Where Methods

where

Adds a where clause to a query.

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

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

You can also pass an Expression as the value.

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

This method is simply an alias for where with the combinator set to "and".

orWhere

This method is simply an alias for where with the combinator set to "or".

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

Adds a where not in clause to the query. This behaves identically to the whereBetween method with the negateflag set to true. See the documentation for whereBetween for usage and examples.

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

Adds a where not in clause to the query. This behaves identically to the whereExists method with the negateflag set to true. See the documentation for whereExists for usage and examples.

whereLike

A shortcut for calling where with "like" set as the operator.

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

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

whereNotLike

A shortcut for calling where with "not like" set as the operator.

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 (?, ?, ?)

Any value in the list or array can also be passed using a custom parameter type to have more control over the parameter settings.

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

Adds a where not in clause to the query. This behaves identically to the whereIn method with the negateflag set to true. See the documentation for whereIn for usage and examples.

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

Adds a where not in clause to the query. This behaves identically to the whereNull method with the negateflag set to true. See the documentation for whereNull for usage and examples.

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.

query.from( "users" )
    .limit( 5 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
LIMIT 5

take

Sets the limit value for the query. Alias for limit.

query.from( "users" )
    .take( 5 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
LIMIT 5

offset

Sets the offset value for the query.

query.from( "users" )
    .offset( 25 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
OFFSET 25

forPage

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

query.from( "users" )
    .forPage( 3, 15 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
LIMIT 15
OFFSET 30

simplePaginate & paginate

This method combines forPage, count, and get to create a pagination struct alongside the results. Information on the simplePaginate or paginate methods, including custom pagination collectors, can be found in the Retreiving Results section of the documentation.

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.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "id", 1 )
    .sharedLock();

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `id` = ?
LOCK IN SHARE MODE

SELECT *
FROM [users] WITH (ROWLOCK,HOLDLOCK)
WHERE [id] = ?

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "id" = ?
FOR SHARE

LOCK TABLE "USERS"
IN SHARE MODE NOWAIT;

SELECT *
FROM "USERS"
WHERE "ID" = ?

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.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "id", 1 )
    .lockForUpdate();

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `id` = ?
FOR UPDATE

SELECT *
FROM [users] WITH (ROWLOCK,UPDLOCK,HOLDLOCK)
WHERE [id] = ?

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "id" = ?
FOR UPDATE

SELECT *
FROM "USERS"
WHERE "ID" = ?
FOR UPDATE

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

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "id", 1 )
    .lockForUpdate( skipLocked = true )
    .orderBy( "id" )
    .limit( 5 );

SELECT *
FROM `users`
WHERE `id` = ?
ORDER BY `id`
LIMIT 5
FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED

SELECT TOP 5 *
FROM [users] WITH (ROWLOCK,UPDLOCK,HOLDLOCK,READPAST)
WHERE [id] = ?
ORDER BY [id]

SELECT *
FROM "users"
WHERE "id" = ?
ORDER BY "id"
LIMIT 1
FOR UPDATE SKIP LOCKED

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.

query.from( "users" )
    .where( "id", 1 )
    .noLock();

SELECT *
FROM [users] WITH (NOLOCK)
WHERE [id] = ?

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.

The query builder also lets you create union statements on your queries using either UNION or UNION ALL strategies.

The union methods take either a Query Builder instance or a closure which you use to define a new QueryBuilder instance.

Union statements are added in the order in which the union methods are invoked, but the union statements can be in any order in your API call stack. This means you can safely declare your union method calls before the select, from and orderBy calls on the source Query Builder instance.

• union() — This method builds a SQL statement using the UNION clause which combines two SQL queries into a single result set containing all the matching rows. The two queries must have the same defined columns and compatible data types or the SQL engine will generate an error. The union clause only returns unique rows.

• unionAll() — This builds a SQL statement using the UNION ALL clause. This is the same as union but includes duplicate rows.

union

Adds a UNION statement to the query.

Adding multiple union statements will append it to the query.

It can also add union queries as QueryBuilder instances.

unionAll

Adds a UNION ALL statement to the query.

Adding multiple unionAll statements will append it to the query.

It can also add union queries as QueryBuilder instances.

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 "*".

distinct

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

addSelect

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

selectRaw

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

The expression is added to the other already selected columns.

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.

clearSelect

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

reselect

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.

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.

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

from

Used to set the base table for the query.

You can optionally specify an alias for the table.

table

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

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.

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.

fromSub

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

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

withAlias

Adds an alias to the specified from table or renames a current alias. Any existing aliased values in columns, wheres, joins, groupBys, or orders that match the previous alias will be remapped to the new alias. This includes the full table name when used as an alias.

Join clauses range from simple to complex including joining complete subqueries on multiple conditions. qb has your back with all of these use cases.

join

Applies a join to the query. The simplest join is to a table based on two columns:

When doing a simple join using = as the operator, you can omit it and pass just the column names:

When you need to specify more clauses to join, you can pass a function as the second argument:

Conditions inside a join clause can be grouped using a function.

joinWhere

Adds a join to another table based on a WHERE clause instead of an ON clause. WHERE clauses introduce parameters and parameter bindings whereas on clauses join between columns and don't need parameter bindings.

For simple joins, this specifies a column on which to join the two tables:

joinRaw

joinSub

Alternatively, a function may be used to define the derived table:

Complex join conditions are also possible by passing a function as the third parameter:

leftJoin

leftJoinRaw

leftJoinSub

rightJoin

rightJoinRaw

rightJoinSub

crossJoin

crossJoinRaw

Uses the raw SQL provided to as the table for the cross join clause. Cross joins cannot be further constrained with on or where clauses.

crossJoinSub

crossApply

outerApply

newJoin

JoinClause

on

Applies a join condition to the JoinClause. An alias for whereColumn.

orOn

Applies a join condition to the JoinClause using an or combinator. An alias for orWhereColumn.

Preventing Duplicate Joins

You can optionally configure qb to ignore duplicate joins. With this setting turned on each JoinClause is inspected and checked if it matches any existing JoinClause instances on the query. This is useful if you have a table shared between optional constraints and want to ensure it is only added once.

You can opt-in to this behavior by setting preventDuplicateJoins = true in your moduleSettings in config/ColdBox.cfc.

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:

Custom Parameter Types

When passing a parameter to qb, it will infer the sql type to be used. If you pass a number, CF_SQL_NUMERIC will be used. If it is a date, CF_SQL_TIMESTAMP, and so forth. If you need more control, you can pass a struct with the parameters you would pass to .

This can be used when inserting or updating records as well.

Strict Date Detection

By default, qb will try to determine if a variable is a date using the built-in isDate function. This can have some interesting effects with different formatted strings. You can opt in to stricter date detection which will check the underlying Java class of the value to determine if the value is a date. This is more accurate, but does require you to specifically pass date instances instead of strings. For this reason, it is currently opt-in to not break existing applications. It is likely to become the default in the next major version of qb.

You can opt in to stricter date detection by setting strictDateDetection = true in your moduleSettings in config/ColdBox.cfc.

Numeric SQL Type

By default, qb will use the CF_SQL_NUMERIC SQL type when it detects a numeric binding. You can specify your own default SQL type to use with numeric values using the numericSQLType setting in your moduleSettings in config/ColdBox.cfc.

There is an opt-in feature to better derive the numeric SQL type for database performance reasons. If you do opt in to this, qb will use a different SQL type for integers than decimals. You can opt in to this feature using the autoDeriveNumericType setting and can customize the SQL types by setting the integerSqlType and decimalSqlType settings.

Automatic Scale Detection

In some combinations of database grammars and CFML engines, the scale argument on a cfqueryparam would default to 0. This would cause issues when attempting to insert a floating point number, even when using the correct SQL type (i.e., CF_SQL_DECIMAL) . In 8.5.0, qb now automatically calculates a scale based on the value provided if the value is a floating point number. This can be disabled by setting autoAddScale in your ColdBox config or passing autoAddScale = false when instantiating your QueryBuilder instance.

Bindings

If you need to inspect the bindings for the current query you can retrieve them in order using the getBindings method.

getBindings

This method returns the current bindings in order to be used for the query.

You can also retrieve the bindings associated to their corresponding types.

getRawBindings

This method returns the current bindings to be used for the query associated to their corresponding types.

addBindings

Adds a single binding or an array of bindings to a query for a given type.

addBindingsFromBuilder

Adds all of the bindings from another builder instance.