From

from

Name

Type

Required

Default

Description

from

string | Expression

true

The name of the table or a Expression object from which the query is based.

Used to set the base table for the query.

QueryBuilder
query.from( "users" );
MySQL
SELECT * FROM `users`

You can optionally specify an alias for the table.

QueryBuilder
query.from( "users as u" );
MySQL
SELECT * FROM `users` AS `u`

table

Name

Type

Required

Default

Description

table

string | Expression

true

The name of the table or a Expression object from which the query is based.

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

QueryBuilder
query.table( "users" ).insert( { "name" = "jon" } );
MySQL
INSERT INTO `users` (`name`) VALUES (?)

fromRaw

Name

Type

Required

Default

Description

from

string

true

The sql snippet to use as the table.

bindings

array

false

[]

Any bindings needed for the expression.

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.

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

Using fromRaw will most likely tie your code to a specific database, so think carefully before using the fromRaw method if you want your project to be database agnostic.

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.

QueryBuilder
query.fromRaw(
    "dbo.generateDateTable(?, ?, ?) as dt",
    [ "2017-01-01", "2017-12-31", "m" ]
).get();
SQL Server
SELECT * FROM dbo.generateDateTable(?, ?, ?) as dt

fromSub

Name

Type

Required

Default

Description

alias

string

true

The alias for the derived table.

input

Function | QueryBuilder

true

Either a QueryBuilder instance or a closure to define the derived query.

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

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

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