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

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

'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 (3).

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

$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

$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

$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

$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*)

[$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

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

$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:

$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 in 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.