UPDATE not capturing changes to or from NULL - sqlite

I create a table in which there is an element, parentId, that is linked via a FOREIGN KEY to another uniqueId of the same table:
CREATE TABLE folders (
uniqueId INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name TEXT NOT NULL,
parentId INTEGER DEFAULT NULL,
created TEXT DEFAULT (datetime('now', 'localtime')),
updated TEXT DEFAULT (datetime('now', 'localtime')),
FOREIGN KEY (parentId)
REFERENCES folders (uniqueId)
ON DELETE SET DEFAULT
);
I also have a TRIGGER that will set the updated field to the current time upon modifying the parentId field.
CREATE TRIGGER folder_parentId_is_changed
AFTER UPDATE ON folders
WHEN new.parentId <> old.parentId
BEGIN
UPDATE folders
SET updated = datetime('now','localtime')
WHERE parentId = new.parentId;
END;
If the parentId has a non-NULL value, and I change the parentId to another non-NULL value, the TRIGGER works as I desire, and the updated field is set to current time.
However, TRIGGER does not capture changes to or from NULL. That is, if the parentId is currently NULL and I change it so that parentId == 5, the TRIGGER will not update my update field.
Thank you in advance

There are 2 problems with your query.
First, the condition:
WHEN new.parentId <> old.parentId
will not work if either of new.parentId or old.parentId is null, because the result of the comparison with the operator <> will be null and will never be true.
So you must use IS NOT instead of <>, which will work for nulls and not nulls.
Also, the condition in the UPDATE statement:
WHERE parentId = new.parentId
is wrong, because it may return all the rows where parentId is equal to new.parentId, or none if new.parentId is null.
Instead you should set a condition that returns the row that you want to update based on the column uniqueId which is the primary key of the table and will return only the row that is updated:
CREATE TRIGGER folder_parentId_is_changed
AFTER UPDATE ON folders
WHEN NEW.parentId IS NOT OLD.parentId
BEGIN
UPDATE folders
SET updated = DATETIME('now', 'localtime')
WHERE uniqueId = OLD.uniqueId;
END;

Related

SQLite trigger after update

My table has timestamp column. I want a trigger which sets timestamp to 0 on affected rows when a row is updated and the timestamp is not specified in the update statement.
If I use this trigger:
CREATE TRIGGER AFTER UPDATE ON mytable FOR EACH ROW
WHEN (NEW.timestamp IS NULL)
BEGIN
UPDATE mytable SET timestamp = 0 WHERE id = NEW.id;
END;
then the trigger doesn't fire for this update statement:
UPDATE mytable SET comecolumn='some'
I.e. timestamp of affected rows doesn't change to 0.
Can you please help me define the trigger?
The only way to make additional changes to a row in an UPDATE trigger is to execute another UPDATE on the same table afterwards.
The only way to detect whether a column value is changed is to compare the old and the new row values; the trigger does not know which columns actually were mentioned in the original UPDATE statement.
To prevent the trigger from triggering itself recursively, you should restrict it to be triggered by changes of all columns except the timestamp:
CREATE TRIGGER clear_timestamp
AFTER UPDATE OF all_the, other, columns ON MyTable
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN OLD.timestamp = NEW.timestamp
BEGIN
UPDATE MyTable
SET timestamp = 0
WHERE id = NEW.id;
END;
I think the problem is that in the SET statement is expanded to every column, with every column set to the current value in the database. So the original only trigger works, if the current timestamp column is NULL.
A solution could be to create another trigger that resets the timestamp column to NULL before an UPDATE.
CREATE TRIGGER "set_null"
BEFORE UPDATE ON "mytable" FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
UPDATE mytable set timestamp = NULL where rowid = NEW.rowid;
END
This way the NEW.timestamp is NULL if it is not specified in the UPDATE SET.
Obviously now a NOT NULL constraint cannot be set on timestamp.
Another problem is that trigger recursion must be off when executing a update query:
PRAGMA recursive_triggers = OFF;
Here is another way:
import sqlite3
conn = sqlite3.connect(':memory:')
c = conn.cursor()
name = {'name':'jack'}
c.execute("""CREATE TABLE Programs (
id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
name VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
time_added INTEGER
);""")
c.execute("""CREATE TRIGGER program_time_added AFTER INSERT ON Programs
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
UPDATE Programs SET time_added =datetime('now', 'localtime') WHERE id = NEW.id;
END;""")
c.execute('INSERT INTO Programs (name) VALUES (?)', [name['name']])

Setting Default SQLite3 Fields Dynamically

I have an SQLite3 database that I would like to create. I want an INTEGER field (named "Length") to have a DEFAULT value that equals the length of the string in another field (named "Pattern").
CREATE TABLE knowledge (
Entry INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
Priority TINYINT UNSIGNED CHECK (0 <= Priority < 15),
Pattern TEXT NOT NULL,
Length INTEGER UNSIGNED DEFAULT 'LENGTH(Pattern);'
);
However, the current table set-up does not "dynamically" set the value of "Length" as desired.
How can I properly set the DEFAULT value of "Length" to be the string length of the "Pattern" field?
The Default value you want to assign is dynamic which sqlite does not support. One solution is what CL. said. I would define the default value as 0 and use not one but two triggers (one for insert and another for update).
CREATE TRIGGER default_length_on_insert AFTER INSERT ON knowledge WHEN NEW.Length IS 0
BEGIN
UPDATE knowledge SET Length=length(NEW.Pattern) WHERE ROWID = NEW.ROWID;
END;
and
CREATE TRIGGER default_length_on_update AFTER UPDATE ON knowledge
BEGIN
UPDATE knowledge SET Length=length(NEW.Pattern) WHERE ROWID = NEW.ROWID;
END;
A default value must be a constant.
You coud use a trigger instead:
CREATE TRIGGER knowledge_length_default
AFTER INSERT ON knowledge
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN NEW.Length IS NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE knowledge
SET Length = length(NEW.Pattern)
WHERE Entry = NEW.Entry;
END;

setting default value while creating table in SQLite

I am working on SQLite. I want to create a table namely user_role with two column role_id and role_name. And there is an another table namely default that contain role_name and default_val.
I want to set Default value of role_id in the time of creating the table user_role and the Default value have to be retrieved from the table default.
I am new to SQLite and have to idea about the way to doing such recursive query. Please help.
The documentation says:
An explicit DEFAULT clause may specify that the default value is NULL, a string constant, a blob constant, a signed-number, or any constant expression enclosed in parentheses.
You would need to use a subquery, which is not allowed.
However, you could use a trigger that sets the ID if none was specified:
CREATE TRIGGER user_role_id_default
AFTER INSERT ON user_role
FOR EACH ROW
WHEN NEW.role_id IS NULL
BEGIN
UPDATE user_role
SET role_id = (SELECT default_val
FROM "default"
WHERE role_name = NEW.role_name)
WHERE rowid = NEW.rowid;
END;

Sqlite3 INSERT trigger only fire on REPLACE statement even where record already exists?

I'm trying out the Sqlite3 REPLACE (INSERT OR REPLACE) command. I like to keep a created datetime (creDT) and an update datetime (updDT). So I created a database and a trigger for INSERT (creDT & updDT) and one for UPDATE (updDT), but each REPLACE (especially the ones where the primary key already exists) ends up with the current time in both creDT and updDT. Does REPLACE DELETE and INSERT instead of UPDATE?
Is this the standard behavior or am I doing something wrong?
def createDbTables(self):
self.sqlCursor.execute("""
CREATE TABLE rfdetector (
sn TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
detector TEXT,
hex TEXT,
updDT DATE,
creDT DATE)
""")
self.sqlCursor.execute("""
CREATE TRIGGER insert_rfdetector_creDT
AFTER INSERT ON rfdetector
BEGIN
UPDATE rfdetector SET creDT = DATETIME('now','localtime') WHERE rowid = new.rowid;
UPDATE rfdetector SET updDT = DATETIME('now','localtime') WHERE rowid = new.rowid;
END;
""")
self.sqlCursor.execute("""
CREATE TRIGGER update_rfdetector_updDT
AFTER UPDATE ON rfdetector
BEGIN
UPDATE rfdetector SET updDT = DATETIME('now','localtime') WHERE rowid = new.rowid;
END;
""")
def insertSql(self, data):
self.sqlCursor.execute(
'REPLACE INTO rfdetector (sn, hex, detector) VALUES (?, ?, ?)',
(data.serialNumber, data.hex, data.detector))
Looks like SQLite performs a DELETE then INSERT on REPLACE:
REPLACE
When a UNIQUE constraint violation occurs, the REPLACE
algorithm deletes pre-existing rows that are causing the
constraint violation
prior to inserting or updating the current row and the command
continues executing normally. If a NOT NULL constraint violation
occurs, the REPLACE conflict resolution replaces the NULL value with
the default value for that column, or if the column has no default
value, then the ABORT algorithm is used. If a CHECK constraint
violation occurs, the REPLACE conflict resolution algorithm always
works like ABORT.
from: http://www.sqlite.org/lang_conflict.html

INSERT IF NOT EXISTS ELSE UPDATE?

I've found a few "would be" solutions for the classic "How do I insert a new record or update one if it already exists" but I cannot get any of them to work in SQLite.
I have a table defined as follows:
CREATE TABLE Book
ID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
Name VARCHAR(60) UNIQUE,
TypeID INTEGER,
Level INTEGER,
Seen INTEGER
What I want to do is add a record with a unique Name. If the Name already exists, I want to modify the fields.
Can somebody tell me how to do this please?
Have a look at http://sqlite.org/lang_conflict.html.
You want something like:
insert or replace into Book (ID, Name, TypeID, Level, Seen) values
((select ID from Book where Name = "SearchName"), "SearchName", ...);
Note that any field not in the insert list will be set to NULL if the row already exists in the table. This is why there's a subselect for the ID column: In the replacement case the statement would set it to NULL and then a fresh ID would be allocated.
This approach can also be used if you want to leave particular field values alone if the row in the replacement case but set the field to NULL in the insert case.
For example, assuming you want to leave Seen alone:
insert or replace into Book (ID, Name, TypeID, Level, Seen) values (
(select ID from Book where Name = "SearchName"),
"SearchName",
5,
6,
(select Seen from Book where Name = "SearchName"));
You should use the INSERT OR IGNORE command followed by an UPDATE command:
In the following example name is a primary key:
INSERT OR IGNORE INTO my_table (name, age) VALUES ('Karen', 34)
UPDATE my_table SET age = 34 WHERE name='Karen'
The first command will insert the record. If the record exists, it will ignore the error caused by the conflict with an existing primary key.
The second command will update the record (which now definitely exists)
You need to set a constraint on the table to trigger a "conflict" which you then resolve by doing a replace:
CREATE TABLE data (id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, event_id INTEGER, track_id INTEGER, value REAL);
CREATE UNIQUE INDEX data_idx ON data(event_id, track_id);
Then you can issue:
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO data VALUES (NULL, 1, 2, 3);
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO data VALUES (NULL, 2, 2, 3);
INSERT OR REPLACE INTO data VALUES (NULL, 1, 2, 5);
The "SELECT * FROM data" will give you:
2|2|2|3.0
3|1|2|5.0
Note that the data.id is "3" and not "1" because REPLACE does a DELETE and INSERT, not an UPDATE. This also means that you must ensure that you define all necessary columns or you will get unexpected NULL values.
INSERT OR REPLACE will replace the other fields to default value.
sqlite> CREATE TABLE Book (
ID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
Name TEXT,
TypeID INTEGER,
Level INTEGER,
Seen INTEGER
);
sqlite> INSERT INTO Book VALUES (1001, 'C++', 10, 10, 0);
sqlite> SELECT * FROM Book;
1001|C++|10|10|0
sqlite> INSERT OR REPLACE INTO Book(ID, Name) VALUES(1001, 'SQLite');
sqlite> SELECT * FROM Book;
1001|SQLite|||
If you want to preserve the other field
Method 1
sqlite> SELECT * FROM Book;
1001|C++|10|10|0
sqlite> INSERT OR IGNORE INTO Book(ID) VALUES(1001);
sqlite> UPDATE Book SET Name='SQLite' WHERE ID=1001;
sqlite> SELECT * FROM Book;
1001|SQLite|10|10|0
Method 2
Using UPSERT (syntax was added to SQLite with version 3.24.0 (2018-06-04))
INSERT INTO Book (ID, Name)
VALUES (1001, 'SQLite')
ON CONFLICT (ID) DO
UPDATE SET Name=excluded.Name;
The excluded. prefix equal to the value in VALUES ('SQLite').
Firstly update it. If affected row count = 0 then insert it. Its the easiest and suitable for all RDBMS.
Upsert is what you want. UPSERT syntax was added to SQLite with version 3.24.0 (2018-06-04).
CREATE TABLE phonebook2(
name TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
phonenumber TEXT,
validDate DATE
);
INSERT INTO phonebook2(name,phonenumber,validDate)
VALUES('Alice','704-555-1212','2018-05-08')
ON CONFLICT(name) DO UPDATE SET
phonenumber=excluded.phonenumber,
validDate=excluded.validDate
WHERE excluded.validDate>phonebook2.validDate;
Be warned that at this point the actual word "UPSERT" is not part of the upsert syntax.
The correct syntax is
INSERT INTO ... ON CONFLICT(...) DO UPDATE SET...
and if you are doing INSERT INTO SELECT ... your select needs at least WHERE true to solve parser ambiguity about the token ON with the join syntax.
Be warned that INSERT OR REPLACE... will delete the record before inserting a new one if it has to replace, which could be bad if you have foreign key cascades or other delete triggers.
If you have no primary key, You can insert if not exist, then do an update. The table must contain at least one entry before using this.
INSERT INTO Test
(id, name)
SELECT
101 as id,
'Bob' as name
FROM Test
WHERE NOT EXISTS(SELECT * FROM Test WHERE id = 101 and name = 'Bob') LIMIT 1;
Update Test SET id='101' WHERE name='Bob';
I believe you want UPSERT.
"INSERT OR REPLACE" without the additional trickery in that answer will reset any fields you don't specify to NULL or other default value. (This behavior of INSERT OR REPLACE is unlike UPDATE; it's exactly like INSERT, because it actually is INSERT; however if what you wanted is UPDATE-if-exists you probably want the UPDATE semantics and will be unpleasantly surprised by the actual result.)
The trickery from the suggested UPSERT implementation is basically to use INSERT OR REPLACE, but specify all fields, using embedded SELECT clauses to retrieve the current value for fields you don't want to change.
I think it's worth pointing out that there can be some unexpected behaviour here if you don't thoroughly understand how PRIMARY KEY and UNIQUE interact.
As an example, if you want to insert a record only if the NAME field isn't currently taken, and if it is, you want a constraint exception to fire to tell you, then INSERT OR REPLACE will not throw and exception and instead will resolve the UNIQUE constraint itself by replacing the conflicting record (the existing record with the same NAME). Gaspard's demonstrates this really well in his answer above.
If you want a constraint exception to fire, you have to use an INSERT statement, and rely on a separate UPDATE command to update the record once you know the name isn't taken.

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