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Insert if not exist and update certain values if it does

I'm using JDBI3 (and would like to use #SQLUpdate) and an Oracle DB.
I want to insert an item with 4 columns into the table if it does not exist, if it does exist I want to instead update 3 of the 4 values of the item. If it wasn't Oracle I would've used some ON DUPLICATE_KEY logic but that does not exist in Oracle. I read some things about using Merge but the Queries seemed really wonky for what I was trying to do. Any tips on what to look for?
Additional question: If it is Merge I should use (with some form of sub queries I assume), how does the query affect performance? I think this database is quite write heavy.
MERGE INTO device db USING (SELECT 'abc' AS col1, 'bcd' as col2, 'cde' as col3, 'def' as col4 FROM DUAL) input
on (db.col1 = input.col1 AND db.col2= input.col2)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE
SET db.col4 = input.col4
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT
(db.col1, db.col2, db.col3, db.col4)
VALUES (input.col1, input.col2, input.col3, input.col4)

Merge it is. Performs well.
Dummy example based on your description:
merge into target_table a
using source_table b
on (a.id = b.id)
when matched then update set
a.name = b.name,
a.job = b.job,
a.sal = b.sal
when not matched then
insert (id, name, job, sal)
values (b.id, b.name, b.job, b.sal);

How can I access a value when inserting into a table?

I'm trying to write a java sql query, the simplified table would be table(name,version) with a unique constraint on (name, version).
I'm trying to insert a row into my database with a conditional statement. Meaning that when a entry with the same name exists, it should insert the row with same name and its version increased by 1.
I have tried with the following:
INSERT INTO table(name,version)
VALUES(?, CASE WHEN EXISTS(SELECT name from table where name=?)
THEN (SELECT MAX(version) FROM table WHERE name = ?) +1
ELSE 1 END)
values are sent by user.
My question is, how can I access the 'name' inside the values so I could compare them?

If you want to write this as a single query:
INSERT INTO table (name, version)
SELECT ?, COLAESCE(MAX(t2.version) + 1, 1)
FROM table t2
WHERE t2.name = ?;
That said, this is dangerous. Two threads could execute this query "at the same time" and possibly create the same version number. You can prevent this from happening by adding a unique index/constraint on (name, version).
With the unique index/constraint, one of the updates will fail if there is a conflict.

I see at least two approaches:
1. For each pair of name and version you first query the max version:
SELECT MAX(VERSION) as MAX FROM <table> WHERE NAME = <name>
And then you insert the result + 1 with a corresponding insert query:
INSERT INTO <table>(NAME,VERSION) VALUES (<name>,result+1)
This approach is very straight-forward, easy-to-read and implement, however, not really performant because of so many queries necessary.
You can achieve that with sql alone with sql analytics and window functions, e.g.:
SELECT NAME, ROW_NUMBER() over (partition BY NAME ORDER BY NAME) as VERSION FROM<table>
You can then save the result of this query as a table using CREATE TABLE as SELECT...
(The assumption here is that the first version is 1, if it is not the case, then one could slightly rework the query). This solution would be very performant even for large datasets.

You should get the name before insertion. In your case, if something went wrong then how would you know about it so you get the name before insert query.
Not sure but you try this:
declare int version;
if exists(SELECT name from table where name=?)
then
version = SELECT MAX(version) FROM table WHERE name = ?
version += 1
else
version = 1
end
Regards.

This is actually a bad plan, you might be changing what the user's specified data. That is likely to not be what is desired, maybe they're not trying to create a new version but just unaware that the one wanted already exists. But, you can create a function, which your java calls, not only inserts the requested version or max+1 if the requested version already exists. Moreover it returns the actual values inserted.
-- create table
create table nv( name text
, version integer
, constraint nv_uk unique (name, version)
);
-- function to create version or 1+max if requested exists
create or replace function new_version
( name_in text
, version_in integer
)
returns record
language plpgsql strict
as $$
declare
violated_constraint text;
return_name_version record;
begin
insert into nv(name,version)
values (name_in,version_in)
returning (name, version) into return_name_version;
return return_name_version;
exception
when unique_violation
then
GET STACKED DIAGNOSTICS violated_constraint = CONSTRAINT_NAME;
if violated_constraint like '%nv\_uk%'
then
insert into nv(name,version)
select name_in, 1+max(version)
from nv
where name = name_in
group by name_in
returning (name, version) into return_name_version;
return return_name_version;
end if;
end;
$$;
-- create some data
insert into nv(name,version)
select 'n1', gn
from generate_series( 1,3) gn ;
-- test insert existing
select new_version('n2',1);
select new_version('n1',1);
select *
from nv
order by name, version;

How can I get an id for a new record in a generic way? (JOOQ 3.4 with Postgres)

With jooq 3.4 I can't figure out how to do this (with Postgresql):
Query query = dsl.insertInto(TABLE)
.set(TABLE.ID, Sequences.TABLE_ID_SEQ.nextval());
but in a case when I don't know which is the exact table, something like this:
TableImpl<?> tableImpl;
Query query = dsl.insertInto(tableImpl)
.set(tableImpl.getIdentity(), tableImpl.getIdentity().getSequence().nextval());
Is it somehow possible?
I tried this:
dsl.insertInto(tableImpl)
.set(DSL.field("id"),
tableImpl.getSchema().getSequence("table_id_seq").nextval())
This works but I still don't know how to get the sequence name from the TableImpl object.
Is there a solution for this? Or is there a problem with my approach?
In plain SQL I would do this:
insert into table_A (id) VALUES nextval('table_A_id_seq');
insert into table_B (table_A_id, some_val) VALUES (currval('table_A_id_seq'), some_val);
So I need the value or a reference to that id for later use of the id that was generated for the inserted record as default, but I don't want to set any other values.

jOOQ currently doesn't have any means of associating a table with its implicitly used sequence for the identity column. The reason for this is that the sequence is generated when the table is created, but it isn't formally connected to that table.
Usually, you don't have to explicitly set the serial value of a column in a PostgreSQL database. It is generated automatically on insert. In terms of DDL, this means:
CREATE TABLE tablename (
colname SERIAL
);
is equivalent to specifying:
CREATE SEQUENCE tablename_colname_seq;
CREATE TABLE tablename (
colname integer NOT NULL DEFAULT nextval('tablename_colname_seq')
);
ALTER SEQUENCE tablename_colname_seq OWNED BY tablename.colname;
The above is taken from:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.3/static/datatype-numeric.html#DATATYPE-SERIAL
In other words, just leave out the ID values from the INSERT statements.
"Empty" INSERT statements
Note that if you want to create an "empty" INSERT statement, i.e. a statement where you pass no values at all, generating a new column with a generated ID, you can use the DEFAULT VALUES clause.
With SQL
INSERT INTO tablename DEFAULT VALUES
With jOOQ
DSL.using(configuration)
.insertInto(TABLENAME)
.defaultValues()
.execute();
Returning IDs
Note that PostgreSQL has native support for an INSERT .. RETURNING clause, which is also supported by jOOQ:
With SQL
INSERT INTO tablename (...) VALUES (...) RETURNING ID
With jOOQ
DSL.using(configuration)
.insertInto(TABLENAME, ...)
.values(...)
.returning(TABLENAME.ID)
.fetchOne();

Java PreparedStatement can't identify placeholders in subquery

When using a Java PreparedStatement, the question-mark placeholders aren't being detected. It would throw an error "The column index is out of range: 1, number of columns: 0" when invoking statementName.setLong(1, 123). My example is from Postgres 8.4, but the problem occurs before the SQL has a chance to make it to the SQL server.
After comparing against some working prepared statements, I realized that the broken one contained a subquery similar to:
SELECT * FROM (
SELECT DISTINCT (name)
id,
name
FROM MyTable
WHERE id > ?
ORDER BY name) AS Level1
ORDER BY 1

The solution that worked for me was to convert the query to a CTE (Common Table Expression). The revised query looks like this:
WITH Level1 AS (
SELECT DISTINCT (name)
id,
name
FROM MyTable
WHERE id > ?
ORDER BY name)
SELECT *
FROM Level1
ORDER BY 1

In JDBC, the parameter indexes for prepared statements begin at 1 instead of 0.

Complex INSERT query

I'm pretty new to MySQL. I have two related tables, quite common case: Klients(KID, name, surname) and Visits(VID, VKID, dateOfVisit) - VKID is the Klient ID. I have a problem with suitable INSERT query, this is what I want to do:
1.Check if Klient with specific name and surname exists (let's assume that there are no people with the same surnames)
2.If yes, get the ID and do the INSERT to Visits table
3.If no, INSERT new Klient, get the ID and INSERT to Visits.
Is it possible to do in one query?

You would need to use the IF EXIST / NOT EXISTS and use a subquery to check the table. See the reference bwlo
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/exists-and-not-exists-subqueries.html
HTH

The INSERT statement allows only one single target table.
So the query you're looking for is just impossible unless you use triggers or stored procedures.
But such problem is commonly solved using the fallowing small algorithm:
1) insert a record in table [Visits] assuming the parent record does exist in table [Klients]
INSERT INTO Visits (VKID, dateOfVisit)
SELECT KID, NOW()
FROM Klients
WHERE (name=#name) AND (surname=#surname)
2) check the number of inserted records after query (1)
3) if no record has been inserted, then add a new record table [Klients], and then run (1) again.

try something like this
IF (SELECT * FROM `sometable` WHERE name = 'somename' AND surname = 'somesurname') IS NULL THEN
INSERT INTO Table1(name,surname) VALUES ('somename', 'somesurname');
ELSE INSERT INTO visits(kid,name,surname)
SELECT kid, name, surname FROM Table1 WHERE name = 'somename' AND surname = 'somesurname';
END IF;
there is no need to specify 'VALUES' on the second insert
i have not tested it, but this is the general idea of what you are trying to accomplish.

These should be two queries in a transaction:
INSERT INTO Klients (name, surname)
VALUES ('John', 'Doe')
ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE
KID = LAST_INSERT_ID(KID);
INSERT INTO Visits (VKID, dateOfVisits)
VALUES (LAST_INSERT_ID(), NOW());
The first statement is an upsert statement where the update part uses not widely known, but intented exactly for the purpose functionality of LAST_INSERT_ID(), where explicitly passed value is stored for getting the value afterwards.
UPD: I forgot to mention that you would need to add a unique constraint on (surname, name).