Create and query a database using the Google Cloud console

This quickstart shows you how to perform basic operations in Spanner by using the Google Cloud console. In the quickstart, you will:

• Create a Spanner instance.
• Create a database.
• Create a schema.
• Insert and modify data.
• Run a query.

For information on the cost of using Spanner, see Pricing.

Note: To explore Spanner using a 90-day free trial instance, see Create a Spanner free trial instance.

Before you begin

1. Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

2. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

3. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

4. In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

   Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

   Go to project selector

5. Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project.

6. Optional: The Spanner API should be auto-enabled. If not, enable it manually:
   Enable Spanner API

7. To get the permissions that you need to create instances and databases, ask your administrator to grant you the Cloud Spanner Admin (roles/spanner.admin) IAM role on your project.

Create an instance

When you first use Spanner, you must create an instance, which is an allocation of resources that are used by Spanner databases in that instance.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Spanner page.

   Go to Spanner

2. Select or create a Google Cloud project if you haven't done so already.

3. On the Spanner page, click Create a provisioned instance.

   If you've used Spanner before, you'll see the Spanner Instances page instead of the product page. Click Create instance.

4. In the Name your instance page, enter an instance name, such as Test Instance.

5. The instance ID is automatically entered based on the instance name, for example, as test-instance. Change it, if required. Click Continue.

6. In the Configure your instance page, retain the default option Regional and select a configuration from the drop-down menu.

   Your instance configuration determines the geographic location where your instances are stored and replicated.

7. Click Continue.

8. In the Allocate compute capacity page, select Processing units (PUs) and retain the default value of 1000 processing units.

9. Click Create.

   The Google Cloud console displays the Overview page for the instance you created.

Create a database

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Spanner Instances page.

   Go to Spanner instances

2. Click the instance you created, for example Test Instance.

3. In the instance Overview page that opens, click Create database.

4. For the database name, enter a name, such as example-db.

5. Select a database dialect.

   For information about support for PostgreSQL and for guidance for choosing a dialect, see PostgreSQL interface. If you selected GoogleSQL, you'll define the schema in the Define your schema text field in the next section of this quickstart.

   Your database creation page now looks like this:

   

6. Click Create.

   The Google Cloud console displays the Overview page for the database you created.

Create a schema for your database

Note: Spanner Studio (formerly labeled Query in the Google Cloud console) supports SQL, DML, and DDL operations in a single editor. For more information, see Manage your data using the Google Cloud console.

1. In the navigation menu, click Spanner Studio.

2. In the Spanner Studio page, click New tab or use the empty editor tab.

3. Enter:

   GoogleSQL

   CREATE TABLE Singers (
     SingerId   INT64 NOT NULL,
     FirstName  STRING(1024),
     LastName   STRING(1024),
     SingerInfo BYTES(MAX),
     BirthDate  DATE
   ) PRIMARY KEY(SingerId);
   

   PostgreSQL

   CREATE TABLE Singers (
     BirthDate  TIMESTAMPTZ,
     SingerId   BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
     FirstName  VARCHAR(1024),
     LastName   VARCHAR(1024),
     SingerInfo BYTEA
   );
   

4. Click Run.

   The Google Cloud console returns to the database Overview page and shows that Schema updates are underway. When the update is complete, the page looks like this:

   GoogleSQL

   

   PostgreSQL

   

   Notice that PostgreSQL converts the table name to lowercase.

Insert and modify data

The Google Cloud console provides an interface for inserting, editing, and deleting data.

Insert data

1. In the list of tables on the database Overview page, click the Singers table.

   The Google Cloud console displays the Singers table's Schema page.

2. In the navigation menu, click Data to display the Singers table's Data page.

3. Click Insert.

   The Google Cloud console displays the Singers table's Spanner Studio page with a new query tab that contains INSERT and SELECT statements that you edit to insert a row in the Singers table and view the result of that insertion:

   GoogleSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     Singers (SingerId,
       BirthDate,
       FirstName,
       LastName,
       SingerInfo)
   VALUES
     (<SingerId>, -- type: INT64
       <BirthDate>, -- type: DATE
       <FirstName>, -- type: STRING(1024)
       <LastName>, -- type: STRING(1024)
       <SingerInfo> -- type: BYTES(MAX)
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     Singers
   WHERE
     SingerId=<SingerId>;
   

   PostgreSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     singers (singerid,
       birthdate,
       firstname,
       lastname,
       singerinfo)
   VALUES
     (<singerid>, -- type: bigint
       <birthdate>, -- type: timestamp with time zone
       <firstname>, -- type: character varying
       <lastname>, -- type: character varying
       <singerinfo> -- type: bytea
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     singers
   WHERE
     singerid=<singerid>;
   

   Notice that PostgreSQL converts the column names to all lower case.

4. Edit the INSERT statement's VALUES clause and the SELECT statement's WHERE clause:

   GoogleSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     Singers (SingerId,
       BirthDate,
       FirstName,
       LastName,
       SingerInfo)
   VALUES
     (1, -- type: INT64
       NULL, -- type: DATE
       'Marc', -- type: STRING(1024)
       'Richards', -- type: STRING(1024)
       NULL -- type: BYTES(MAX)
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     Singers
   WHERE
     SingerId=1;
   

   PostgreSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     singers (singerid,
       birthdate,
       firstname,
       lastname,
       singerinfo)
   VALUES
     (1, -- type: bigint
       NULL, -- type: timestamp with time zone
       'Marc', -- type: character varying
       'Richards', -- type: character varying
       NULL -- type: bytea
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     singers
   WHERE
     singerid=1;
   

5. Click Run.

   Spanner runs the statements. When finished, the Results tab indicates that the first statement inserted one row, and provides a link to view the table's data.

6. In the Results tab, click the table link. The Singers table now has one row:

   GoogleSQL

   

   PostgreSQL

   

7. Click Insert to add another row.

   The Google Cloud console again displays the Singers table's Spanner Studio page with a new query tab that contains the same INSERT and SELECT statements.

8. Edit the INSERT statement's VALUES clause and the SELECT statement's WHERE clause:

   GoogleSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     Singers (SingerId,
       BirthDate,
       FirstName,
       LastName,
       SingerInfo)
   VALUES
     (2, -- type: INT64
       NULL, -- type: DATE
       'Catalina', -- type: STRING(1024)
       'Smith', -- type: STRING(1024)
       NULL -- type: BYTES(MAX)
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     Singers
   WHERE
     SingerId=2;
   

   PostgreSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     singers (singerid,
       birthdate,
       firstname,
       lastname,
       singerinfo)
   VALUES
     (2, -- type: bigint
       NULL, -- type: timestamp with time zone
       'Catalina', -- type: character varying
       'Smith', -- type: character varying
       NULL -- type: bytea
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     singers
   WHERE
     singerid=2;
   

9. Click Run.

   After Spanner runs the statements, the Results tab again indicates that the first statement inserted one row.

10. Click the table link. The Singers table now has two rows:

    GoogleSQL

    

    PostgreSQL

    

You can also insert empty string values when you enter data.

1. Click Insert to add a row.

   Spanner again displays the Singers table's Spanner Studio page with a new query tab that contains the same INSERT and SELECT statements.

2. Edit the template INSERT statement's VALUES clause and SELECT statement's WHERE clause:

   GoogleSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     Singers (SingerId,
       BirthDate,
       FirstName,
       LastName,
       SingerInfo)
   VALUES
     (3, -- type: INT64
       NULL, -- type: DATE
       'Kena', -- type: STRING(1024)
       '', -- type: STRING(1024)
       NULL -- type: BYTES(MAX)
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     Singers
   WHERE
     SingerId=3;
   

   PostgreSQL

     -- Add new values in the VALUES clause in order of the column list.
     -- Each value must be type compatible with its associated column.
   INSERT INTO
     singers (singerid,
       birthdate,
       firstname,
       lastname,
       singerinfo)
   VALUES
     (3, -- type: bigint
       NULL, -- type: timestamp with time zone
       'Kena', -- type: character varying
       '', -- type: character varying
       NULL -- type: bytea
       );
     -- Change values in the WHERE condition to match the inserted row.
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     singers
   WHERE
     singerid=3;
   

   Notice that the value provided for the last name column is an empty string, '', not a NULL value.

3. Click Run.

   After Spanner runs the statements, the Results tab indicates that the first statement inserted one row.

4. Click the table link. The Singers table now has three rows, and the row with the primary key value of 3 has an empty string in the LastName column:

   GoogleSQL

   

   PostgreSQL

   

Edit data

1. On the Singers table's Data page, select the checkbox on the row with the primary key value of 3, and then click Edit.

   The Spanner displays the Spanner Studio page with a new tab containing template UPDATE and SET statements that you can edit. Note that the WHERE clauses of both statements indicate that the row to update is the one with the primary key value of 3.

   GoogleSQL

     -- Change values in the SET clause to update the row where the WHERE condition is true.
   UPDATE
     Singers
   SET
     BirthDate='',
     FirstName='Kena',
     LastName='',
     SingerInfo=''
   WHERE
     SingerId=3;
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     Singers
   WHERE
     SingerId=3;
   

   PostgreSQL

     -- Change values in the SET clause to update the row where the WHERE condition is true.
   UPDATE
     singers
   SET
     birthdate=NULL,
     firstname='Kena',
     lastname='',
     singerinfo=NULL
   WHERE
     singerid='3';
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     singers
   WHERE
     singerid='3';
   

2. Edit the UPDATE statement's SET clause to update only the birth date:

   GoogleSQL

     -- Change values in the SET clause to update the row where the WHERE condition is true.
   UPDATE
     Singers
   SET
     BirthDate='1961-04-01'
   WHERE
     SingerId=3;
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     Singers
   WHERE
     SingerId=3;
   

   PostgreSQL

     -- Change values in the SET clause to update the row where the WHERE condition is true.
   UPDATE
     singers
   SET
     birthdate='1961-04-01 00:00:00 -8:00'
   WHERE
     singerid='3';
   SELECT
     *
   FROM
     singers
   WHERE
     singerid='3';
   

3. Click Run.

   Spanner runs the statements. When finished, the Results tab indicates that the first statement updated one row, and provides a link to view the table's data.

4. In the Results tab, click the table link.

   The updated row now has a value for the birth date.

   GoogleSQL

   

   PostgreSQL

   

Delete data

1. On the Singers table's Data page, select the checkbox on the row with 2 in the first column, and then click Delete.

2. In the dialog that appears, click Confirm.

   The Singers table now has two rows:

   GoogleSQL

   

   PostgreSQL

   

Run a query

1. On the database Overview page, click Spanner Studio in the navigation menu.

2. Click New tab to create a new query tab. Then, enter the following query in the query editor:

   GoogleSQL

   SELECT * FROM Singers;
   

   PostgreSQL

   SELECT * FROM singers;
   

3. Click Run.

   Spanner runs the query. When finished, the Results tab displays the result of your query:

   GoogleSQL

   

   PostgreSQL

   

Congratulations! You've successfully created a Spanner database and executed a SQL statement by using the query editor!

Clean up

To avoid additional charges to your Cloud Billing account, delete the database and the instance that you created. Deleting an instance automatically deletes all databases created in the instance.

Delete the database

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Spanner Instances page.

   Go to Spanner instances

2. Click the name of the instance that has the database that you want to delete, for example, Test Instance.

3. Click the name of the database that you want to delete, for example, example-db.

4. In the Database details page, click Delete database.

5. Confirm that you want to delete the database by entering the database name and clicking Delete.

Delete the instance

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Spanner Instances page.

   Go to Spanner instances

2. Click the name of the instance that you want to delete, for example, Test Instance.

3. Click Delete instance.

4. Confirm that you want to delete the instance by entering the instance name and clicking Delete.

What's next

• Learn about Instances.
• Understand the Spanner Schema and Data Model.
• Learn more about GoogleSQL Data Definition Language (DDL).
• Learn more about Query Execution Plans.
• Learn how to use Spanner with C++, C#, Go, Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, REST, or gcloud.