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How to Retrieve Database/Table Schema Using API

by on September 1, 2019

Backendless provides an easy-to-use API to introspect data tables. Given a table name, the API provides information about table columns, their names, data types, default values, etc. If a column represents a relationship, it is properly denoted as such in the provided information.

Consider the following data table. The table name is Person as it is indicated in the upper right corner:

The following code retrieves the schema information for the table:

    Backendless.Data.describe("Person", new AsyncCallback<List<ObjectProperty>>() {
       @Override
       public void handleResponse(List<ObjectProperty> schema) {
           for (ObjectProperty property : schema) {
               Log.i(TAG, "Column name - " + property.getName());
               Log.i(TAG, "Data type - " + property.getType());
               Log.i(TAG, "Default value - " + property.getDefaultValue());
               Log.i(TAG, "----------------------------");
           }
       }
    
       @Override
       public void handleFault(BackendlessFault fault) {
           Log.e(TAG, fault.getMessage());
       }
    });

    Backendless.Data.describe("Person", object : AsyncCallback<List<ObjectProperty>> {
       override fun handleResponse(schema: List<ObjectProperty>) {
           for (property in schema) {
               Log.i(TAG, "Column name - ${property.name}")
               Log.i(TAG, "Data type - ${property.type}")
               Log.i(TAG, "Default value - ${property.defaultValue}")
               Log.i(TAG, "----------------------------")
           }
       }
    
       override fun handleFault(fault: BackendlessFault) {
           Log.e(TAG, fault.message)
       }
    })

    Backendless.shared.data.describe(tableName: "Person", responseHandler: { schema in
        for property in schema {
            print("Column name - \(property.name)")
            print("Data type - \(property.type)")
            print("Default value - \(property.defaultValue ?? "")")
            print("----------------------------")
        }            
    }, errorHandler: { fault in
        print("Error: \(fault.message ?? "")")
    })

    [Backendless.shared.data describeWithTableName:@"Person" responseHandler:^(NSArray *schema) {
        for (ObjectProperty *property in schema) {
            NSLog(@"Column name - %@", property.name);
            NSLog(@"Column name - %@", [property getTypeName]);
            NSLog(@"Default value - %@", property.defaultValue);
            NSLog(@"----------------------------");
        }
    } errorHandler:^(Fault *fault) {
        NSLog(@"Error: %@", fault.message);
    }];

    const Backendless = require('backendless')
    /*
     Or use `import Backendless from 'backendless'` for client side.
     If you don't use npm or yarn to install modules, you can add the following line
     <script src="//api.backendless.com/sdk/js/latest/backendless.min.js"></script>
     to your index.html file and use the global Backendless variable.
    */
    
    Backendless.initApp('YOUR_APP_ID', 'YOUR_JS_API_KEY')
    
    const onSuccess = schema => {
      schema.forEach(property => {
        console.log(`Column name - ${ property.name }`)
        console.log(`Data type - ${ property.type }`)
        console.log(`Default value - ${ property.defaultValue }`)
        console.log('----------------------------')
      })
    }
    
    const onError = error => {
      console.error('Server reported an error: ', error.message)
      console.error('error code: ', error.code)
      console.error('http status: ', error.status)
    }
    
    Backendless.Data.describe('Person')
      .then(onSuccess)
      .catch(onError)
    

    Backendless.Data.describe("Person").then((schema) {
      schema.forEach((property) {
        print("""Column name - ${property.name}
    Data type - ${property.type}
    Default value - ${property.defaultValue}
    ----------------------------""");
      });
    });

    The code produces the following output:

    Column name - created
    Data type - DATETIME
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------
    Column name - updated
    Data type - DATETIME
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------
    Column name - birthday
    Data type - DATETIME
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------
    Column name - name
    Data type - STRING
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------
    Column name - age
    Data type - INT
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------
    Column name - ownerId
    Data type - STRING
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------
    Column name - objectId
    Data type - STRING_ID
    Default value - null
    ----------------------------

    2 Comments

    i am getting null values instead of actual values from the backendless tables

    If you experience a problem, please submit a support topic at https://support.backendless.com

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