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CRUD

To interact with the database you need a Session object as this object holds the connection to the database. All CRUD operations are accessible via the session object and the generated models. The methods can be found under the static db field in your generated models.

For the following examples we will use this model:

class: Company
table: company
fields:
  name: String
note

You can also access the database methods through the session object under the field db. However, this is typically only recommended if you want to do custom queries where you explicitly type out your SQL queries.

Create​

There are two ways to create a new row in the database.

Inserting a single row​

Inserting a single row to the database is done by calling the insertRow method on your generated model. The method will return the entire company object with the id field set.

var row = Company(name: 'Serverpod');
var company = await Company.db.insertRow(session, row);

Inserting several rows​

Inserting several rows in a batch operation is done by calling the insert method. This is an atomic operation, meaning no entries will be created if any entry fails to be created.

var rows = [Company(name: 'Serverpod'), Company(name: 'Google')];
var companies = await Company.db.insert(session, rows);
info

In previous versions of Serverpod the insert method mutated the input object by setting the id field. In the example above the input variable remains unmodified after the insert/insertRow call.

Read​

There are three different read operations available.

Finding by id​

You can retrieve a single row by its id.

var company = await Company.db.findById(session, companyId);

This operation either returns the model or null.

Finding a single row​

You can find a single row using an expression.

var company = await Company.db.findFirstRow(
  session,
  where: (t) => t.name.equals('Serverpod'),
);

This operation returns the first model matching the filtering criteria or null. See filter and sort for all filter operations.

info

If you include an orderBy, it will be evaluated before the list is reduced. In this case, findFirstRow() will return the first entry from the sorted list.

Finding multiple rows​

To find multiple rows, use the same principle as for finding a single row.

var companies = await Company.db.find(
  session,
  where: (t) => t.id < 100,
  limit: 50,
);

This operation returns a List of your models matching the filtering criteria.

See filter and sort for all filter and sorting operations and pagination for how to paginate the result.

Update​

There are multiple update operations available for different use cases.

Update a single row​

To update a single row, use the updateRow method.

var company = await Company.db.findById(session, companyId); // Fetched company has its id set
company.name = 'New name';
var updatedCompany = await Company.db.updateRow(session, company);

The object that you update must have its id set to a non-null value and the id needs to exist on a row in the database. The updateRow method returns the updated object.

Update specific columns​

It is possible to target one or several columns that you want to mutate, meaning any other column will be left unmodified even if the dart object has introduced a change.

var company = await Company.db.findById(session, companyId);
company.name = 'New name';
company.address = 'Baker street';
var updatedCompany = await Company.db.updateRow(session, company, columns: (t) => [t.name]);

In the above example, only the company name will be updated, the address column will not be changed.

Update several rows​

To batch update several rows use the update method.

var companies = await Company.db.find(session);
companies = companies.map((c) => c.copyWith(name: 'New name')).toList();
var updatedCompanies = await Company.db.update(session, companies);

This is an atomic operation, meaning no entries will be updated if any entry fails to be updated. The update method returns a List of the updated objects.

Update specific columns​

The same syntax is available for updating specific columns on multiple rows.

var companies = await Company.db.find(session);
companies = companies.map((c) => c.copyWith(name: 'New name', address: 'Baker Street')).toList();
var updatedCompanies = await Company.db.update(session, companies, columns: (t) => [t.name]);

Update by ID​

To update a row by its ID without fetching it first, use the updateById method. This method allows you to specify which columns to update directly.

var updatedCompany = await Company.db.updateById(
  session,
  companyId,
  columnValues: (t) => [t.name('New name'), t.address('New address')],
);

The updateById method updates only the specified columns for the row with the given ID. The method returns the updated row, or throws a DatabaseUpdateRowException if no row with the given ID exists. At least one column must be specified in the columnValues parameter, otherwise an ArgumentError will be thrown.

You can also update columns to null values:

var updatedCompany = await Company.db.updateById(
  session,
  companyId,
  columnValues: (t) => [t.name(null), t.address(null)],
);

Update where​

To update rows based on filter criteria, use the updateWhere method. This method allows you to update specific columns for all rows matching a where clause.

var updatedCompanies = await Company.db.updateWhere(
  session,
  columnValues: (t) => [t.name('Updated name')],
  where: (t) => t.name.like('%Ltd'),
);

The updateWhere method updates all rows matching the where expression, modifying only the specified columns. The method returns a list of the updated rows. If no rows match the criteria, an empty list is returned. See filter for all available filtering operations.

The method also supports pagination and ordering:

var updatedCompanies = await Company.db.updateWhere(
  session,
  columnValues: (t) => [t.name('Updated name'), t.address('New address')],
  where: (t) => t.id > 100,
  orderBy: (t) => t.id,
  orderDescending: false,
  limit: 10,
  offset: 5,
);

Delete​

Deleting rows from the database is done in a similar way to updating rows. However, there are three delete operations available.

Delete a single row​

To delete a single row, use the deleteRow method.

var company = await Company.db.findById(session, companyId); // Fetched company has its id set
var companyDeleted = await Company.db.deleteRow(session, company);

The input object needs to have the id field set. The deleteRow method returns the deleted model.

Delete several rows​

To batch delete several rows, use the delete method.

var companiesDeleted = await Company.db.delete(session, companies);

This is an atomic operation, meaning no entries will be deleted if any entry fails to be deleted. The delete method returns a List of the models deleted.

Delete by filter​

You can also do a filtered delete and delete all entries matching a where query, by using the deleteWhere method.

var companiesDeleted = await Company.db.deleteWhere(
  session,
  where: (t) => t.name.like('%Ltd'),
);

The above example will delete any row that ends in Ltd. The deleteWhere method returns a List of the models deleted.

Count​

Count is a special type of query that helps counting the number of rows in the database that matches a specific filter.

var count = await Company.db.count(
  session,
  where: (t) => t.name.like('s%'),
);

The return value is an int for the number of rows matching the filter.