Help / Databases and objects

Events

An event is SQL the server runs on a schedule: once at a given time, or repeatedly at an interval. bonSQL writes events as SQL: it opens an editor tab with a statement for you to complete or change, and you run it like any other query.

The commands are under Others > Events, and on the menu you get by right-clicking a database’s Events folder or an event in the Object Browser. With that folder or an event selected, F4, F6, F2 and Del act on events.

Creating an event

1. Select the database, then choose Others > Events > Create Event… (F4) or Database > Create > Event….

2. Type a name in Enter new event name and click Create. If an event of that name already exists in the database, bonSQL says so.

3. A new editor tab opens with a skeleton. It starts with DELIMITER $$, names the event, and under ON SCHEDULE gives three commented-out examples to choose from:

   • run once, AT a time;
   • run EVERY so often, for ever;
   • run EVERY so often between a STARTS time and an ENDS time.

   The first two are commented out with -- at the start of the line, the third with /* and */ around it. After those come the optional clauses [ON COMPLETION [NOT] PRESERVE], [ENABLE | DISABLE] and [COMMENT 'comment'], also inside /* and */, and a DO BEGIN ... END block with the placeholder (sql_statements).

4. Uncomment the schedule you want by deleting the -- or the /* and */, delete the other two, and fill in the time and interval, for example EVERY 1 DAY STARTS '2026-11-01 02:00:00'. Replace (sql_statements) with your statements, each ending with ;.

5. Press F9, or click Execute query on the toolbar.

The Messages tab shows whether the server accepted it. If the event does not appear in the Object Browser, press F5.

The event scheduler

Just below DELIMITER $$, the skeleton has a comment:

-- SET GLOBAL event_scheduler = ON$$     -- required for event to execute but not create

The server creates the event either way, but only runs events while its event scheduler is on. To check, look up event_scheduler in Tools > Show > Variables…; see Server variables and status.

Running the editor tab

In an object editor tab, F9, Ctrl+F9 and the toolbar’s Execute query button all run the whole tab. F8 is not available there. In SQLyog Community the Execute button was greyed out in these tabs; in bonSQL it works.

Changing an event

Select the event and choose Others > Events > Alter Event… (F6). bonSQL reads the event’s definition from the server (SHOW CREATE EVENT) and opens it as an ALTER ... EVENT statement. It arrives as the server returns it, without line breaks added, so the schedule and options are usually one long line: scroll to the right to see all of it. Edit the schedule or the body and execute the tab. Unlike procedures and triggers, the event is changed in place, not dropped first.

Renaming and dropping

Related

• Stored procedures
• Triggers
• Server variables and status
• The Object Browser