DataStax Java Driver

INSERT

To start an INSERT query, use one of the insertInto methods in QueryBuilder. There are several variants depending on whether your table name is qualified, and whether you use identifiers or raw strings:

import static com.datastax.oss.driver.api.querybuilder.QueryBuilder.*;

InsertInto insert = insertInto("user");

Note that, at this stage, the query can’t be built yet. You need to set at least one value.

Setting values

Regular insert

A regular insert (as opposed to a JSON insert, covered in the next section) specifies values for a set of columns. In the Query Builder DSL, this is expressed with the value method:

insertInto("user")
    .value("id", bindMarker())
    .value("first_name", literal("John"))
    .value("last_name", literal("Doe"));
// INSERT INTO user (id,first_name,last_name) VALUES (?,'John','Doe')

The column names can only be simple identifiers. The values are terms.

JSON insert

To start a JSON insert, use the json method instead. It takes the payload as a raw string, that will get inlined as a CQL literal:

insertInto("user").json("{\"id\":1, \"first_name\":\"John\", \"last_name\":\"Doe\"}");
// INSERT INTO user JSON '{"id":1, "first_name":"John", "last_name":"Doe"}'

In a real application, you’ll probably obtain the string from a JSON library such as Jackson.

You can also bind it as a value:

insertInto("user").json(bindMarker());
// INSERT INTO user JSON ?

JSON inserts have extra options to indicate how missing fields should be handled:

insertInto("user").json("{\"id\":1}").defaultUnset();
// INSERT INTO user JSON '{"id":1}' DEFAULT UNSET

insertInto("user").json("{\"id\":1}").defaultNull();
// INSERT INTO user JSON '{"id":1}' DEFAULT NULL

Conditions

For INSERT queries, there is only one possible condition: IF NOT EXISTS. It applies to both regular and JSON inserts:

insertInto("user").json(bindMarker()).ifNotExists();
// INSERT INTO user JSON ? IF NOT EXISTS

Timestamp

The USING TIMESTAMP clause specifies the timestamp at which the mutation will be applied. You can pass either a literal value:

insertInto("user").json(bindMarker()).usingTimestamp(1234)
// INSERT INTO user JSON ? USING TIMESTAMP 1234

Or a bind marker:

insertInto("user").json(bindMarker()).usingTimestamp(bindMarker())
// INSERT INTO user JSON ? USING TIMESTAMP ?

If you call the method multiple times, the last value will be used.

Time To Live (TTL)

You can generate a USING TTL clause that will cause column values to be deleted (marked with a tombstone) after the specified time (in seconds) has expired. This can be done with a literal:

insertInto("user").value("a", bindMarker()).usingTtl(60)
// INSERT INTO user (a) VALUES (?) USING TTL 60