creating-table-constraints.md

Creating Table Constraints

Sometimes you want to add constraints on a table level, rather than a column level. The following methods will let you accomplish that.

index

Create a generic index from one or more columns.

Argument	Type	Required	Default	Description
columns	string or array	true		The column or array of columns that make up the index.
name	string	false	A generated name consisting of the table name and column name(s).	The name of the index constraint.

Example:

SchemaBuilder

schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.string( "first_name" );
    table.string( "last_name" );
    table.index( [ "first_name", "last_name" ], "idx_users_full_name" );
} );

SQL (MySQL)

CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `first_name` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    `last_name` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    INDEX `idx_users_full_name` (`first_name`, `last_name`)
)

foreignKey

Create a foreign key constraint from one or more columns. Follow up this call with calls to the TableIndex's references and onTable methods.

Argument	Type	Required	Default	Description
columns	string or array	true		The column or array of columns that references a key or keys on another table.
name	string	false	A generated name consisting of the table name and column name(s).	The name of the foreign key constraint.

Example:

SchemaBuilder

schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.unsignedInteger( "country_id" );
    table.foreignKey( "country_id" ).references( "id" ).onTable( "countries" );
} );

SQL (MySQL)

CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `country_id` INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
    CONSTRAINT `fk_users_country_id` FOREIGN KEY (`country_id`) REFERENCES `countries` (`id`) ON UPDATE NO ACTION ON DELETE NO ACTION
)

primaryKey

Create a primary key constraint from one or more columns.

Argument	Type	Required	Default	Description
columns	string or array	true		The column or array of columns that make up the primary key.
name	string	false	A generated name consisting of the table name and column name(s).	The name of the primary key constraint.

Example:

SchemaBuilder

schema.create( "posts_users", function( table ) {
    table.unsignedInteger( "post_id" ).references( "id" ).onTable( "posts" );
    table.unsignedInteger( "user_id" ).references( "id" ).onTable( "users" );
    table.primaryKey( [ "post_id", "user_id" ], "pk_posts_users" );
} );

SQL (MySQL)

CREATE TABLE `posts_users` (
    `post_id` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    `user_id` VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    INDEX `idx_users_full_name` (`first_name`, `last_name`),
    CONSTRAINT `fk_posts_users_post_id` FOREIGN KEY (`post_id`) REFERENCES `posts` (`id`) ON UPDATE NO ACTION ON DELETE NO ACTION,
    CONSTRAINT `fk_posts_users_user_id` FOREIGN KEY (`user_id`) REFERENCES `users` (`id`) ON UPDATE NO ACTION ON DELETE NO ACTION,
    CONSTRAINT ""pk_users_first_name_last_name"" PRIMARY KEY (""first_name"", ""last_name"")
)

unique

Create a unique constraint from one or more columns.

Argument	Type	Required	Default	Description
columns	string or array	true		The column or array of columns that make up the unique constraint.
name	string	false	A generated name consisting of the table name and column name(s).	The name of the unique constraint.

Example:

SchemaBuilder

schema.create( "users", function( table ) {
    table.increments( "id" );
    table.string( "username ");
    table.unique( "username" );
} );

SQL (MySQL)

CREATE TABLE `users` (
    `id` INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
    UNIQUE (`username`)
)