Direct Database Work

Baseline: main 23.0+. ORM is the first choice (

bitrix-orm

— prefer

query()

ConditionTree

, and ORM write APIs including batch / merge /

deleteByFilter

before dropping to SQL). Direct SQL is needed for:

Migrations/DDL in
```
install/index.php
```
/
```
updater.php
```
,
Bulk operations (
```
UPSERT
```
,
```
REPLACE
```
, windows/CTE),
Reports with
```
GROUP BY
```
/aggregates that are cumbersome to build via ORM,
Working with multiple connections (analytical replica, Redis).

Connection

php

use Bitrix\Main\Application;
use Bitrix\Main\DB\Connection;

/** @var Connection $db */
$db = Application::getConnection();           // default
$db = Application::getConnection('default');
$analytics = Application::getConnection('analytics'); // additional

Configuration in

.settings.php

php

'connections' => [
    'value' => [
        'default' => [
            'className' => \Bitrix\Main\DB\MysqliConnection::class,
            'host'      => 'db',
            'database'  => 'bx',
            'login'     => 'bx',
            'password'  => '***',
            'options'   => \Bitrix\Main\DB\Connection::DEFERRED, // 2 — connect on first query
        ],
        'analytics' => [
            'className' => \Bitrix\Main\DB\PgsqlConnection::class,
            'host'      => 'pg',
            'database'  => 'analytics',
            'login'     => 'ro',
            'password'  => '***',
            'options'   => \Bitrix\Main\DB\Connection::DEFERRED,
        ],
        'redis' => [
            'className' => \Bitrix\Main\Data\RedisConnection::class,
            'host'      => 'redis',
            'port'      => 6379,
            'persistent'=> true,
            'serializer'=> \Redis::SERIALIZER_IGBINARY,
            'compression' => \Redis::COMPRESSION_LZ4,
        ],
    ],
    'readonly' => true,
],

options

Connection::PERSISTENT = 1

Connection::DEFERRED = 2

, combined via bitwise OR (

Classes:

```
\Bitrix\Main\DB\MysqliConnection
```
— MySQL (
```
mysqli
```
).
```
\Bitrix\Main\DB\PgsqlConnection
```
— PostgreSQL.

\Bitrix\Main\DB\MssqlConnection

\Bitrix\Main\DB\OracleConnection

— rare.

\Bitrix\Main\Data\MemcacheConnection

MemcachedConnection

RedisConnection

```
\Bitrix\Main\Data\HsphpReadConnection
```
— HandlerSocket (read-only, for high-load
```
SELECT
```
by primary key bypassing SQL).

SELECT

php

$rs = $db->query('SELECT ID, NAME FROM b_user WHERE ACTIVE = "Y"');
$rs = $db->query('SELECT ID FROM b_user', 10);     // LIMIT 10
$rs = $db->query('SELECT ID FROM b_user', 0, 100); // LIMIT 0, 100

while ($row = $rs->fetch())
{
    $id = (int)$row['ID'];
}

foreach ($rs as $row) { /* ... */ }

$id = $db->queryScalar('SELECT COUNT(*) FROM b_user WHERE ACTIVE = "Y"');

```
fetch()
```
— values are processed through field converters (date →
```
Bitrix\Main\Type\DateTime
```
).
```
fetchRaw()
```
— as received from the driver.

$result->getSelectedRowsCount()

$result->getFields()

$result->getResource()

(low-level

mysqli_result

Important:

Result

cannot be "rewound" — if a second pass is needed, materialize it into an array.

Custom Converters

php

$rs = $db->query('SELECT ID, ACTIVE, DATE_REGISTER FROM b_user');
$rs->setConverters(['DATE_REGISTER' => static fn ($v) => $v ? strtotime($v) : null]);
$rs->addFetchDataModifier(static function (array $row): array {
    $row['ACTIVE_BOOL'] = $row['ACTIVE'] === 'Y';
    return $row;
});

INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE

php

$id = $db->add('my_table', [
    'NAME'    => 'example',
    'CONTENT' => $raw,              // automatically escaped
]);

$lastId = $db->addMulti('my_table', [
    ['NAME' => 'a', 'CONTENT' => '1'],
    ['NAME' => 'b', 'CONTENT' => '2'],
]);

$db->queryExecute(
    'UPDATE my_table SET NAME = "' . $db->getSqlHelper()->forSql($name) . '" WHERE ID = ' . (int)$id
);

add

addMulti

silently discard keys with non-existent columns and escape values themselves. Convenient for fixtures and migrations.

IMPORTANT: the
$binds
parameter in
query/queryScalar/queryExecute
does not create prepared statements — these are only placeholders for LOBs in some drivers. Protect against SQL injections via
SqlExpression
or
SqlHelper
.

SqlHelper — Escaping and Utilities

php

$h = $db->getSqlHelper();

$h->quote('table.id');            // `table`.`id`
$h->forSql($userInput);           // escapes quotes
$h->convertToDb($value);          // 'v' | 'NULL' | '123'
$h->convertToDbString(null);      // ''
$h->convertToDbString('long', 5); // 'long '  (truncated)
$h->convertToDbInteger('x');      // 0
$h->convertToDbInteger(1e10, 4);  // 2147483647 — 4 byte limit
$h->convertToDbFloat(1.2345, 1);  // '1.2'
$h->convertToDbDate(new \Bitrix\Main\Type\Date('01.01.2025'));      // '2025-01-01'
$h->convertToDbDateTime(new \Bitrix\Main\Type\DateTime());

$h->getCurrentDateTimeFunction();                  // NOW()
$h->addSecondsToDateTime(60, $h->quote('c'));      // DATE_ADD(`c`, INTERVAL 60 SECOND)
$h->addDaysToDateTime(30);                         // DATE_ADD(NOW(), INTERVAL 30 DAY)
$h->getConcatFunction($h->quote('a'), "'-'", $h->quote('b'));
$h->getIsNullFunction($h->quote('a'), 0);          // IFNULL(`a`, 0)
$h->getMatchFunction($h->quote('body'), $h->convertToDb('bitrix')); // MATCH ... AGAINST

SQL function arguments are not automatically escaped — pass them through

quote

convertToDb

yourself.

UPSERT (

prepareMerge*

)

php

[$sql] = $h->prepareMerge(
    'b_user_counter',
    ['USER_ID', 'SITE_ID', 'CODE'],
    insertFields: ['USER_ID' => 1, 'SITE_ID' => 's1', 'CODE' => 'visits', 'CNT' => 1],
    updateFields: ['CNT' => new \Bitrix\Main\DB\SqlExpression('?# + ?i', 'CNT', 1)],
);
$db->queryExecute($sql);

There are also

prepareMergeValues

(multiple rows at once),

prepareMergeSelect

(from subquery),

prepareMergeMultiple

(

REPLACE INTO

, splits batches for large bulks).

SqlExpression — Parameterized Queries

php

use Bitrix\Main\DB\SqlExpression;

$sql = new SqlExpression(
    'SELECT * FROM ?# WHERE (ID = ?i OR ID > ?f) AND NAME = ?s AND CREATED > ?',
    'b_user',
    1,
    1.23,
    'admin',
    new \Bitrix\Main\Type\Date('01.01.2025'),
);

$db->query($sql);
echo (string)$sql; // compiled SQL

Placeholders:

```
?
```
— auto: strings, numbers,
```
Date/DateTime
```
,
```
null
```
→
```
NULL
```
.
```
?s
```
— string.
```
?i
```
— integer.
```
?f
```
— float.
```
?#
```
— identifier (table/column name, wrapped in quotes).
```
?v
```
—
```
VALUES(...)
```
for INSERT/UPDATE.

For dates in

Date

DateTime

use

— you'll get

'2025-01-01 00:00:00'

;

?s

will give string representation in site format.

Transactions

php

$db = Application::getConnection();
$db->startTransaction();
try {
    $db->queryExecute('...');
    $db->commitTransaction();
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
    $db->rollbackTransaction();
    throw $e;
}

Keep transactions short. ORM operations inside a transaction are supported — use the same connection.

SqlTracker

Enable SQL query logging for debugging. Call

startTracker()

, then

startFileLog($path)

to dump queries to a file in development:

php

$tracker = \Bitrix\Main\Application::getConnection()->startTracker();
$tracker->startFileLog($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . '/mysql_debug.sql');
// ... queries ...
$queries = $tracker->getQueries();
$tracker->stop();

Use only in development (same pattern as kernel

$DBDebugToFile

start.php

PostgreSQL

PgsqlConnection

is supported (Enterprise for PostgreSQL license). Not all kernel/marketplace modules support PostgreSQL — verify before migration. See skill

bitrix-postgresql

after_connect_d7.php

Place post-connect hooks in

/local/php_interface/after_connect_d7.php

(charset,

sql_mode

, DB timezone). Included by

ConnectionPool

after a successful connect — see skill

bitrix-project-structure

bitrix-database

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Direct Database Work

Connection

Configuration in
`.settings.php`

SELECT

Custom Converters

INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE

SqlHelper — Escaping and Utilities

UPSERT (
`prepareMerge*`
)

SqlExpression — Parameterized Queries

Transactions

SqlTracker

PostgreSQL

after_connect_d7.php

bitrix-database

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Direct Database Work

Connection

Configuration in .settings.php

SELECT

Custom Converters

INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE

SqlHelper — Escaping and Utilities

UPSERT (prepareMerge*)

SqlExpression — Parameterized Queries

Transactions

SqlTracker

PostgreSQL

after_connect_d7.php

Configuration in
`.settings.php`

UPSERT (
`prepareMerge*`
)