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Dynamic Columns API

This page describes client-side of MariaDB 10.0.1 API and MariaDB Connector/C 2.0 for reading and writing Dynamic Columns blobs.

Normally, you should use Dynamic column functions which are run inside the MariaDB server and allow one to access Dynamic Columns content without any client-side libraries.

If you need to read/write dynamic column blobs on the client for some reason, this API enables that.

Where to get it

The API is a part of libmysql C client library. In order to use it, one needs to include this header file

#include <mysql/ma_dyncol.h>

and link against libmysql.

Data structures

DYNAMIC_COLUMN

DYNAMIC_COLUMN represents a packed dynamic column blob. It is essentially a string-with-length and is defined as follows:

/* A generic-purpose arbitrary-length string defined in MySQL Client API */
typedef struct st_dynamic_string
{
  char *str;
  size_t length,max_length,alloc_increment;
} DYNAMIC_STRING;

...

typedef DYNAMIC_STRING DYNAMIC_COLUMN;

DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE

Dynamic columns blob stores {name, value} pairs. DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE structure is used to represent the value in accessible form.

struct st_dynamic_column_value
{
  DYNAMIC_COLUMN_TYPE type;
  union
  {
    long long long_value;
    unsigned long long ulong_value;
    double double_value;
    struct {
      MYSQL_LEX_STRING value;
      CHARSET_INFO *charset;
    } string;
    struct {
      decimal_digit_t buffer[DECIMAL_BUFF_LENGTH];
      decimal_t value;
    } decimal;
    MYSQL_TIME time_value;
  } x;
};
typedef struct st_dynamic_column_value DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE;

Every value has a type, which is determined by the type member.

type structure field
DYN_COL_NULL -
DYN_COL_INT value.x.long_value
DYN_COL_UINT value.x.ulong_value
DYN_COL_DOUBLE value.x.double_value
DYN_COL_STRING value.x.string.value, value.x.string.charset
DYN_COL_DECIMAL value.x.decimal.value
DYN_COL_DATETIME value.x.time_value
DYN_COL_DATE value.x.time_value
DYN_COL_TIME value.x.time_value
DYN_COL_DYNCOL value.x.string.value

Notes

  • Values with type DYN_COL_NULL do not ever occur in dynamic columns blobs.
  • Type DYN_COL_DYNCOL means that the value is a packed dynamic blob. This is how nested dynamic columns are done.
  • Before storing a value to value.x.decimal.value, one must call mariadb_dyncol_prepare_decimal() to initialize the space for storage.

enum_dyncol_func_result

enum enum_dyncol_func_result is used as return value.

value name meaning
0 ER_DYNCOL_OK OK
0 ER_DYNCOL_NO (the same as ER_DYNCOL_OK but for functions which return a YES/NO)
1 ER_DYNCOL_YES YES response or success
2 ER_DYNCOL_TRUNCATED Operation succeeded but the data was truncated
-1 ER_DYNCOL_FORMAT Wrong format of the encoded string
-2 ER_DYNCOL_LIMIT A limit of implementation reached
-3 ER_DYNCOL_RESOURCE Out of resources
-4 ER_DYNCOL_DATA Incorrect input data
-5 ER_DYNCOL_UNKNOWN_CHARSET Unknown character set

Result codes that are less than zero represent error conditions.

Function reference

Functions come in pairs:

  • xxx_num() operates on the old (pre-MariaDB-10.0.1) dynamic column blob format where columns were identified by numbers.
  • xxx_named() can operate on both old or new data format. If it modifies the blob, it will convert it to the new data format.

You should use xxx_named() functions, unless you need to keep the data compatible with MariaDB versions before 10.0.1.

mariadb_dyncol_init

  1. define mariadb_dyncol_init(A) memset((A), 0, sizeof(*(A)))

It is correct initialization for an empty packed dynamic blob.

mariadb_dyncol_free

void mariadb_dyncol_free(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str);

where

str IN Packed dynamic blob which memory should be freed.

mariadb_dyncol_create_many (num|named)

Create a packed dynamic blob from arrays of values and names.

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_create_many_num(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str,
                               uint column_count,
                               uint *column_numbers,
                               DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *values,
                               my_bool new_string);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_create_many_named(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str,
                                 uint column_count,
                                 MYSQL_LEX_STRING *column_keys,
                                 DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *values,
                                 my_bool new_string);

where

str OUT Packed dynamic blob will be put here
column_count IN Number of columns
column_numbers IN Column numbers array (old format)
column_keys IN Column names array (new format)
values IN Column values array
new_string IN If TRUE then the str will be reinitialized (not freed) before usage

mariadb_dyncol_update_many (num|named)

Add or update columns in a dynamic columns blob. To delete a column, update its value to a "non-value" of type DYN_COL_NULL

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_update_many_num(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str,
                               uint column_count,
                               uint *column_numbers,
                               DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *values);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_update_many_named(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str,
                                 uint column_count,
                                 MYSQL_LEX_STRING *column_keys,
                                 DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *values);
str IN/OUT Dynamic columns blob to be modified.
column_count IN Number of columns in following arrays
column_numbers IN Column numbers array (old format)
column_keys IN Column names array (new format)
values IN Column values array

mariadb_dyncol_exists (num|named)

Check if column with given name exists in the blob

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_exists_num(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, uint column_number);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_exists_named(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, MYSQL_LEX_STRING *column_key);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.
column_number IN Column number (old format)
column_key IN Column name (new format)

The function returns YES/NO or Error code

mariadb_dyncol_column_count

Get number of columns in a dynamic column blob

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_column_count(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, uint *column_count);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.
column_count OUT Number of not NULL columns in the dynamic columns string

mariadb_dyncol_list (num|named)

List columns in a dynamic column blob.

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_list_num(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, uint *column_count, uint **column_numbers);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_list_named(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, uint *column_count,
                          MYSQL_LEX_STRING **column_keys);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.
column_count OUT Number of columns in following arrays
column_numbers OUT Column numbers array (old format). Caller should free this array.
column_keys OUT Column names array (new format). Caller should free this array.

mariadb_dyncol_get (num|named)

Get a value of one column

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_get_num(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *org, uint column_number,
                       DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *value);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_get_named(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, MYSQL_LEX_STRING *column_key,
                         DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *value);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.
column_number IN Column numbers array (old format)
column_key IN Column names array (new format)
value OUT Value of the column

If the column is not found NULL returned as a value of the column.

mariadb_dyncol_unpack

Get value of all columns

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_unpack(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str,
                      uint *column_count,
                      MYSQL_LEX_STRING **column_keys,
                      DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE **values);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string to unpack.
column_count OUT Number of columns in following arrays
column_keys OUT Column names array (should be free by caller)
values OUT Values of the columns array (should be free by caller)

mariadb_dyncol_has_names

Check whether the dynamic columns blob uses new data format (the one where columns are identified by names)

my_bool mariadb_dyncol_has_names(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.

mariadb_dyncol_check

Check whether dynamic column blob has correct data format.

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_check(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.

mariadb_dyncol_json

Get contents od a dynamic columns blob in a JSON form

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_json(DYNAMIC_COLUMN *str, DYNAMIC_STRING *json);
str IN Packed dynamic columns string.
json OUT JSON representation

mariadb_dyncol_json() allocates memory for the parameter json which must be explicitly freed by the mariadb_dyncol_free() function to prevent memory leakage.

mariadb_dyncol_val_TYPE

Get dynamic column value as one of the base types

enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_val_str(DYNAMIC_STRING *str, DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *val,
                       CHARSET_INFO *cs, my_bool quote);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_val_long(longlong *ll, DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *val);
enum enum_dyncol_func_result
mariadb_dyncol_val_double(double *dbl, DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *val);
str or ll or dbl OUT value of the column
val IN Value

mariadb_dyncol_prepare_decimal

Initialize DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE before value of value.x.decimal.value can be set

void mariadb_dyncol_prepare_decimal(DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE *value);
value OUT Value of the column

This function links value.x.decimal.value to value.x.decimal.buffer.

mariadb_dyncol_value_init

Initialize a DYNAMIC_COLUMN_VALUE structure to a safe default.

#define mariadb_dyncol_value_init(V) (V)->type= DYN_COL_NULL

mariadb_dyncol_column_cmp_named

Compare two column names for equality

int mariadb_dyncol_column_cmp_named(const MYSQL_LEX_STRING *s1,
                                    const MYSQL_LEX_STRING *s2);
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https://mariadb.com/kb/en/dynamic-columns-api/