Generated CRUD actions

The platform generates five CRUD actions for a table from its structure, so you do not have to hand-write five nearly identical SQL statements. Every value in the generated SQL is a bound param, and table and column names are quoted with the correct syntax for PostgreSQL or MySQL.

Product walkthrough

From the relationship diagram, pick the products table and choose which CRUD actions to generate.

Required roles

You need the Editor role or above in the selected environment, and the SQL data source must have a config in that environment. The Choose people and groups mode (selecting the people and groups who can run the actions) requires the Admin role.

Generate actions from a table

1. Go to Build > Tables & diagram and select the data source.
2. Click Create CRUD actions on the table, either in the Tables tab or on the table’s box in the Relationship diagram tab.
3. Check the Slug prefix. Each action’s slug is built from this prefix. The slug is the identifier used to call the action from a view, and it cannot be changed after publishing.
4. Select the operations to generate. Each operation has an editable Action name and a Show SQL button that displays the exact statement that will be saved.
5. Select the Environments. The default is every environment except production.
6. Select Who can run them (see below).
7. Optionally turn on Also create a view and Publish right away (see below).
8. Click the create button (Create N actions or Create N actions and a view). If Publish right away is on or a production environment is selected, the platform asks for confirmation before creating anything.

Operations

Operation	Generated action
List	Fetches many rows: a search box (case-insensitive substring over the text columns), column filters, a sort column and direction, and paging (50 rows per page by default).
Get one row	Fetches exactly one row by primary key.
Create	Inserts a new row. Columns with a default or generated value are filled by the database.
Update	Updates one row by primary key. Fields left empty keep their current value.
Delete	Deletes one row by primary key.

Get one row, Update and Delete require a primary key. A database view (not a table) offers only List. When an operation cannot be generated, the dialog states the reason, for example a missing primary key or a required column whose type cannot be entered from a form (binary, geometry).

Note

In Update, an empty field means “keep the current value”, so the form cannot set a column to NULL. If you need to, edit the action’s SQL before publishing.

Who can run them

• Only you and higher roles (default): the actions are set to restricted. Run access is granted to the creator, the project admins (if the creator is an editor) and the organization owners, as of creation time. Other users must be granted access on each action’s permissions card.
• Every project member: anyone who can enter the environment can run the actions, including write actions.
• Choose people and groups (admins only): select members and groups. The creator is always included.

Also create a view

This option is on by default when the List operation is selected. The platform also creates a draft view that uses the generated actions, with two layouts:

• Manage: a table with search, column filters, sorting and paging; view, add, edit and delete rows.
• Browse: a table with search, filters, sorting, paging and row details; no writes.

After the view is published, users who can run the actions open it under Screens. See Build a view.

Review and publish

By default, everything is created as a draft, and nobody can run it yet. As a result, write actions (update, delete) cannot run until someone has reviewed the SQL.

1. On the result screen, click Open on each action to review its SQL and inputs.
2. Edit if needed (name, param labels, SQL), then click Publish. Publishing runs the same checks as for a hand-written action.
3. If you created a view, publish the actions first, then open the view and click Publish.
4. Go to Run action to test the actions, or open the screen with Open screen.

Publish right away

Publish right away (off by default) publishes each action and then the view, with the same checks as a manual publish. For write actions, this means they can run immediately without anyone reviewing the SQL. Any item that fails a check stays a draft and is listed for you to fix.

See also

• Create an action: adjust params, transformers and versions.
• Build a view
• Run actions