Can multiple records be inserted all at once with the jDatabase?

Question

Instead of using a loop, can Joomla database functions create a SQL statement like this?

INSERT INTO #__tablename (col1,col2)
VALUES 
 ('1', 'one'),
 ('2', 'two'),
 ('3', 'three'),
...
 ('999', 'three'),

The docs at Accessing the database using JDatabase, refer to Transactions and using SQL or Objects, but no mention of multiple values in either case.

Answer 1

This can be accomplished by using ->insert() and ->values(), with the $values being an array of the strings with the columns to insert.

$db = JFactory::getDbo();
$query = $db->getQuery(true);

$columns = array('col_one','col_two');
$values = array();
// Proper escaping/quotes should be done here, and probably in a loop, but cluttered the answer, so omitted it
$values[] = '1, "one"';
$values[] = '2, "two"';
$values[] = '3, "three"';
$values[] = '999, "nineninetynine"';

$query->insert($db->quoteName('#__tablename'));
$query->columns($columns);
$query->values($values);
$db->setQuery($query);
$db->query();

SQL that is produced using echo $query->dump()

INSERT INTO `xyz_tablename`
(col_one,col_two) VALUES 
(1, "one"),(2, "two"),(3, "three),(999, "nineninetynine")

Answer 2

Joomla core support basic SQL queries. You can create a class to store several inserts and create a single final query to execute a single insert at the end.

    public function flushInserts()
{
    $db = JFactory::getDbo();

    foreach ($this->bulk_tables as $table)
    {
        // No inserts
        if (!array_key_exists($table, $this->bulk_inserts))
        {
            continue;
        }

        $tableq = $db->qn($table);

        $insertSet = $this->bulk_inserts[$table];
        $values = implode(',', $insertSet);
        $query = 'INSERT INTO ' . $tableq . ' VALUES ' . $values . ';';

        $db->setQuery($query);
        $db->execute();

        if ($error = $db->getErrorMsg())
        {
            throw new Exception($error);
        }
    }

    $this->bulk_inserts = array();
}

Answer 3

Adding to @GDP's answer

...
$columns = array('user_id', 'type', 'object', 'lvl', 'date');
$values  = array();
foreach ($batch as $row) {
    $array    = array(
        $row->user_id,
        $db->quote($row->type),
        $db->quote($row->object),
        $db->quote($row->lvl),
        $db->quote($row->date),
    );
    $values[] = implode(',', $array);
}
$query->insert($db->quoteName('#__activity_log'));
$query->columns($db->quoteName($columns));
$query->values($values);
...