How to get the insert ID in JDBC?

Question

I want to INSERT a record in a database (which is Microsoft SQL Server in my case) using JDBC in Java. At the same time, I want to obtain the insert ID. How can

Answer 1

1. Create Generated Column

   String generatedColumns[] = { "ID" };
   

2. Pass this geneated Column to your statement

   PreparedStatement stmtInsert = conn.prepareStatement(insertSQL, generatedColumns);
   

3. Use ResultSet object to fetch the GeneratedKeys on Statement

   ResultSet rs = stmtInsert.getGeneratedKeys();
   
   if (rs.next()) {
       long id = rs.getLong(1);
       System.out.println("Inserted ID -" + id); // display inserted record
   }
   

Answer 2

When encountering an 'Unsupported feature' error while using Statement.RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS, try this:

String[] returnId = { "BATCHID" };
String sql = "INSERT INTO BATCH (BATCHNAME) VALUES ('aaaaaaa')";
PreparedStatement statement = connection.prepareStatement(sql, returnId);
int affectedRows = statement.executeUpdate();

if (affectedRows == 0) {
    throw new SQLException("Creating user failed, no rows affected.");
}

try (ResultSet rs = statement.getGeneratedKeys()) {
    if (rs.next()) {
        System.out.println(rs.getInt(1));
    }
    rs.close();
}

Where BATCHID is the auto generated id.

Answer 3

With Hibernate's NativeQuery, you need to return a ResultList instead of a SingleResult, because Hibernate modifies a native query

INSERT INTO bla (a,b) VALUES (2,3) RETURNING id

like

INSERT INTO bla (a,b) VALUES (2,3) RETURNING id LIMIT 1

if you try to get a single result, which causes most databases (at least PostgreSQL) to throw a syntax error. Afterwards, you may fetch the resulting id from the list (which usually contains exactly one item).

Answer 4

I'm hitting Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 from a single-threaded JDBC-based application and pulling back the last ID without using the RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS property or any PreparedStatement. Looks something like this:

private int insertQueryReturnInt(String SQLQy) {
    ResultSet generatedKeys = null;
    int generatedKey = -1;

    try {
        Statement statement = conn.createStatement();
        statement.execute(SQLQy);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        errorDescription = "Failed to insert SQL query: " + SQLQy + "( " + e.toString() + ")";
        return -1;
    }

    try {
        generatedKey = Integer.parseInt(readOneValue("SELECT @@IDENTITY"));
    } catch (Exception e) {
        errorDescription = "Failed to get ID of just-inserted SQL query: " + SQLQy + "( " + e.toString() + ")";
        return -1;
    }

    return generatedKey;
} 

This blog post nicely isolates three main SQL Server "last ID" options: http://msjawahar.wordpress.com/2008/01/25/how-to-find-the-last-identity-value-inserted-in-the-sql-server/ - haven't needed the other two yet.

Answer 5

Instead of a comment, I just want to answer post.

---

Interface java.sql.PreparedStatement

1. columnIndexes « You can use prepareStatement function that accepts columnIndexes and SQL statement. Where columnIndexes allowed constant flags are Statement.RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS1 or Statement.NO_GENERATED_KEYS[2], SQL statement that may contain one or more '?' IN parameter placeholders.

   SYNTAX «

   Connection.prepareStatement(String sql, int autoGeneratedKeys)
   Connection.prepareStatement(String sql, int[] columnIndexes)
   

   Example:

   PreparedStatement pstmt = 
       conn.prepareStatement( insertSQL, Statement.RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS );
   

---

2. columnNames « List out the columnNames like 'id', 'uniqueID', .... in the target table that contain the auto-generated keys that should be returned. The driver will ignore them if the SQL statement is not an INSERT statement.

   SYNTAX «

   Connection.prepareStatement(String sql, String[] columnNames)
   

   Example:

   String columnNames[] = new String[] { "id" };
   PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement( insertSQL, columnNames );
   

---

Full Example:

public static void insertAutoIncrement_SQL(String UserName, String Language, String Message) {
    String DB_URL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/test", DB_User = "root", DB_Password = "";

    String insertSQL = "INSERT INTO `unicodeinfo`( `UserName`, `Language`, `Message`) VALUES (?,?,?)";
            //"INSERT INTO `unicodeinfo`(`id`, `UserName`, `Language`, `Message`) VALUES (?,?,?,?)";
    int primkey = 0 ;
    try {
        Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
        Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(DB_URL, DB_User, DB_Password);

        String columnNames[] = new String[] { "id" };

        PreparedStatement pstmt = conn.prepareStatement( insertSQL, columnNames );
        pstmt.setString(1, UserName );
        pstmt.setString(2, Language );
        pstmt.setString(3, Message );

        if (pstmt.executeUpdate() > 0) {
            // Retrieves any auto-generated keys created as a result of executing this Statement object
            java.sql.ResultSet generatedKeys = pstmt.getGeneratedKeys();
            if ( generatedKeys.next() ) {
                primkey = generatedKeys.getInt(1);
            }
        }
        System.out.println("Record updated with id = "+primkey);
    } catch (InstantiationException | IllegalAccessException | ClassNotFoundException | SQLException e) {
        e.printStackTrace();
    }
}

Answer 6

If it is an auto generated key, then you can use Statement#getGeneratedKeys() for this. You need to call it on the same Statement as the one being used for the INSERT. You first need to create the statement using Statement.RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS to notify the JDBC driver to return the keys.

Here's a basic example:

public void create(User user) throws SQLException {
    try (
        Connection connection = dataSource.getConnection();
        PreparedStatement statement = connection.prepareStatement(SQL_INSERT,
                                      Statement.RETURN_GENERATED_KEYS);
    ) {
        statement.setString(1, user.getName());
        statement.setString(2, user.getPassword());
        statement.setString(3, user.getEmail());
        // ...

        int affectedRows = statement.executeUpdate();

        if (affectedRows == 0) {
            throw new SQLException("Creating user failed, no rows affected.");
        }

        try (ResultSet generatedKeys = statement.getGeneratedKeys()) {
            if (generatedKeys.next()) {
                user.setId(generatedKeys.getLong(1));
            }
            else {
                throw new SQLException("Creating user failed, no ID obtained.");
            }
        }
    }
}

Note that you're dependent on the JDBC driver as to whether it works. Currently, most of the last versions will work, but if I am correct, Oracle JDBC driver is still somewhat troublesome with this. MySQL and DB2 already supported it for ages. PostgreSQL started to support it not long ago. I can't comment about MSSQL as I've never used it.

For Oracle, you can invoke a CallableStatement with a RETURNING clause or a SELECT CURRVAL(sequencename) (or whatever DB-specific syntax to do so) directly after the INSERT in the same transaction to obtain the last generated key. See also this answer.