sqlalchemy.sql.ddl.CreateColumn

Represent a :class:`_schema.Column` as rendered in a CREATE TABLE statement, via the :class:`.CreateTable` construct. This is provided to support custom column DDL within the generation of CREATE TABLE statements, by using the compiler extension documented in :ref:`sqlalchemy.ext.compiler_toplevel` to extend :class:`.CreateColumn`. Typical integration is to examine the incoming :class:`_schema.Column` object, and to redirect compilation if a particular flag or condition is found:: from sqlalchemy import schema from sqlalchemy.ext.compiler import compiles @compiles(schema.CreateColumn) def compile(element, compiler, **kw): column = element.element if "special" not in column.info: return compiler.visit_create_column(element, **kw) text = "%s SPECIAL DIRECTIVE %s" % ( column.name, compiler.type_compiler.process(column.type) ) default = compiler.get_column_default_string(column) if default is not None: text += " DEFAULT " + default if not column.nullable: text += " NOT NULL" if column.constraints: text += " ".join( compiler.process(const) for const in column.constraints) return text The above construct can be applied to a :class:`_schema.Table` as follows:: from sqlalchemy import Table, Metadata, Column, Integer, String from sqlalchemy import schema metadata = MetaData() table = Table('mytable', MetaData(), Column('x', Integer, info={"special":True}, primary_key=True), Column('y', String(50)), Column('z', String(20), info={"special":True}) ) metadata.create_all(conn) Above, the directives we've added to the :attr:`_schema.Column.info` collection will be detected by our custom compilation scheme:: CREATE TABLE mytable ( x SPECIAL DIRECTIVE INTEGER NOT NULL, y VARCHAR(50), z SPECIAL DIRECTIVE VARCHAR(20), PRIMARY KEY (x) ) The :class:`.CreateColumn` construct can also be used to skip certain columns when producing a ``CREATE TABLE``. This is accomplished by creating a compilation rule that conditionally returns ``None``. This is essentially how to produce the same effect as using the ``system=True`` argument on :class:`_schema.Column`, which marks a column as an implicitly-present "system" column. For example, suppose we wish to produce a :class:`_schema.Table` which skips rendering of the PostgreSQL ``xmin`` column against the PostgreSQL backend, but on other backends does render it, in anticipation of a triggered rule. A conditional compilation rule could skip this name only on PostgreSQL:: from sqlalchemy.schema import CreateColumn @compiles(CreateColumn, "postgresql") def skip_xmin(element, compiler, **kw): if element.element.name == 'xmin': return None else: return compiler.visit_create_column(element, **kw) my_table = Table('mytable', metadata, Column('id', Integer, primary_key=True), Column('xmin', Integer) ) Above, a :class:`.CreateTable` construct will generate a ``CREATE TABLE`` which only includes the ``id`` column in the string; the ``xmin`` column will be omitted, but only against the PostgreSQL backend.