Db.createQuery(entity_class, EQL) is gone?

[freemant2000]

Hi,

It seems that this Db.createQuery(entity_class, EQL) method is gone? The Db.createQuery() method in v17.3.0 only accepts an entity class but not a query string. Is there still a way to write the complete query as a single string?

Thanks in advance :-)

[zhangshifeng]

It was removed in 15.x, also 17.x
Perhaps you can try 16.x

[freemant2000]

Thanks for the info! So it is now deprecated?

[zhangshifeng]

Not sure, 16.x and 17.x are being released in parallel.
More detailed information can be found in Longer term thoughts

[freemant2000]

Right, it is going to be removed.

Thanks

[rbygrave]

EQL ... write the complete query as a single string?

So yes, we maintain the master branch releasing 16.x off that, and another branch for the 17.x releases that are the same as 16.x but with some features removed including the EQL.

Q: So how do I feel today in 2026 about the EQL removal in the 17.x branch? Would we look to bring it back?

We can think of ORM Queries as really 2 things which is:
(A) Projection / what part of the graph to populate and / "Fetch Group"
(B) Predicates

In removing the EQL we removed some complexity, maintenance cost and dependency on ANTLR - so that all feels pretty good. I also think that the String style EQL approach hasn't got great alignment to how an ORM query has that split between projection and predicates. The other factor is that I'm almost using Query Beans all the time these days, and that brings some nice benefits over String style EQL.

In short, removing EQL from the 17.x branch still feels good and I'm not personally missing EQL at all and really heavily moved to using query beans. That and thus far know one else has made a good argument for for EQL. So yes, EQL will continue to only live on in the 16.x releases.