Liquibase Change Types addNotNullConstraint

A record in a table can consist of multiple columns, it's not mandated that all columns should have a value all the time, some might have null values as well. but sometimes requirement is to make sure that certain columns are not null, This can be achieved via not null constraint in database.

Liqibase also supports not null constraints while creating tables.

Not Null Constraint while Table Creation

<?xml version="1.1" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<databaseChangeLog xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog" xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext" xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd">
	<changeSet author="wesome" id="1693111591793-1">
		<createTable catalogName="appledb" schemaName="appledb" tablespace="appledb" tableName="apple">
			<column name="apple_id" type="BIGINT">
				<constraints unique="true" primaryKey="true" />
			</column>
			<column name="apple_name" type="VARCHAR(20)" />
			<column name="current_date_time" type="datetime" />
		</createTable>
	</changeSet>
</databaseChangeLog>

liquibase.properties (update changeLog File file format with SQL, XML, YAML, JSON as per changelog.mysql.)

changeLogFile=changelog.mysql.xml
liquibase.command.url:jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/appleDb?createDatabaseIfNotExist=true&autoReconnect=true&useSSL=false&allowPublicKeyRetrieval=true
liquibase.command.username : root
liquibase.command.password : rootroot

Run command liquibase update

Not Null Constraint after Table Creation

Sometimes a table has already been created and a not null Constraints need to be added after that. To achieve this, Liquibase provide an addNotNullConstraint tag that will alter existing columns and add not null constraint.

<?xml version="1.1" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<databaseChangeLog xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog" xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext" xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd">
	<changeSet author="wesome" id="1692599548266-1">
		<createTable catalogName="appledb" tableName="apple">
			<column autoIncrement="true" name="apple_id" type="BIGINT">
				<constraints nullable="false" primaryKey="true" />
			</column>
			<column name="apple_name" type="VARCHAR(255)" />
			<column defaultValueComputed="CURRENT_TIMESTAMP" name="current_date_time" type="datetime" />
		</createTable>
	</changeSet>
	<changeSet id="id" author="author">
		<addNotNullConstraint catalogName="appleDb" columnDataType="VARCHAR(255)" columnName="apple_name" constraintName="apple_name_not_null" schemaName="appleDb" tableName="apple" validate="true" />
	</changeSet>
</databaseChangeLog>

liquibase.properties (update changeLog File file format with SQL, XML, YAML, JSON as per changelog.mysql.)

changeLogFile=changelog.mysql.xml
liquibase.command.url:jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/appleDb?createDatabaseIfNotExist=true&autoReconnect=true&useSSL=false&allowPublicKeyRetrieval=true
liquibase.command.username : root
liquibase.command.password : rootroot

Run command liquibase update

The foreign key constraints can be verified by running the query

SELECT TABLE_NAME,COLUMN_NAME,CONSTRAINT_NAME, REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME,REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE WHERE REFERENCED_TABLE_SCHEMA = 'appledb';

Not Null Constraint after Table Creation with Existing Null Values In Record

Liquibase provides an addNotNullConstraint tag which will alter existing column and add not null constraint, but what if there are some existing records with null values. In traditional SQL, this will resolved by first updating all the records of the table having null values with a default values.
then adding not null constraint. Liquibase provides defaultNullValue tag which will update all null records with default value provided, then add not null constraint.

<?xml version="1.1" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?>
<databaseChangeLog xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog" xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext" xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd">
	<changeSet author="wesome" id="1692599548266-1">
		<createTable catalogName="appledb" tableName="apple">
			<column autoIncrement="true" name="apple_id" type="BIGINT">
				<constraints nullable="false" primaryKey="true" />
			</column>
			<column name="apple_name" type="VARCHAR(255)" />
			<column defaultValueComputed="CURRENT_TIMESTAMP" name="current_date_time" type="datetime" />
		</createTable>
	</changeSet>
	<changeSet author="wesome" id="1692701200879-2">
		<insert catalogName="appledb" tableName="apple">
			<column name="current_date_time" valueDate="now()" />
		</insert>
	</changeSet>
	<changeSet id="id" author="author">
		<addNotNullConstraint catalogName="appleDb" columnDataType="VARCHAR(255)" columnName="apple_name" defaultNullValue="Default Fuji" constraintName="apple_name_not_null" schemaName="appleDb" tableName="apple" validate="true" />
	</changeSet>
</databaseChangeLog>

liquibase.properties (update changeLog File file format with SQL, XML, YAML, JSON as per changelog.mysql.)

changeLogFile=changelog.mysql.xml
liquibase.command.url:jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/appleDb?createDatabaseIfNotExist=true&autoReconnect=true&useSSL=false&allowPublicKeyRetrieval=true
liquibase.command.username : root
liquibase.command.password : rootroot

Run command liquibase update

The foreign key constraints can be verified by running the query

SELECT TABLE_NAME,COLUMN_NAME,CONSTRAINT_NAME, REFERENCED_TABLE_NAME,REFERENCED_COLUMN_NAME FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.KEY_COLUMN_USAGE WHERE REFERENCED_TABLE_SCHEMA = 'appledb';

A record was inserted with a null value in apple_name column, which also has been updated by the default value provided in the addNotNullConstraint tag. The same can be verified by running the query

SELECT * FROM appleDb.apple;