We welcome all types of contributions!

The most common type of contribution is to fix an incorrect SQL generation for a database grammar.

To debug what SQL is being ran, you can always call toSQL on any QueryBuilder or SchemaBuilder object. Additionally, you can listen to the preQBExecute interception point for the generated SQL.

Each of the database grammars have two tests — {Grammar}QueryBuilderSpec.cfc and {Grammar}SchemaBuilderSpec.cfc. These tests run the same qb syntax across the different grammars. In each test are methods that return SQL strings like so:

// MSSQLQueryBuilderSpec.cfc
function orWhere() {
    // If just a string is returned, we assume the bindings is an empty array ([])
    return {
        sql = "SELECT * FROM [users] WHERE [id] = ? OR [email] = ?",
        bindings = [ 1, "foo" ]
    };
}

// OracleSchemaBuilderSpec.cfc
function boolean() {
    // returns an array since schema builder can execute multiple statements.
    return [ "CREATE TABLE ""USERS"" (""ACTIVE"" NUMBER(1, 0) NOT NULL)" ];
}

If you find an issue with the SQL generated from a grammar, please file a pull request with the correct SQL in these tests. It's okay if you don't submit a fix as well. (But we'd greatly appreciate it!) Doing so will help expedite the fix.

If you want to add support for a new database grammar, simply copy these two tests from an existing grammar, rename them, change the getBuilder method to return your new grammar, and fill out the SQL as it should be. That will guide your implementation to be 100% compatible with the other grammars in qb.

Introduction

Using qb, you can:

• Quickly scaffold simple queries

• Make complex, out-of-order queries possible

• Abstract away differences between database engines

Requirements

• Adobe ColdFusion 2018+

• Lucee 5+

qb supports four major database grammars:

• MySQL (MySQLGrammar@qb)

• Oracle (OracleGrammar@qb)

• Postgres (PostgresGrammar@qb)

• Microsoft SQL Server (SqlServerGrammar@qb)

• SQLite (SQLiteGrammar@qb)

Discussion & Help

The Box modules discussion group and community can be found here:

Installation

Code Samples

Compare these two examples:

// Plain old CFML
var results = queryExecute( "SELECT * FROM users" );

// qb
var qb = wirebox.getInstance( "QueryBuilder@qb" );
var results = qb.from( "users" ).get();

The differences become even more stark when we introduce more complexity:

// Plain old CFML
var results = queryExecute(
    "SELECT * FROM posts WHERE published_at IS NOT NULL AND author_id IN ?",
    [ { value = "5,10,27", cfsqltype = "CF_SQL_NUMERIC", list = true } ]
);

// qb
var qb = wirebox.getInstance( "QueryBuilder@qb" );
var results = qb.from( "posts" )
    .whereNotNull( "published_at" )
    .whereIn( "author_id", [ 5, 10, 27 ] )
    .get();

With qb you can easily handle setting order by statements before the columns you want or join statements after a where clause:

var qb = wirebox.getInstance( "QueryBuilder@qb" );
var results = qb.from( "posts" )
         .orderBy( "published_at" )
         .select( "post_id", "author_id", "title", "body" )
         .whereLike( "author", "Ja%" )
         .join( "authors", "authors.id", "=", "posts.author_id" )
         .get();

// Becomes
var results = queryExecute(
    "SELECT post_id, author_id, title, body FROM posts INNER JOIN authors ON authors.id = posts.author_id WHERE author LIKE ? ORDER BY published_at",
    [ { value = "Ja%", cfsqltype = "CF_SQL_VARCHAR", list = false, null = false } ]
);

qb enables you to explore new ways of organizing your code by letting you pass around a query builder object that will compile down to the right SQL without you having to keep track of the order, whitespace, or other SQL gotchas!

Usage

To start a new query, instantiate a new Builder: wirebox.getInstance( "QueryBuilder@qb" ).

By default, qb uses a generic Grammar. You can specify your specific grammar in ColdBox by setting the defaultGrammar in your moduleSettings.

moduleSettings = {
    qb = {
        defaultGrammar = "MySQLGrammar@qb"
    }
};

If you are not using WireBox, just make sure to wire up the Builder object with the correct grammar:

var grammar = new qb.models.Query.Grammars.MySQLGrammar();
var builder = new qb.models.Query.Builder( grammar );

9.4.1

Better Support for OracleGrammar in SchemaBuilder

• Fix trigger creation by escaping colons (:).

• Try to drop associated sequences and triggers when dropping a table.

9.4.0

9.3.1

• Use CHAR for GUID and UUID types in MySQL.

• Don't call getUtils from inside QueryUtils.

9.3.0

9.2.5

Use named parameters when passing to BaseGrammar. This avoids problems where custom Grammars have extra arguments and we add arguments to the official grammar.

9.2.4

New Features

Bug Fixes

• Use varchar for clob when converting to a CFML query. This is used when removing a column like in Oracle pagination.

9.2.3

Handle more numeric SQL types like AtomicInteger and Long.

9.2.2

Add millisecond accuracy to inline bindings.

9.2.1

Separate having bindings from where bindings.

9.2.0

New Features

We now support the returning function inside update and delete statements for supported Grammars. Supported grammars are SQL Server, Postgres, and SQLite.

Bug Fixes

• Fix raw table name parsing in update queries for SqlServerGrammar.

• Fix truncating text in nested wheres inside joins.

• Fix out of order bindings in joinSub

9.1.5

Switch from table_catalog to table_schema when referencing schema for PostgresGrammar.

9.1.4

CommandBox-friendly injections for SQL Commenter.

9.1.3

Add support for from bindings, used especially in fromSub queries.

9.1.2

This release reverts the use of native returntypes. There are too many bugs between engine implementations to make it viable. No end-user changes should be visible.

9.1.1

Make withReturnFormat a public method.

9.1.0

New Features

Add ability to inline bindings when calling toSQL and dump. These strings can be executed in a DBMS application.

Bug Fixes

• Move coldbox namespace injection to the function body so CommandBox doesn't blow up.

• Correctly apply native returntypes after newQuery and withReturnFormat.

9.0.2

• Fix losing defaultOptions when calling newQuery.

• Shortcut for no return format using none.

• Allow for native struct returntypes. Requires a return format of none.

9.0.1

Fix RouteInfoCommenter file name.

9.0.0

Breaking Changes

Dropped support for Adobe ColdFusion 2016

Adobe has ended support for ACF 2016, and so must we.

CFML's uuid does not match other languages; it's one character shorter. Because of this, the value from createUUID() cannot be used in some database column types like SQL Server's uniqueidentifier. This made for some confusion in SchemaBuilder since it wasn't clear if uuid meant CFML's definition or the wider world's definition.

Popular grid frameworks like Quasar and Datatables use values of 0 or -1 to return all rows from a query. This is now supported in qb. Previously, it generated an invalid query (SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 0 OFFSET 0).

This behavior can be customized by providing a callback to the shouldMaxRowsOverrideToAll setting or init argument. For instance, to revert to the previous behavior you would set the function as follows:

moduleSettings = {
    "qb": {
        "shouldMaxRowsOverrideToAll": function( maxRows ) {
            return false;
        }
    }
};

New Features and Improvements

SQLite Grammar Support

There's a new shortcut method to return qb.sum( qb.raw( expression ) ). You're welcome. 😉

Bug Fixes

• Correctly compile insertUsing statements that use Common Table Expressions (CTEs).

• Update announceInterception calls for ColdBox 7. (Thank you, Michael Born.)

• Fixed insertUsing not placing Common Table Expressions (CTEs) in the correct order.

• Don't add DISTINCT when doing a COUNT(*).

• Support aggregates for unioned queries.

8.10.0

8.9.1

• HOLDLOCK and READPAST are mutually exclusive table locks in SQL Server but were mistakenly being applied together.

8.9.0

8.8.1

8.8.0

New Features and Improvements

Bug Fixes

• Don't uppercase quoted aliases in Oracle.

• Fix for aliases in update statements.

• Don't sort columns for insertUsing.

• Add subquery bindings in insert and upsert statements.

• Maintain column order when using source in upsert.

8.7.8

• Fix for Oracle returning custom column types when renaming a column.

8.7.7

• Explicit arguments scoping.

8.7.6

• arrayEach is slow compared to merging arrays.

8.7.5

• Fix wheres with joins in update statements.

8.7.2

• Add better null handling to inferSqlType.

8.7.1

• Correctly format columns being updated.

8.7.0

New Features and Improvements

Bug Fixes

8.6.1

• Correctly wrap CTE expressions with parenthesis when required in certain grammars.

8.6.0

8.5.0

QueryBuilder

• Correct return aggregate values for date values from max and min executors.

• Correctly format a COUNT(DISTINCT column) query.

• Only use bulk insert syntax when needed in OracleGrammar due to interactions between the result parameter to cfquery, Lucee, and the Oracle JDBC driver.

SchemaBuilder

8.4.9

• Swap master branch to main branch.

8.4.8

• Remove unnecessary injection for QueryUtils.

8.4.7

• Account for raw expressions when generating mementos for comparison

8.4.6

8.4.5

8.4.1 - 8.4.4

• Migrate release process to GitHub Actions.

8.4.0

• Add a simplePaginate pagination method for quicker performance when total records or total pages are not needed or too slow.

8.3.0

8.2.2

• Default to html for the dump format argument to writeDump.

8.2.1

• Correctly use the passed in strictDateDetection to the QueryUtils.cfc.

8.2.0

8.1.0

8.0.3

• Ignore select bindings for aggregate queries.

• Allow spaces in table aliases.

• Split FLOAT and DECIMAL column types in SQL Server.

8.0.2

• Clear orderBy bindings when calling clearOrders.

8.0.1

• Trim table definitions before searching for aliases. Makes qb more lenient with extra whitespace.

8.0.0

BREAKING CHANGES

Other Changes

7.10.0

• Expose nested where functions to enable advanced query manipulation in downstream libraries like Quick.

7.9.9

• Fixes for OracleGrammar including table aliases and wrapped subqueries.

7.9.8

7.9.7

7.9.6

7.9.5

• Handle enhanced numeric checks with Secure Profile enabled.

7.9.4

• Allow raw statements in basic where clauses.

7.9.3

7.9.2

7.9.1

• Handle multi-word columns in queryRemoveColumns.

7.9.0

• Remove elvis operator due to ACF compatibility issues

7.8.0

7.7.3

7.7.2

• Compatibility fix for ACF 2018 and listLast parsing.

• Ignore table qualifiers for insert and update.

7.7.1

• Fix a bug with preventDuplicateJoins when using the closure syntax with a join.

7.7.0

• Add executionTime to the data output from BaseGrammar, including being available in interceptors.

7.6.2

• Fix a case where a column was not wrapped correctly when a where used a subquery for the value.

7.6.1

• Avoid duplicate function due to cbORM / Hibernate bugs when used in the same application.

7.6.0

• Split off a private whereBasic method. This is used in Quick to provide extra sql type features.

7.5.1

Fixed an issue using column formatters with update and insert.

7.5.0

Using a new preventDuplicateJoins setting in the module settings, qb can detect duplicate joins and ignore them. This is especially useful in a heavily filtered and dynamic query where you may or may not need the join at all or more than one column may need the same join. preventDuplicateJoins defaults to false, so it is opt-in. It may be turned on by default in a future breaking release of qb.

7.4.0

You can now use two shortcut methods: orderByAsc and orderByDesc. Additionally, orderBySub or using orderBy with a closure or builder instance will respect the direction argument.

7.3.15

7.3.14

7.3.13

7.3.12

7.3.9, 7.3.10, 7.3.11

7.3.8

7.3.7

7.3.5, 7.3.6

7.3.4

7.3.2, 7.3.3

7.3.1

• Fix for null values breaking the new checkIsActuallyNumeric method in QueryUtils.

7.3.0

• Add a parameterLimit public property to SqlServerGrammar. This property is used in Quick to split up eager loading to work around the 2100 param limit of SQL Server.

7.2.0

7.1.0

• Lambdas (arrow functions) are now allowed wherever closures are allowed.

7.0.0

BREAKING CHANGES

• Drop support for Lucee 4.5 and Adobe ColdFusion 11.

• MSSQLGrammar renamed to SqlServerGrammar

• Remove variadic parameters support in builder functions like select.

• The defaultGrammar mapping needs to be the full WireBox mapping, including the @qb, if needed.

  • For instance, MSSQLGrammar would become MSSQLGrammar@qb.

  • This will allow for other grammars to be more easily contributed via third party modules.

• The argument names of forPage changed to match the new paginate method.

• Add defaultValue and optional exception throwing to value. (This changed the argument order.)

• All methods that could conceivably take a subquery as well as a value now accept a closure or another builder instance to use as a subquery. (This changed the argument names in some instances.)

Other Changes

• Completely revamped documentation! (You're looking at it right now.)

• Preserve column case and order when converting a query to an array using the default "array" return format.

• Allow closures to be used in left and right joins.

• Add raw in alterTable segments.

• Add dropAllObjects support for SqlServerGrammar and OracleGrammar to support migrate fresh from cfmigrations.

• Add a renameTable alias for rename.

• Remove default constraints when dropping columns with a default on SqlServerGrammar.

• Add more column types and column helpers to SchemaBuilder, including:

  • datetimeTz

  • lineString

  • nullableTimestamps

  • point

  • polygon

  • softDeletes

  • softDeletesTz

  • timeTz

  • timestamps

  • timestampTz

  • timestampsTz

  • withCurrent

****

6.4.0

A query builder is a stateful, transient object. That means that if you want to execute two different queries, you need two separate instances of QueryBuilder.

// This will cause you pain and grief...

var user = query.from( "users" )
  .where( "username", rc.username )
  .first();

var posts = query.from( "posts" ).get();
// This will error because `username` is not a column in `posts`.

As such, be careful when injecting QueryBuilder in to a component. If the component is a singleton, you will need to create the QueryBuilder inline or use a provider. This applies to ColdBox handlers as well.

component {

    property name="query" inject="QueryBuilder@qb";

    function create( event, rc, prc ) {
        // This will cause you pain and grief...
        query.table( "posts" )
            .where( "id", rc.id )
            .update( event.getOnly( [ "body" ] ) );
    }

}

While the above may seem innoculous, it can run in to issues as multiple requests come in to your application. Each request is sharing the same query builder instance and subsequent requests will have unintended results as the where clause keeps growing request after request.

The solution is to either create the QueryBuilder inline, ensuring that each request has its own query to execute:

component {

    function create( event, rc, prc ) {
        getInstance( "QueryBuilder@qb" )
            .table( "posts" )
            .where( "id", rc.id )
            .update( event.getOnly( [ "body" ] ) );
    }

}

Or to use a WireBox provider to create a new query each time it is accessed:

component {

    property name="query" inject="provider:QueryBuilder@qb";

    function create( event, rc, prc ) {
        query.table( "posts" )
            .where( "id", rc.id )
            .update( event.getOnly( [ "body" ] ) );
    }

}

newQuery

Once you have access to a QueryBuilder instance, you can create a new query using the same datasource, utils, returnFormat, paginationCollector, columnFormatter, and defaultOptions as the current QueryBuilder instance.

// This will cause you pain and grief...

var user = query.from( "users" )
  .where( "username", rc.username )
  .first();

var posts = query.newQuery().from( "posts" ).get();
// This will work as we expect it to.

from

Used to set the base table for the query.

query.from( "users" );

SELECT * FROM `users`

You can optionally specify an alias for the table.

query.from( "users as u" );

SELECT * FROM `users` AS `u`

table

An alias for from where you like how calling table looks.

query.table( "users" ).insert( { "name" = "jon" } );

INSERT INTO `users` (`name`) VALUES (?)

fromRaw

Sometimes you need more control over your from clause in order to add grammar specific instructions, such as adding SQL Server table hints to your queries.

query.fromRaw( "[users] u (nolock)" ).get();

SELECT * FROM [users] u (nolock) 

Since the fromRaw() takes your string verbatim, it's important that you make sure your SQL declaration is escaped properly. Failure to properly escape your table names may result in SQL errors.

Many database engines allow you to define User Defined Functions. For example, SQL Server allows you to define UDFs that will return a table. In these type of cases, it may be necessary to bind parameters to your from clause.

You can bind parameters to the fromRaw() method by passing a secondary argument that is an array of the parameters to bind.

query.fromRaw(
    "dbo.generateDateTable(?, ?, ?) as dt",
    [ "2017-01-01", "2017-12-31", "m" ]
).get();

SELECT * FROM dbo.generateDateTable(?, ?, ?) as dt

fromSub

Complex queries often contain derived tables. Derived tables are essentially a temporal table defined as a subquery in the from statement.

query.select( [ "firstName", "lastName" ] )
    .fromSub( "legalUsers", function ( q ) {
        q.select( [ "lName as lastName", "fName as firstName" ] )
            .from( "users" )
            .where( "age", ">=", 21 )
        ;
    } )
    .orderBy( "lastName" )
    .get()

SELECT `firstName`, `lastName`
FROM (
    SELECT `lName` as `lastName`, `fName` as `firstName`
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `age` >= 21
) AS `legalUsers`
ORDER BY `lastName`

In additional a function callback, a separate QueryBuilder instance can be passed to the fromSub method.

var legalUsersQuery = query
    .select( [ "lName as lastName", "fName as firstName" ] )
    .from( "users" )
    .where( "age", ">=", 21 );

query.select( [ "firstName", "lastName" ] )
    .fromSub( "legalUsers", legalUsersQuery )
    .orderBy( "lastName" )
    .get();

SELECT `firstName`, `lastName`
FROM (
    SELECT `lName` as `lastName`, `fName` as `firstName`
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `age` >= 21
) AS `legalUsers`
ORDER BY `lastName`

v9.0.0

Dropped support for Adobe ColdFusion 2016

Adobe has ended support for ACF 2016, and so must we.

CFML's uuid does not match other languages; it's one character shorter. Because of this, the value from createUUID() cannot be used in some database column types like SQL Server's uniqueidentifier. This made for some confusion in SchemaBuilder since it wasn't clear if uuid meant CFML's definition or the wider world's definition.

Popular grid frameworks like Quasar and Datatables use values of 0 or -1 to return all rows from a query. This is now supported in qb. Previously, it generated an invalid query (SELECT * FROM users LIMIT 0 OFFSET 0).

This behavior can be customized by providing a callback to the shouldMaxRowsOverrideToAll setting or init argument.

moduleSettings = {
    "qb": {
        "shouldMaxRowsOverrideToAll": function( maxRows ) {
            return false;
        }
    }
};

moduleSettings = {
    "qb": {
        "autoDeriveNumericType": false
    }
};

moduleSettings = {
    "qb": {
        "strictDateDetection": false
    }
};

v8.0.0

This isn't a breaking change that will affect most people. In fact, it will most likely improve your code.

qb.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 )
    .when( len( url.q ), function( q ) {
        q.where( "username", "LIKE", q & "%" )
            .orWhere( "email", "LIKE", q & "%" );   
    } );

Would generate the following SQL:

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "active" = ?
    AND "username" = ?
    OR "email" = ?

The problem with this statement is that the OR can short circuit the active check.

The fix is to wrap the LIKE statements in parenthesis. This is done in qb using a function callback to where.

qb.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 )
    .where( function( q ) {
        q.where( "username", "LIKE", q & "%" )
            .orWhere( "email", "LIKE", q & "%" );
    } );

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "active" = ?
    AND (
        "username" = ?
        OR "email" = ?
    )

When using the when control flow function, it was easy to miss this. This is because you are already in a closure - it looks the same as when using where to group the clauses.

In qb 8.0.0, when will automatically group added where clauses when needed. That means our original example now produces the SQL we probably expected.

// qb 8.0.0
qb.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 )
    .when( len( url.q ), function( q ) {
        q.where( "username", "LIKE", q & "%" )
            .orWhere( "email", "LIKE", q & "%" );   
    } );

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "active" = ?
    AND (
        "username" = ?
        OR "email" = ?
    )

Grouping is not needed if there is no OR combinator. In these cases no grouping is added.

// qb 8.0.0
qb.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 )
    .when( url.keyExists( "admin" ), function( q ) {
        q.where( "admin", 1 )
            .whereNotNull( "hireDate" );
    } );

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "active" = ?
    AND "admin" = ?
    AND "hireDate IS NOT NULL

If you had already wrapped your expression in a group inside the when callback, nothing changes. Your code works as before. The OR combinator check only works on the top most level of added where clauses.

qb.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 )
    .when( len( url.q ), function( q ) {
        q.where( function( q2 ) {
            q2.where( "username", "LIKE", q & "%" )
                .orWhere( "email", "LIKE", q & "%" );
        } );
    } );

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "active" = ?
    AND (
        "username" = ?
        OR "email" = ?
    )

Additionally, if you do not add any where clauses inside a when callback, nothing changes from qb 7.

The breaking change part is if you were relying on these statements residing at the same level without grouping. In those cases, you may pass the withoutScoping flag to the when callback.

// qb 8.0.0
qb.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 )
    .when(
        condition = len( url.q ),
        onTrue = function( q ) {
            q.where( "username", "LIKE", q & "%" )
                .orWhere( "email", "LIKE", q & "%" );   
        },
        withoutScoping = true
    );

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "active" = ?
    AND "username" = ?
    OR "email" = ?

v7.0.0

Lucee 4.5 and Adobe ColdFusion 11 EOL

Support for Lucee 4.5 and Adobe ColdFusion 11 has been dropped. If you need support for these engines, please remain on an earlier version of qb.

MSSQLGrammar renamed to SqlServerGrammar

MSSQLGrammar was visually too close to MySQLGrammar and was hard to differentiate quickly. SqlServerGrammar is much more unique and easily identifiable. Additionally, more people that use this library refer to their database engine as "SQL Server" than "MSSQL".

Variadic Parameters Support Removed

Variadic parameter support was the ability to pass any number of arguments to certain methods like select.

qb.select( "name", "email", "createdDate" );

This code came with a slight performance cost and readability cost. That, combined with the fact that the above syntax is very close to an array, we are dropping support for variadic parameters. To migrate, wrap instances of variadic parameters in an array:

qb.select( [ "name", "email", "createdDate" ] );

defaultGrammar updated to be the full WireBox mapping

In previous versions, the value passed to defaultGrammar was used to look up a mapping in the @qb namespace. This made it difficult to add or use grammars that weren't part of qb. (You could get around this be registering your custom grammar in the @qb namespace, but doing so seemed strange.)

To migrate this code, change your defaultGrammar to be the full WireBox mapping in your moduleSettings:

moduleSettings = {
    "qb": {
        "defaultGrammar": "MSSQLGrammar@qb"
    }
};

value method argument order changed

A defaultValue parameter and optional exception throwing was added to value. This pushed the options struct to the end of the method. If you are using positional parameters with value, you will need to update your method calls to either use named parameters or the new positions.

public any function value(
    required string column,
    string defaultValue = "",
    boolean throwWhenNotFound = false,
    struct options = {}
);

Some methods renamed callback to query

All methods that could conceivably take a subquery as well as a value now accept a closure or another builder instance to use as a subquery. This led to changing the callback argument to query in the following cases:

• whereSub

• whereInSub

• whereExists

• orWhereExists

• whereNotExists

• andWhereNotExists

• orWhereNotExists

• whereNullSub

• orderBySub

• subSelect

If you are using named parameters with any of the above methods you will need to migrate your method calls.

v5.0.0

Version v5.0.0 brings support for SchemaBuilder inside qb. To avoid naming confusion, Builder was renamed to QueryBuilder. Any references in your code to Builder@qb need to be updated to QueryBuilder@qb.

Specifying A Select Clause

You may not always want to select all columns from a database table. You can influence the select list of a query with the following methods.

Individual columns can contain fully-qualified names (some_table.some_column), table aliases (alias.some_column), and even set column aliases themselves (some_column AS c). The columns argument can be a single column, a list of columns (comma-separated), or an array of columns.

select

When calling select any previous columns are discarded. If you want to incrementally select columns, use the addSelect method.

If you pass no columns to this method, it will default to "*".

query.select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).from( "users" );

SELECT `fname` AS `firstName`, `age` FROM `users`

distinct

Calling distinct will cause the query to be executed with the DISTINCT keyword.

query.select( "username" ).distinct().from( "users" );

SELECT DISTINCT `username` FROM `users`

addSelect

This method adds the columns passed to it to the currently selected columns.

query.addSelect( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] ).from( "users" );

SELECT `fname` AS `firstName`, `age` FROM `users`

selectRaw

A shortcut to use a raw expression in the select clause.

The expression is added to the other already selected columns.

query.selectRaw( "YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year" ).from( "users" );

SELECT YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year FROM `users`

subSelect

The method lets you pass either a callback or a QueryBuilder instance to be used as a subselect expression. If a callback is passed it will be passed a new query instance as the only parameter.

The subselect is added to the other already selected columns.

query.subSelect( "last_login_date", function( q ) {
    q.selectRaw( "MAX(created_date)" )
        .from( "logins" )
        .whereColumn( "users.id", "logins.user_id" );
} ) ).from( "users" );

SELECT (
    SELECT MAX(created_date)
    FROM `logins`
    WHERE `users`.`id` = `logins`.`user_id`
) AS `last_login_date`
FROM `users

clearSelect

Clears out the selected columns for a query along with any configured select bindings.

query.from( "users" )
    .select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] )
    .clearSelect();

SELECT * FROM `users`

reselect

query.from( "users" )
    .select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] )
    .reselect( "username" );

SELECT `username` FROM `users`

reselectRaw

Clears out the selected columns for a query along with any configured select bindings. Then adds an Expression or array of expressions to the already selected columns.

query.from( "users" )
    .select( [ "fname AS firstName", "age" ] )
    .reselectRaw( "YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year" );

SELECT YEAR(birthdate) AS birth_year FROM `users`

Installation

Usage

To start a new query, instantiate a new Builder: wirebox.getInstance('QueryBuilder@qb').

By default, qb uses a generic Grammar. You can specify your specific grammar in ColdBox by setting the defaultGrammar in your moduleSettings.

moduleSettings = {
    qb = {
        defaultGrammar = "MySQLGrammar@qb"
    }
};

The grammars provided by qb are:

• MySQLGrammar

• OracleGrammar

• PostgresGrammar

• SqlServerGrammar

• SQLiteGrammar

If you are not using WireBox, make sure to wire up the Builder object with the correct grammar:

var grammar = new qb.models.Grammars.MySQLGrammar();
var builder = new qb.models.Query.QueryBuilder( grammar );

Configuration Settings

Here are the full configuration settings you can use in the module settings:

moduleSettings = {

    qb : {
        "defaultGrammar": "AutoDiscover@qb",
        "defaultReturnFormat": "array",
        "preventDuplicateJoins": false,
        "strictDateDetection": true,
        "numericSQLType": "CF_SQL_NUMERIC",
        "integerSQLType": "CF_SQL_INTEGER",
        "decimalSQLType": "CF_SQL_DECIMAL",
        "autoAddScale": true,
        "autoDeriveNumericType": true,
        "defaultOptions": {},
        "sqlCommenter": {
            "enabled": false,
            "commenters": [
                { "class": "FrameworkCommenter@qb", "properties": {} },
                { "class": "RouteInfoCommenter@qb", "properties": {} },
                { "class": "DBInfoCommenter@qb", "properties": {} }
            ]
        },
        "shouldMaxRowsOverrideToAll": function( maxRows ) {
            return maxRows <= 0;
        }
    }

}

SQL Type Inferral

QB binds all parameters by default and guesses the SQL type based on passed values. The default SQL type for numeric values is CF_SQL_NUMERIC, which is a floating point number, for the widest compatibility. This can cause performance problems with large recordsets in some database engines. You can provide a different default in coldbox.cfc if you wish to override this setting:

moduleSettings = {
    qb = {
        defaultGrammar = "MySQLGrammar@qb",
        numericSQLType = "CF_SQL_BIGINT"
    }
};

Integrating With FW/1

Note: These instructions assume a basic knowledge of FW/1, a working FW/1 application structure with qb installed in the /subsystems directory (manually or via CommandBox), and a database configured to run with your application.

Wiring Up With DI/1

Once the application structure is setup, now we need to wire up qb to a bean factory using DI/1.

First we will add a mapping in Application.cfc.

this.mappings = {
    "/qb" = expandPath("./subsystems/qb")
};

Next we need to tell DI/1 where qb's components are and how to reference them for later use in the application. We can do so by defining the configuration settings in the variables.framework.subsystems struct in Application.cfc. The example below makes use of a load listener to declare each component instance and pass in any constructor arguments.

qb = {
  diLocations = "/qb/models",
  diConfig = {
    loadListener = function( di1 ) {
      di1.declare( "BaseGrammar" ).instanceOf( "qb.models.Query.Grammars.Grammar" ).done()
         .declare( "MySQLGrammar" ).instanceOf( "qb.models.Query.Grammars.MySQLGrammar" ).done()
         .declare( "QueryUtils" ).instanceOf( "qb.models.Query.QueryUtils" ).done()
         .declare( "QueryBuilder" ).instanceOf( "qb.models.Query.QueryBuilder" )
         .withOverrides({
            grammar = di1.getBean( "MySQLGrammar" ),
            utils = di1.getBean( "QueryUtils" ),
            returnFormat = "array"
         })
         .asTransient();
    }
  }
}

Usage In Your FW/1 Application

Now that everything is configured, you can launch your application with CommandBox by entering start in the terminal or use whatever method you're accustomed to.

To access qb from your application's code, you can call on it by using getBeanFactory().

// Create an instance of qb
builder = getBeanFactory( "qb" ).getBean( "QueryBuilder" );
// Query the database
posts = builder.from( "Posts" ).get();
posts = builder.from( "Posts" ).where( "IsDraft", "=", 0 ).get();

Where Methods

where

Adds a where clause to a query.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", "=", 1 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `active` = ?

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "last_logged_in", ">", query.raw( "NOW()" ) );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `last_logged_in` > NOW()

Any of the following operators can be used in a where clause.

When using the "=" constraint, you can use a shortcut and define the value as the second argument.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "active", 1 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `active` = ?

To group where statements together, pass a function to the where clause as the only parameter.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( function( q ) {
        q.where( "active", 1 )
            .where( "last_logged_in", ">", dateAdd( "ww", -1, now() ) )
    } );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE (
    `active` = ?
    AND
    `last_logged_in` > ?
)

A Function or QueryBuilder can be used as a subselect expression when passed to value.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "email", "foo" )
    .orWhere( "id", "=", function( q ) {
        q.select( q.raw( "MAX(id)" ) )
            .from( "users" )
            .where( "email", "bar" );
    } );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `email` = ?
  OR `id` = (
    SELECT MAX(id)
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `email` = ?
  )

andWhere

orWhere

whereBetween

Adds a where between clause to the query.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereBetween( "id", 1, 2 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `id` BETWEEN ? AND ?

If a function or QueryBuilder is passed it is used as a subselect expression.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereBetween(
        "id",
        function( q ) {
            q.select( q.raw( "MIN(id)" ) )
                .from( "users" )
                .where( "email", "bar" );
        },
        builder.newQuery()
            .select( builder.raw( "MAX(id)" ) )
            .from( "users" )
            .where( "email", "bar" )
    );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `id` BETWEEN (
    SELECT MIN(id)
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `email` = ?
)
AND (
    SELECT MAX(id)
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `email` = ?
)

whereNotBetween

whereColumn

Adds a where clause to a query that compares two columns.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereColumn( "first_name", "=", "last_name" );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `first_name` = `last_name`

Just as with where, when using "=" as the operator you can use a shorthand passing the second column in as the operator and leaving the second column null.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereColumn( "first_name", "last_name" );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `first_name` = `last_name`

Expressions can be passed in place of either column.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereColumn( "first_name", query.raw( "LOWER(first_name)" ) );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `first_name` = LOWER(first_name)

whereExists

Adds a where exists clause to the query.

It can be configured with a function.

query.from( "orders" )
    .whereExists( function( q ) {
        q.select( q.raw( 1 ) )
            .from( "products" )
            .whereColumn( "products.id", "orders.id" );
    } );

SELECT *
FROM `orders`
WHERE EXISTS (
    SELECT 1
    FROM `products`
    WHERE `products`.`id` = `orders`.`id`
)

It can also be configured with a QueryBuilder instance.

var existsQuery = query.newQuery()
    .select( q.raw( 1 ) )
    .from( "products" )
    .whereColumn( "products.id", "orders.id" );

query.from( "orders" )
    .whereExists( existsQuery );

SELECT *
FROM `orders`
WHERE EXISTS (
    SELECT 1
    FROM `products`
    WHERE `products`.`id` = `orders`.`id`
)

whereNotExists

whereLike

query.from( "users" )
    .whereLike( "username", "J%" );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `username` LIKE ?

whereNotLike

query.from( "users" )
    .whereNotLike( "username", "J%" );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `username` NOT LIKE ?

whereIn

Adds a where in clause to the query.

The values passed to whereIn can be a single value, a list of values, or an array of values.

query.from( "orders" )
    .whereIn( "id", [ 1, 4, 66 ] );

SELECT *
FROM `orders`
WHERE `id` IN (?, ?, ?)

If a list of values is passed in, it is converted to an array of values using a single comma (",") delimiter.

query.from( "orders" )
    .whereIn( "id", "1,4,66" );

SELECT *
FROM `orders`
WHERE `id` IN (?, ?, ?)

query.from( "orders" )
    .whereIn( "id", [ 1, 4, { value = "66", cfsqltype = "CF_SQL_VARCHAR" } ] );

SELECT *
FROM `orders`
WHERE `id` IN (?, ?, ?)

Expressions can be freely mixed in with other values.

query.from( "orders" )
    .whereIn( "id", [ query.raw( "MAX(id)" ), 4, 66 ] );

SELECT *
FROM `orders`
WHERE `id` IN (MAX(id), ?, ?)

A function or QueryBuilder instance can be passed to be used as a subquery expression instead of a list of values.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereIn( "id", function( q ) {
        q.select( "id" )
            .from( "users" )
            .where( "age", ">", 25 );
    } );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE IN (
    SELECT `id`
    FROM `users`
    WHERE `age` > ?
)

whereNotIn

whereRaw

Shorthand to add a raw SQL statement to the where clauses.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereRaw(
        "id = ? OR email = ? OR is_admin = 1",
        [ 1, "foo" ]
    );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE id = ? OR email = ? OR is_admin = 1

whereNull

Adds a where null clause to the query.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereNull( "id" );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `id` IS NULL

whereNotNull

Dynamic Where Methods

qb uses onMissingMethod to provide a few different helpers when working with where... methods.

andWhere... and orWhere...

Every where... method in qb can be called prefixed with either and or or. Doing so will call the original method using the corresponding combinator.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "username", "like", "j%" )
    .andWhere( function( q ) {
        q.where( "isSubscribed", 1 )
            .orWhere( "isOnFreeTrial", 1 );
     } );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `username` LIKE ?
  AND (
    `isSubscribed` = ?
    OR
    `isOnFreeTrial` = ?
  )

where{Column}

If you call a method starting with where that does not match an existing qb method, qb will instead call the where method using the rest of the method name as the first column name. (The rest of the arguments will be shifted to account for this.) This also applies to andWhere{Column} and orWhere{Column} method signatures.

query.from( "users" )
    .whereUsername( "like", "j%" )
    .whereActive( 1 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `username` LIKE ?
  AND `active` = ?

limit

Sets the limit value for the query.

take

offset

Sets the offset value for the query.

forPage

Helper method to calculate the limit and offset given a page number and count per page.

simplePaginate & paginate

qb includes a few methods to help you lock certain rows when executing select statements.

sharedLock

A shared lock prevents the selected rows from being modified until your transaction is committed.

lockForUpdate

A lock for update lock prevents the selected rows from being modified or selected with another shared lock until your transaction is committed.

The main difference between a sharedLock and lockForUpdate is that a lockForUpdate prevents other reads or selects as well as updates.

When using the skipLocked flag, the query will skip over locked records and only return and lock available records.

noLock

noLock will instruct your grammar to ignore any shared locks when executing the query.

Currently this only makes a difference in SQL Server grammars.

lock

The lock method will allow you to add a custom lock directive to your query. Think of it as the raw method for lock directives.

These lock directives vary from grammar to grammar.

clearLock

Clears any lock directive on the query.

Common Table Expressions (CTEs) are powerful SQL concept that allow you to create re-usable temporal result sets, which can be referenced as a table within your SQL. CTEs are available in many common database engines and are available in latest versions of all of the support grammars.

CTEs come in two basic types:

• Non-recursive — These are statements that do not reference themselves, in simplified terms they are like a derived table that can be referenced by a user-defined name.

• Recursive — Recursive CTEs reference themselves and are generally used for creating hierarchical data—such as creating a parent/child relationship within a table.

While all of the grammars currently support CTEs, there is enough difference between the various databases implementations of CTEs that unless your CTEs are fairly basic, using CTEs within your project will most likely tie your project to a specific database, unless you account for the differences in your code.

However, CTEs are can be extremely useful to solve certain use cases.

To add CTEs to your queries, you have two methods available:

• with() — Allows you to define a non-recursive CTE.

• withRecursive() — Allows you to define a recursive CTE.

with

You can build a CTE using a function:

Alternatively, you can use a QueryBuilder instance instead of a function:

A single query can reference multiple CTEs:

withRecursive

Here is an example of building a recursive CTE using SQL Server which would return all parent/child rows and show their generation/level depth:

The orderBy method seems simple but has a lot of depth depending on the type of arguments you pass in.

Order By (String)

Calling orderBy multiple times will append to the order list.

Order By (List)

Order By (Array of Strings)

Order By (Array of Structs)

Order By (Subquery)

You can order with a subquery using either a function or a QueryBuilder instance.

Order By Raw

clearOrders

reorder

groupBy

Passing a single string will group by that one column.

You can also pass a list of column names. A single comma (",") will be used as the delimiter.

An array of column names can be provided.

Calling groupBy multiple times will to the current groups.

having

Adds a having clause to a query.

Expressions can be used in place of the column or the value.