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Differences between sqlpp11 and sqlpp23

Below is a (probably incomplete) list of differences as of June 2025. For additional changes, see change log.

If seems a bit dry, follow the links to examples.

%	sqlpp11	sqlpp23
IDE code completion
statement data members	all public	fewer and private (less noisy)
prepared statement data members	all public	only API public (less noisy)
connection functions	all public	only API public (less noisy)
Data types
nullable values	sqlpp::value_or_null	std::optional
NULL	sqlpp::null	std::nullopt
date and time	day_point, time_point, and time_of_day are represented as sqlpp::chrono::day_point, sqlpp::chrono::microsecond_point, and std::chrono::microseconds	date, timestamp, time are represented as std::chrono::sys_days, std::chrono::sys_time<std::chrono::microseconds>, and std::chrono::microseconds
Result row
result fields	specializations of the result_field_t template	standard types, like int64_t, std::optional<int64_t>, or std::string_view
TEXT result fields	convertible to std::string	std::string_view
BLOB result fields	convertible to std::vector<uint8_t>	std::span<uint8_t>
programmatic access	for_each_field	result_row_t::as_tuple()
Names
creating names	SQLPP_ALIAS_PROVIDER	SQLPP_CREATE_NAME_TAG
creating quoted names	SQLPP_QUOTED_ALIAS_PROVIDER	SQLPP_CREATE_QUOTED_NAME_TAG
Dynamic queries
clauses	separate calls to add dynamic parts with very few compile time checks	directly embedded in statement using dynamic() with many compile time checks
where conditions	dynamic and supported without nesting	dynamic and and or supported at any nesting level
result fields	dynamic result fields in std::map<std::string, std::string>	correctly typed and named data members of result rows
Database connection
connect	connectUsing	connect_using
operator()	executes statements, but not strings	executes statements and strings
execute	executes strings and non-select statements	dropped
query	executes select statements	dropped
exceptions	many individual exception classes for PostgreSQL, but not for other connectors	exception classes for each connector to transport native error codes
Constraints
read-only columns	e.g. for auto-increment	for generated columns (GENERATED)
required where	in select, update, remove	dropped
unconditionally()	to explicitly omit where or on condition in joins	dropped
Clauses
SELECT	select flags like DISTINCT require calling separate function flags()	flags can be passed as parameters to the select function
DELETE FROM	remove_from	delete_from
LIMIT & OFFSET	require unsigned argument	any integer argument
TRUNCATE	N/A	truncate
WITH	connect with with statement using operator()	connect with with statement using operator<<
custom queries	sqlpp::custom_query	clauses can be concatenated using operator<<
Functions
COALESCE	N/A	coalesce(<one or more arguments>)
COUNT(*)	N/A	count(sqlpp::star)
SOME	some	dropped (use any)
Operators
CASE	case_when.then().else_() supports a single when/then pair. Data types of then and else_ must be comparable. then does not support sqlpp::null	Support for multiple when/then pairs. Data types of thens and else must be same (plus/minus optional). then supports std::nullopt if at least one then argument or the else_ argument has a data type.
IN	in requires sqlpp::value_list to pass std::vector	something.in(my_vector)
NOT IN	not_in requires sqlpp::value_list to pass std::vector	something.not_in(my_vector)
Unary operator+()	present	dropped
comparison with value or NULL	is_equal_to_or_null (does not work with parameters)	is_distinct_from and is_not_distinct_from
Sub queries
select(...).as(...)	Could be table or value (depending on the context)	Always a table unless wrapped by value()
Logging
config.debug	Could control logging to std::cerr via a bool value in the connection's config	Can control which message categories are logged and control how hey are logged (you can provide a std::function). And you can turn off debug logging completely at compile time by defining SQLPP23_DISABLE_DEBUG.
Magic
IN	x.in(sqlpp::value_list(vector{})) interpreted as false	no magic: x IN ()
NOT IN	x.not_in(sqlpp::value_list(vector{})) interpreted as true	no magic: x NOT IN ()
operator+= etc	x += y was translated into x = x + y	no magic
aggregate functions	auto-named in select but not otherwise	require explicit names, e.g. max(id).as(sqlpp::alias::max_)
Misc
prepared statement parameters	.params	.parameters
eval(db, expr)	Convenience wrapper around db(select(expr.as(a))).front().a	dropped (could lead to dangling references, see TEXT and BLOB)
ppgen	Pre-processor code generation for tables	dropped
sqlite2cpp.py	sqlpp23-ddl2cpp variant for sqlite3	dropped
dynamic loading	Ability to load connector library dynamically	dropped (was unmaintained)
memory allocation	Multiple cases of double pointer indirections (wrapping a smart pointer with yet another smart pointer)	Removed all known double pointer indirections

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