Is it possible to add an ON DELETE CASCADE to a table after it has been created?
My schema is as follows:
CREATE TABLE skills(name varchar, skill varchar, level int, foreign key(name) references runners(name), primary key(name, skill));
And I would like to cascade if the foreign key is deleted.
SQLite's ALTER TABLE command cannot do what you want.
However, it is possible to bypass the SQL interpreter and change the internal table definition directly.
SQLite stores table definitions as a textual copy of the CREATE TABLE command in its sqlite_master table; check out the result of this query:
SELECT sql FROM sqlite_master WHERE type='table' AND name='skills';
Add your cascade specification to that string, then enable write access to sqlite_master with PRAGMA writable_schema=1; and write your new table definition into it:
UPDATE sqlite_master SET sql='...' WHERE type='table' AND name='skills';
Then reopen the database.
WARNING: This works only for changes that do not change the on-disk format of the table. If you do make any change that changes the record format (such as adding/removing fields, or modifying the rowid), your database will blow up horribly.
Related
I have a Xamarin.Forms app that uses a SQLite database locally on the device. Here's some sample data structure:
Table x: id, name
Table y: id, name
Table x_y: id, x_id, y_id
Since SQLite doesn't support altering columns, one of the schema updates we sent down in a patch did the following:
Rename table x to x_temp
Create new/updated table x
Insert all data from table x_temp into table x
Drop table if exists x
That seems to work just fine. However, when I'm attempting to run an insert statement on table x_y, I am getting a SQLite exception: "no such table: main.x_temp".
When I look at the SQLite query string while debugging there is no mention of table x_temp whatsoever. So, if I delete the entire database and re-create everything the insert works just fine.
I'm from a MSSQL background, am I not understanding something about SQLite in general? Is the foreign key constraint from table x_y trying to reference x_temp because I renamed the original table (I may have just answered my own question)? If that's the case, surely there is a way around this without having to cascade and re-create every table?
Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
I believe that your issue may be related to the SQlite version in conjunction with whether or not Foreign Key Support has been turned on.
That is the likliehood is that :-
Is the foreign key constraint from table x_y trying to reference
x_temp because I renamed the original table (I may have just answered
my own question)?
Would be the issue, as you likely have Foreign Key Support turned on as per :-
Prior to version 3.26.0 (2018-12-01), FOREIGN KEY references to a table that is renamed were only edited if the PRAGMA foreign_keys=ON, or in other words if foreign key constraints were begin enforced.
With PRAGMA foreign_keys=OFF, FOREIGN KEY constraints would not be changed when the table that the foreign key referred to (the "parent table") was renamed.
Beginning with version 3.26.0, FOREIGN KEY constraints are always converted when a table is renamed, unless the PRAGMA legacy_alter_table=ON setting is engaged. The following table summaries the difference:
SQL As Understood By SQLite - ALTER TABLE
If that's the case, surely there is a way around this without having
to cascade and re-create every table?
Yes, as the latest version of SQlite on Android is 3.19.0 (I believe), then you can turn Foreign Key support off using the foreign_keys pragma when renaming the table.
Note Foreign Keys cannot be turned off within a transaction.
See SQL As Understood By SQLite - ALTER TABLE and PRAGMA foreign_keys = boolean;
I'm using SQLite, which doesn't support adding a constraint to an existing table.
So I can't do something like this (just as an example):
ALTER TABLE [Customer]
ADD CONSTRAINT specify_either_phone_or_email
CHECK (([Phone] IS NOT NULL) OR ([Email] IS NOT NULL));
Are there any workarounds for this scenario?
I know:
I can add a constraint for a new table, but it isn't new (and it's generated by my ORM, EF Core)
I can do a "table rebuild" (rename table, create new one, copy old data, drop temp table) but that seems really complex
Ideas
Can I somehow make a copy of the table into a new table, with some schema changes?
Or "get" the schema somehow, and edit it in a SQL script, then add a table with that schema?
To make a copy of a table with some schema changes, you have to do the creation and the copying manually:
BEGIN;
CREATE TABLE Customer_new (
[...],
CHECK ([...])
);
INSERT INTO Customer_new SELECT * FROM Customer;
DROP TABLE Customer;
ALTER TABLE Customer_new RENAME TO Customer;
COMMIT;
To read the schema, execute .schema Customer in the sqlite3 command-line shell.
This gives you the CREATE TABLE statement, which you can edit and execute.
To change the table in place, you can use a backdoor.
First, read the actual table definition (this is the same as what you would get from .schema):
SELECT sql FROM sqlite_master WHERE type = 'table' AND name = 'Customer';
Add your CHECK constraint to that string, then enable write access to sqlite_master with PRAGMA writable_schema=1; and write your new table definition into it:
UPDATE sqlite_master SET sql='...' WHERE type='table' AND name='Customer';
Then reopen the database.
WARNING: This works only for changes that do not change the on-disk format of the table. If you do make any change that changes the record format (such as adding/removing fields, or modifying the rowid, or adding a constraint that needs an internal index), your database will blow up horribly.
Is it possible to add an ON DELETE CASCADE to a table after it has been created?
My schema is as follows:
CREATE TABLE skills(name varchar, skill varchar, level int, foreign key(name) references runners(name), primary key(name, skill));
And I would like to cascade if the foreign key is deleted.
SQLite's ALTER TABLE command cannot do what you want.
However, it is possible to bypass the SQL interpreter and change the internal table definition directly.
SQLite stores table definitions as a textual copy of the CREATE TABLE command in its sqlite_master table; check out the result of this query:
SELECT sql FROM sqlite_master WHERE type='table' AND name='skills';
Add your cascade specification to that string, then enable write access to sqlite_master with PRAGMA writable_schema=1; and write your new table definition into it:
UPDATE sqlite_master SET sql='...' WHERE type='table' AND name='skills';
Then reopen the database.
WARNING: This works only for changes that do not change the on-disk format of the table. If you do make any change that changes the record format (such as adding/removing fields, or modifying the rowid), your database will blow up horribly.
I have a bunch of SQLite db files, and I need to merge them into one big db files.
How can I do that?
Added
Based on this, I guess those three commands should merge two db into one.
attach './abc2.db' as toMerge;
insert into test select * from toMerge.test
detach database toMerge
The problem is the db has PRIMARY KEY field, and I got this message - "Error: PRIMARY KEY must be unique".
This is the test table for the db.
CREATE TABLE test (id integer PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,value text,goody text)
I'm just thinking off my head here... (and probably after everybody else has moved on, too).
Mapping the primary key to "NULL" should yield the wanted result (no good if you use it as foreign key somewhere else, since the key probably exists, but has different contents)
attach './abc2.db' as toMerge;
insert into test select NULL, value, goody from toMerge.test;
detach database toMerge;
actual test:
sqlite> insert into test select * from toMerge.test;
Error: PRIMARY KEY must be unique
sqlite> insert into test select NULL, value, goody from toMerge.test;
sqlite> detach database toMerge;
I'm not 100% sure, but it seems that I should read all the elements and insert the element (except the PRIMARY KEY) one by one into the new data base.
Can I make a field AUTOINCREMENT after made a table? For example, if you create a table like this:
create table person(id integer primary key, name text);
Then later on realise it needs to auto increment. How do I fix it, ie in MySQL you can do:
alter table person modify column id integer auto_increment
Is table creation the only opportunity to make a column AUTOINCREMENT?
You can dump the content to a new table:
CREATE TABLE failed_banks_id (id integer primary key autoincrement, name text, city text, state text, zip integer, acquired_by text, close_date date, updated_date date);
INSERT INTO failed_banks_id(name, city, state, zip, acquired_by,close_date, updated_date)
SELECT name, city, state, zip, acquired_by,close_date, updated_date
FROM failed_banks;
And rename the table:
DROP TABLE failed_banks;
ALTER TABLE failed_banks_id RENAME TO failed_banks;
Background:
The new key will be unique over all
keys currently in the table, but it
might overlap with keys that have been
previously deleted from the table. To
create keys that are unique over the
lifetime of the table, add the
AUTOINCREMENT keyword to the INTEGER
PRIMARY KEY declaration.
http://www.sqlite.org/faq.html#q1
SQLite limitations:
SQLite supports a limited subset of
ALTER TABLE. The ALTER TABLE command
in SQLite allows the user to rename a
table or to add a new column to an
existing table. It is not possible to
rename a column, remove a column, or
add or remove constraints from a
table.
http://www.sqlite.org/lang_altertable.html
Hack seems to exist:
It appears that you can set
PRAGMA writable_schema=ON;
Then do a manual UPDATE of the
sqlite_master table to insert an "id
INTEGER PRIMARY KEY" into the SQL for
the table definition. I tried it and
it seems to work. But it is
dangerous. If you mess up, you
corrupt the database file.
http://www.mail-archive.com/sqlite-users#sqlite.org/msg26987.html
From the SQLite Faq
Short answer: A column declared INTEGER PRIMARY KEY will autoincrement
So when you create the table, declare the column as INTEGER PRIMARY KEY and the column will autoincrement with each new insert.
Or you use the SQL statment ALTER to change the column type to an INTEGER PRIMARY KEY after the fact, but if your creating the tables yourself, it's best to do it in the initial creation statement.
Simplest way — Just export and re-import
It is possible, and relatively easy. Export the database as an sql file. Alter the SQL file and re-import:
sqlite3 mydata.db .dump > /tmp/backup.sql
vi /tmp/backup.sql
mv mydata.db mydata.db.old
sqlite3 mydata.db
sqlite>.read /tmp/backup.sql
You can do it with SQLite Expert Personal 4:
1) Select the table and then go to "Design" tab > "Columns" tab.
2) Click "Add" and select the new column name, and type INTEGER and Not Null > Ok.
3) Go to "Primary Key" tab in "Desgin tab". Click "Add" and select the column you just created. Check the "Autoincrement" box.
4) Click "Apply" on the right bottom part of the window.
If you go back to the "Data" tab, you will see your new column with the autogenerated numbers in it.
While the Sqlite site gives you an example how to do it with a table with only a three fields, it gets nasty with one of 30 fields. Given you have a table called OldTable with many fields, the first of which is "ID" filled with integers.
Make a copy of your database for backup.
Using the command program dot commands,
.output Oldtable.txt
.dump Oldtable
Drop Table Oldtable;
Open Oldtable.txt in Microsoft Word or a grep like text editor. Find and Replace your Integer field elements with NULL.(You may need to adjust this to fit your fields). Edit the Create Table line so the field that was defined as Integer is now INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT.
Save as NewTable.txt
Back in the command program dot
.read NewTable.txt
Done.
ID is now autoincrement.
Yes
Do you have phpmyadmin installed? I believe if you go to the 'structure' tab and look along the right columnn (where the field types are listed) - I think you can change a setting there to make it autoincrement. There is also a SQL query that will do the same thing.
You cannot alter columns on a SQLite table after it has been created. You also cannot alter a table to add an integer primary key to it.
You have to add the integer primary key when you create the table.
Yes, you can make a column which is autoincrement. Modify the table and add a column. Keep in mind that it is of type INTEGER Primary Key.
you can alter the table, altering the column definition
Simple Answer is as below,
CREATE TABLE [TEST] (
[ID] INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,
[NAME] VARCHAR(100));
and you are done.