What causes "__METHOD__ is not supported by SQLite." in yiisoft/yii2?

If the constraint was created as a unique index, drop the index instead: $this->dropIndex('uq_name', 'tbl').

yiisoft/yii2 · error · NotSupportedException

METHOD is not supported by SQLite.

Error message

__METHOD__ is not supported by SQLite.

What it means

yii\db\sqlite\QueryBuilder::dropUnique() always throws NotSupportedException (the raw message is built from __METHOD__, so it renders as 'yii\db\sqlite\QueryBuilder::dropUnique is not supported by SQLite.'). SQLite has no ALTER TABLE form to drop a named UNIQUE constraint; it can only drop a unique index created as an index.

Source

Thrown at framework/db/sqlite/QueryBuilder.php:382

        throw new NotSupportedException(__METHOD__ . ' is not supported by SQLite.');
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     * @throws NotSupportedException this is not supported by SQLite.
     */
    public function addUnique($name, $table, $columns)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException(__METHOD__ . ' is not supported by SQLite.');
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     * @throws NotSupportedException this is not supported by SQLite.
     */
    public function dropUnique($name, $table)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException(__METHOD__ . ' is not supported by SQLite.');
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     * @throws NotSupportedException this is not supported by SQLite.
     */
    public function addCheck($name, $table, $expression)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException(__METHOD__ . ' is not supported by SQLite.');
    }

    /**
     * {@inheritdoc}
     * @throws NotSupportedException this is not supported by SQLite.
     */
    public function dropCheck($name, $table)
    {
        throw new NotSupportedException(__METHOD__ . ' is not supported by SQLite.');

View on GitHub (pinned to 66f00d18a2)

Solutions

If the constraint was created as a unique index, drop the index instead: $this->dropIndex('uq_name', 'tbl').
Otherwise rebuild the table without the UNIQUE clause (or with it, per the new schema) and copy data.
Branch on $this->db->driverName === 'sqlite' and skip.
Catch NotSupportedException in generic migration runners.

Example fix

// before
$this->dropUnique('uq_user_email', 'user');

// after
if ($this->db->driverName !== 'sqlite') {
    $this->dropUnique('uq_user_email', 'user');
} else {
    $this->dropIndex('uq_user_email', 'user'); // if created as a UNIQUE index
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

if ($db->driverName !== 'sqlite') {
    $db->createCommand()->dropUnique($name, $table)->execute();
} else {
    // If created as a unique index on sqlite, drop the index instead
    $db->createCommand()->dropIndex($name, $table)->execute();
}

Try / catch

try {
    $db->createCommand()->dropUnique($name, $table)->execute();
} catch (\yii\db\NotSupportedException $e) {
    // SQLite: try dropping the equivalent unique index; else rebuild the table
    $db->createCommand()->dropIndex($name, $table)->execute();
}

Prevention

Track how each unique constraint was created (constraint vs index) per driver.
Branch uniqueness removal on driver name.
Keep a recreate-and-copy helper available for constraints that cannot be dropped on sqlite.

When it happens

Trigger: Executing $this->dropUnique('uq_name', 'tbl') in a migration rollback or schema cleanup on a sqlite connection.

Common situations: down() paths of migrations that added unique constraints, run on sqlite test databases; dropping uniqueness requirements via migration in cross-driver projects.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of yiisoft/yii2@66f00d18a2 (2026-08-17). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f52c78ab7a5f2eed. Report an issue: GitHub.