addCollectionField()

This operation adds a new scalar or vector field to an existing collection without recreating the collection. Existing rows do not have values for the new field, so added vector fields must be nullable.

public void addCollectionField(AddCollectionFieldReq request)

Request Syntax

client.addCollectionField(AddCollectionFieldReq.builder()
    .collectionName(String collectionName)
    .databaseName(String databaseName)
    .fieldName(String fieldName)
    .description(String description)
    .dataType(DataType dataType)
    .maxLength(Integer maxLength)
    .dimension(Integer dimension)
    .elementType(DataType elementType)
    .maxCapacity(Integer maxCapacity)
    .isNullable(Boolean isNullable)
    .defaultValue(Object defaultValue)
    .enableAnalyzer(Boolean enableAnalyzer)
    .analyzerParams(Map<String, Object> analyzerParams)
    .enableMatch(Boolean enableMatch)
    .typeParams(Map<String, String> typeParams)
    .multiAnalyzerParams(Map<String, Object> multiAnalyzerParams)
    .structFields(List<CreateCollectionReq.FieldSchema> structFields)
    .externalField(String externalField)
    .build()
);

BUILDER METHODS:

• collectionName(String collectionName) -

  The name of the target collection.

• databaseName(String databaseName) -

  The name of the database. Defaults to the current database if not specified.

• fieldName(String fieldName) -

  The name of the field to add.

• description(String description) -

  A human-readable description for the field.

• dataType(DataType dataType) -

  The data type of the field. Scalar, vector, array, JSON, and struct-related field types follow the same DataType values used when creating a collection.

• maxLength(Integer maxLength) -

  The maximum number of characters for a DataType.VarChar field. This is required for VarChar fields unless the value is supplied through typeParams.

• dimension(Integer dimension) -

  The vector dimension. This is required for fixed-dimension vector fields such as DataType.FloatVector.

• elementType(DataType elementType) -

  The element type for an array field.

• maxCapacity(Integer maxCapacity) -

  The maximum number of elements allowed in an array field.

• isNullable(Boolean isNullable) -

  Whether the added field accepts null values. For v3.0.1 and later, vector fields added to an existing collection must set this to true; otherwise the SDK raises MilvusClientException.

• defaultValue(Object defaultValue) -

  The default value for the added field. The runtime type must match dataType.

• enableAnalyzer(Boolean enableAnalyzer) -

  Whether to enable text analysis for a DataType.VarChar field.

• analyzerParams(Map<String, Object> analyzerParams) -

  Analyzer configuration for a VarChar field, such as tokenizer and filter settings.

• enableMatch(Boolean enableMatch) -

  Whether to enable keyword matching for a VarChar field.

• typeParams(Map<String, String> typeParams) -

  Additional field type parameters. Dedicated builder methods such as dimension or maxLength override corresponding entries in this map.

• multiAnalyzerParams(Map<String, Object> multiAnalyzerParams) -

  Multi-language analyzer configuration for a text field.

• structFields(List<CreateCollectionReq.FieldSchema> structFields) -

  Nested field schemas for a struct field.

• externalField(String externalField) -

  The external source field that maps to this Milvus field when the collection is backed by an external source.

RETURNS:

void

EXCEPTIONS:

• MilvusClientException

  This exception will be raised when any error occurs during this operation, including when a vector field is added with isNullable(false) or without setting isNullable(true).

Example

import io.milvus.v2.common.DataType;
import io.milvus.v2.service.collection.request.AddCollectionFieldReq;

// Add a nullable scalar field to an existing collection.
client.addCollectionField(AddCollectionFieldReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .fieldName("text")
        .dataType(DataType.VarChar)
        .maxLength(100)
        .isNullable(true)
        .build());

// Add a nullable vector field to an existing collection.
client.addCollectionField(AddCollectionFieldReq.builder()
        .collectionName("my_collection")
        .fieldName("embedding_v2")
        .dataType(DataType.FloatVector)
        .dimension(128)
        .isNullable(true)
        .build());