Models

In DBFlow we dont have any restrictions on what your table class is. We do, however if you use Java, we recommend you subclass BaseModel on your highest-order base-class, which provides a default implementation for you. Otherwise utilize a kotlin extension method on Any.

myTableObject.save(db)

Columns

By default, DBFlow inclusdes all properties as columns. For other kinds of fields, they must contain either @PrimaryKey or @ForeignKey to be used in tables. However this still requires you to specify at least one @PrimaryKey field. You can then explicitly ignore fields via the @ColumnIgnore annotation if necessary. You can turn off all fields and make it explicit using @Table(allFields = false)

In Kotlin, Column properties must be public and var for now. In future versions, we hope to support Kotlin constructors without default arguments. For now, all must be var and provide a default constructor. We respect nullability of the properties and won't assign null to them if they're not nullable, but they must provide a default value.

In Java, Columns can be public, package-private, or private. private fields must come with public java-bean-style getters and setters. Package private used in other packages generate a _Helper class which exposes a method to call these fields in an accessible way. This has some overhead, so consider making them with public get/set or public.

Here is an example of a "nice" Table:

@Table(database = AppDatabase::class)
class Dog(@PrimaryKey var id: Int = 0, var name: String? = null)

Columns have a wide-range of supported types in the Model classes: Supported Types:

1. all primitives including Char,Byte, Short, and Boolean.

2. All Kotlin nullable primitives (java boxed).

3. String, Date, java.sql.Date, Calendar, com.dbflow5.data.Blob, Boolean

4. Custom data types via a TypeConverter

5. Model as fields, but only as @PrimaryKey and/or @ForeignKey

6. @ColumnMap objects that flatten an object into the current table. Just like a @ForeignKey, but without requiring a separate table. (4.1.0+). Note: Avoid nesting more than one object, as the column count could get out of control.

Unsupported Types:

1. List<T> : List columns are not supported and not generally proper for a relational database. However, you can get away with a non-generic List column via a TypeConverter. But again, avoid this if you can.

2. Anything that is generically typed (even with an associated TypeConverter). If you need to include the field, subclass the generic object and provide a TypeConverter.

Inherited Columns

Since we don't require extension on BaseModel directly, tables can extend non-model classes and inherit their fields directly (given proper accessibility) via the @InheritedColumn annotation (or @InheritedPrimaryKey for primary keys):

@Table(database = AppDatabase.class,
        inheritedColumns = {@InheritedColumn(column = @Column, fieldName = "name"),
                @InheritedColumn(column = @Column, fieldName = "number")},
        inheritedPrimaryKeys = {@InheritedPrimaryKey(column = @Column,
                primaryKey = @PrimaryKey,
                fieldName = "inherited_primary_key")})
public class InheritorModel extends InheritedModel implements Model {

Note: This implementation is not recommended for most users. If you do not control the type directly, the inherited class may change in incompatible ways.

Primary Keys

DBFlow supports multiple primary keys, right out of the box. Simply create a table with multiple @PrimaryKey:

@Table(database = AppDatabase::class)
class Dog(@PrimaryKey var name: String = "", @PrimaryKey var breed: String = "")

If we want an auto-incrementing key, you specify @PrimaryKey(autoincrement = true), but only one of these kind can exist in a table and you cannot mix with regular primary keys.

Unique Columns

DBFlow has support for SQLite UNIQUE constraint (here for documentation)[http://www.tutorialspoint.com/sqlite/sqlite_constraints.htm].

Add @Unique annotation to your existing @Column and DBFlow adds it as a constraint when the database table is first created. This means that once it is created you should not change or modify this.

We can also support multiple unique clauses in order to ensure any combination of fields are unique. For example:

To generate this in the creation query:

UNIQUE('name', 'number') ON CONFLICT FAIL, UNIQUE('name', 'address') ON CONFLICT ROLLBACK

We declare the annotations as such:

@Table(database = AppDatabase::class,
  uniqueColumnGroups = [@UniqueGroup(groupNumber = 1, uniqueConflict = ConflictAction.FAIL),
                        @UniqueGroup(groupNumber = 2, uniqueConflict = ConflictAction.ROLLBACK)])
class UniqueModel(
  @PrimaryKey @Unique(unique = false, uniqueGroups = [1,2])
  var name: String = "",
  @Column @Unique(unique = false, uniqueGroups = [1])
  var number: String = "",
  @Column @Unique(unique = false, uniqueGroups = [2])
  var address: String = "")

The groupNumber within each defined uniqueColumnGroups with an associated @Unique column. We need to specify unique=false for any column used in a group so we expect the column to be part of a group. If true as well, the column will also alone be unique.

Default Values

Not to be confused with Kotlin default values. This only applies when fields are marked as nullable. When fields are non null in kotlin, we utilize the default constructor value when it is set, so when the column data is null from a Cursor, we do not override the initial assignment.

DBFlow supports default values in a slightly different way than SQLite does. Since we do not know exactly the intention of missing data when saving a Model, since we group all fields, defaultValue specifies a value that we replace when saving to the database when the value of the field is null.

This feature only works on Boxed primitive and the DataClass equivalent of objects (such as from TypeConverter), such as String, Integer, Long, Double, etc. Note: If the DataClass is a Blob, unfortunately this will not work. For Boolean classes, use "1" for true, "0" for false.

@Column(defaultValue = "55")
var count: Int,
@Column(defaultValue = "\"this is\"")
var test: String,
@Column(defaultValue = "1000L")
var date: Date,
@Column(defaultValue = "1")
var aBoolean: Boolean,

Note: DBFlow inserts its literal value into the ModelAdapter for the table so any String must be escaped.