is the reserved word.

You may also pass record id to the remove method as the first argument, it is the shortcut method, which internally calls where:

DB::table("users")->remove(2);

Truncate Statement​

If you wish to truncate an entire table, which will remove all records from the table and reset the auto-incrementing ID to zero, you may use the truncate method:

DB::table("users")->truncate();

Table Truncation & PostgreSQL​

When truncating a PostgreSQL database, the CASCADE behavior will be applied. This means that all foreign key related records in other tables will be deleted as well.

Pessimistic Locking​

The query builder also includes a few functions to help you achieve "pessimistic locking" when executing your select statements. To execute a statement with a "shared lock", you may call the sharedLock method. A shared lock prevents the selected rows from being modified until your transaction is committed:

DB::table("users")
        ->where("votes", ">", 100)
        .sharedLock()
        .get();

Alternatively, you may use the lockForUpdate method. A "for update" lock prevents the selected records from being modified or from being selected with another shared lock:

DB::table("users")
        ->where("votes", ">", 100)
        .lockForUpdate()
        .get();

Debugging​

You may use the dd and dump methods while building a query to dump the current query bindings and SQL. The dd method will display the debug information and then stop executing using the exit(1). The dump method will display the debug information and continue executing:

DB::table("users")->where("votes", ">", 100).dd();

DB::table("users")->where("votes", ">", 100).dump();