Why sqlmodel_update method don't ignore the None fields automatically?

[lucasmsoares96]

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Example Code

from fastapi import FastAPI, HTTPException, Query
from sqlmodel import Field, Session, SQLModel, create_engine, select


class HeroBase(SQLModel):
    name: str = Field(index=True)
    secret_name: str
    age: int | None = Field(default=None, index=True)


class Hero(HeroBase, table=True):
    id: int | None = Field(default=None, primary_key=True)


class HeroCreate(HeroBase):
    pass


class HeroPublic(HeroBase):
    id: int


class HeroUpdate(SQLModel):
    name: str | None = None
    secret_name: str | None = None
    age: int | None = None


sqlite_file_name = "database.db"
sqlite_url = f"sqlite:///{sqlite_file_name}"

connect_args = {"check_same_thread": False}
engine = create_engine(sqlite_url, echo=True, connect_args=connect_args)


def create_db_and_tables():
    SQLModel.metadata.create_all(engine)


app = FastAPI()


@app.on_event("startup")
def on_startup():
    create_db_and_tables()


@app.post("/heroes/", response_model=HeroPublic)
def create_hero(hero: HeroCreate):
    with Session(engine) as session:
        db_hero = Hero.model_validate(hero)
        session.add(db_hero)
        session.commit()
        session.refresh(db_hero)
        return db_hero


@app.get("/heroes/", response_model=list[HeroPublic])
def read_heroes(offset: int = 0, limit: int = Query(default=100, le=100)):
    with Session(engine) as session:
        heroes = session.exec(select(Hero).offset(offset).limit(limit)).all()
        return heroes


@app.get("/heroes/{hero_id}", response_model=HeroPublic)
def read_hero(hero_id: int):
    with Session(engine) as session:
        hero = session.get(Hero, hero_id)
        if not hero:
            raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Hero not found")
        return hero


@app.patch("/heroes/{hero_id}", response_model=HeroPublic)
def update_hero(hero_id: int, hero: HeroUpdate):
    with Session(engine) as session:
        db_hero = session.get(Hero, hero_id)
        if not db_hero:
            raise HTTPException(status_code=404, detail="Hero not found")
        hero_data = hero.model_dump(exclude_unset=True)   # <<< the hero_data variable is not checked by type checker.
        db_hero.sqlmodel_update(hero_data)
        session.add(db_hero)
        session.commit()
        session.refresh(db_hero)
        return db_hero

Description

To use the db_hero.sqlmodel_update method when a field has a None value, it is currently necessary to convert the typed BaseModel object into an untyped dictionary before updating it:

hero_data = hero.model_dump(exclude_unset=True)

However, converting the model to a dictionary removes static analysis and autocompletion. The codebase would be more concise and safer if the sqlmodel_update method could automatically ignore None fields.

Operating System

Linux

Operating System Details

OS: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS x86_64
Host: 550XDA P23CFB
Kernel: 6.14.0-37-generic
Shell: zsh 5.9
Resolution: 1920x1080
DE: GNOME 46.0
CPU: 11th Gen Intel i7-1165G7 (8) @ 4.700GHz
GPU: Intel TigerLake-LP GT2 [Iris Xe Graphics]
Memory: 10625MiB / 15716MiB

SQLModel Version

0.0.27

Python Version

3.12.3

Additional Context

No response