Getting started with Spanner in Java

Objectives

This tutorial walks you through the following steps using the Spanner client library for Java:

  • Create a Spanner instance and database.
  • Write, read, and execute SQL queries on data in the database.
  • Update the database schema.
  • Update data using a read-write transaction.
  • Add a secondary index to the database.
  • Use the index to read and execute SQL queries on data.
  • Retrieve data using a read-only transaction.

Costs

This tutorial uses Spanner, which is a billable component of the Google Cloud. For information on the cost of using Spanner, see Pricing.

Before you begin

Complete the steps described in Set up, which cover creating and setting a default Google Cloud project, enabling billing, enabling the Cloud Spanner API, and setting up OAuth 2.0 to get authentication credentials to use the Cloud Spanner API.

In particular, make sure that you run gcloud auth application-default login to set up your local development environment with authentication credentials.

Prepare your local Java environment

  1. Install the following on your development machine if they are not already installed:

  2. Clone the sample app repository to your local machine:

    git clone https://github.com/googleapis/java-spanner.git

  3. Change to the directory that contains the Spanner sample code:

    cd java-spanner/samples/snippets

  4. Generate the sample JAR file:

    mvn clean package

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. When you create an instance, you choose an instance configuration, which determines where your data is stored, and also the number of nodes to use, which determines the amount of serving and storage resources in your instance.

Execute the following command to create a Spanner instance in the region us-central1 with 1 node:

gcloud spanner instances create test-instance --config=regional-us-central1 \
    --description="Test Instance" --nodes=1

Note that this creates an instance with the following characteristics:

  • Instance ID test-instance
  • Display name Test Instance
  • Instance configuration regional-us-central1 (Regional configurations store data in one region, while multi-region configurations distribute data across multiple regions. For more information, see About instances.)
  • Node count of 1 (node_count corresponds to the amount of serving and storage resources available to databases in the instance. Learn more in Nodes and processing units.)

You should see:

Creating instance...done.

Look through sample files

The samples repository contains a sample that shows how to use Spanner with Java.

Create a database

Create a database called example-db in the instance called test-instance by running the following on the command line.

GoogleSQL 

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
createdatabase test-instance example-db

PostgreSQL 

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
createpgdatabase test-instance example-db

You should see:

Created database [example-db]
The following code creates a database and two tables in the database.

GoogleSQL 

static void createDatabase(DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient,
    InstanceName instanceName, String databaseId) {
  CreateDatabaseRequest createDatabaseRequest =
      CreateDatabaseRequest.newBuilder()
          .setCreateStatement("CREATE DATABASE `" + databaseId + "`")
          .setParent(instanceName.toString())
          .addAllExtraStatements(Arrays.asList(
              "CREATE TABLE Singers ("
                  + "  SingerId   INT64 NOT NULL,"
                  + "  FirstName  STRING(1024),"
                  + "  LastName   STRING(1024),"
                  + "  SingerInfo BYTES(MAX),"
                  + "  FullName STRING(2048) AS "
                  + "  (ARRAY_TO_STRING([FirstName, LastName], \" \")) STORED"
                  + ") PRIMARY KEY (SingerId)",
              "CREATE TABLE Albums ("
                  + "  SingerId     INT64 NOT NULL,"
                  + "  AlbumId      INT64 NOT NULL,"
                  + "  AlbumTitle   STRING(MAX)"
                  + ") PRIMARY KEY (SingerId, AlbumId),"
                  + "  INTERLEAVE IN PARENT Singers ON DELETE CASCADE")).build();
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    com.google.spanner.admin.database.v1.Database db =
        dbAdminClient.createDatabaseAsync(createDatabaseRequest).get();
    System.out.println("Created database [" + db.getName() + "]");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

PostgreSQL 

static void createPostgreSqlDatabase(
    DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient, String projectId, String instanceId, String databaseId) {
  final CreateDatabaseRequest request =
      CreateDatabaseRequest.newBuilder()
          .setCreateStatement("CREATE DATABASE \"" + databaseId + "\"")
          .setParent(InstanceName.of(projectId, instanceId).toString())
          .setDatabaseDialect(DatabaseDialect.POSTGRESQL).build();

  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    Database db = dbAdminClient.createDatabaseAsync(request).get();
    System.out.println("Created database [" + db.getName() + "]");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}
static void createTableUsingDdl(DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient, DatabaseName databaseName) {
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    dbAdminClient.updateDatabaseDdlAsync(
        databaseName,
        Arrays.asList(
            "CREATE TABLE Singers ("
                + "  SingerId   bigint NOT NULL,"
                + "  FirstName  character varying(1024),"
                + "  LastName   character varying(1024),"
                + "  SingerInfo bytea,"
                + "  FullName character varying(2048) GENERATED "
                + "  ALWAYS AS (FirstName || ' ' || LastName) STORED,"
                + "  PRIMARY KEY (SingerId)"
                + ")",
            "CREATE TABLE Albums ("
                + "  SingerId     bigint NOT NULL,"
                + "  AlbumId      bigint NOT NULL,"
                + "  AlbumTitle   character varying(1024),"
                + "  PRIMARY KEY (SingerId, AlbumId)"
                + ") INTERLEAVE IN PARENT Singers ON DELETE CASCADE")).get();
    System.out.println("Created Singers & Albums tables in database: [" + databaseName + "]");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.asSpannerException(e);
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

The next step is to write data to your database.

Create a database client

Before you can do reads or writes, you must create a DatabaseClient. You can think of a DatabaseClient as a database connection: all of your interactions with Spanner must go through a DatabaseClient. Typically you create a DatabaseClient when your application starts up, then you re-use that DatabaseClient to read, write, and execute transactions.

GoogleSQL 

SpannerOptions options = SpannerOptions.newBuilder().build();
Spanner spanner = options.getService();
DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient = null;
try {
  final String command = args[0];
  DatabaseId db = DatabaseId.of(options.getProjectId(), args[1], args[2]);
  DatabaseClient dbClient = spanner.getDatabaseClient(db);
  dbAdminClient = spanner.createDatabaseAdminClient();

  // Use client here...
} finally {
  if (dbAdminClient != null) {
    if (!dbAdminClient.isShutdown() || !dbAdminClient.isTerminated()) {
      dbAdminClient.close();
    }
  }
  spanner.close();
}

PostgreSQL 

SpannerOptions options = SpannerOptions.newBuilder().build();
Spanner spanner = options.getService();
DatabaseAdminClient dbAdminClient = null;
try {
  DatabaseClient dbClient = spanner.getDatabaseClient(db);
  dbAdminClient = spanner.createDatabaseAdminClient();
} finally {
  if (dbAdminClient != null) {
    if (!dbAdminClient.isShutdown() || !dbAdminClient.isTerminated()) {
      dbAdminClient.close();
    }
  }
  spanner.close();
}

Each client uses resources in Spanner, so it is good practice to close unneeded clients by calling close().

Read more in the DatabaseClient Javadoc reference.

Write data with DML

You can insert data using Data Manipulation Language (DML) in a read-write transaction.

You use the executeUpdate() method to execute a DML statement.

static void writeUsingDml(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  // Insert 4 singer records
  dbClient
      .readWriteTransaction()
      .run(transaction -> {
        String sql =
            "INSERT INTO Singers (SingerId, FirstName, LastName) VALUES "
                + "(12, 'Melissa', 'Garcia'), "
                + "(13, 'Russell', 'Morales'), "
                + "(14, 'Jacqueline', 'Long'), "
                + "(15, 'Dylan', 'Shaw')";
        long rowCount = transaction.executeUpdate(Statement.of(sql));
        System.out.printf("%d records inserted.\n", rowCount);
        return null;
      });
}

Run the sample using the writeusingdml argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    writeusingdml test-instance example-db

You should see:

4 records inserted.

Write data with mutations

You can also insert data using mutations.

You can write data using a Mutation object. A Mutation object is a container for mutation operations. A Mutation represents a sequence of inserts, updates, and deletes that Spanner applies atomically to different rows and tables in a Spanner database.

The newInsertBuilder() method in the Mutation class constructs an INSERT mutation, which inserts a new row in a table. If the row already exists, the write fails. Alternatively, you can use the newInsertOrUpdateBuilder method to construct an INSERT_OR_UPDATE mutation, which updates column values if the row already exists.

The write() method in the DatabaseClient class writes the mutations. All mutations in a single batch are applied atomically.

This code shows how to write the data using mutations:

static final List<Singer> SINGERS =
    Arrays.asList(
        new Singer(1, "Marc", "Richards"),
        new Singer(2, "Catalina", "Smith"),
        new Singer(3, "Alice", "Trentor"),
        new Singer(4, "Lea", "Martin"),
        new Singer(5, "David", "Lomond"));

static final List<Album> ALBUMS =
    Arrays.asList(
        new Album(1, 1, "Total Junk"),
        new Album(1, 2, "Go, Go, Go"),
        new Album(2, 1, "Green"),
        new Album(2, 2, "Forever Hold Your Peace"),
        new Album(2, 3, "Terrified"));
static void writeExampleData(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  List<Mutation> mutations = new ArrayList<>();
  for (Singer singer : SINGERS) {
    mutations.add(
        Mutation.newInsertBuilder("Singers")
            .set("SingerId")
            .to(singer.singerId)
            .set("FirstName")
            .to(singer.firstName)
            .set("LastName")
            .to(singer.lastName)
            .build());
  }
  for (Album album : ALBUMS) {
    mutations.add(
        Mutation.newInsertBuilder("Albums")
            .set("SingerId")
            .to(album.singerId)
            .set("AlbumId")
            .to(album.albumId)
            .set("AlbumTitle")
            .to(album.albumTitle)
            .build());
  }
  dbClient.write(mutations);
}

Run the sample using the write argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    write test-instance example-db

You should see the command run successfully.

Query data using SQL

Spanner supports a SQL interface for reading data, which you can access on the command line using the Google Cloud CLI or programmatically using the Spanner client library for Java.

On the command line

Execute the following SQL statement to read the values of all columns from the Albums table:

gcloud spanner databases execute-sql example-db --instance=test-instance \
    --sql='SELECT SingerId, AlbumId, AlbumTitle FROM Albums'

The result should be:

SingerId AlbumId AlbumTitle
1        1       Total Junk
1        2       Go, Go, Go
2        1       Green
2        2       Forever Hold Your Peace
2        3       Terrified

Use the Spanner client library for Java

In addition to executing a SQL statement on the command line, you can issue the same SQL statement programmatically using the Spanner client library for Java.

The following methods and classes are used to run the SQL query:

  • The singleUse() method in the DatabaseClient class: use this to read the value of one or more columns from one or more rows in a Spanner table. singleUse() returns a ReadContext object, which is used for running a read or SQL statement.
  • The executeQuery() method of the ReadContext class: use this method to execute a query against a database.
  • The Statement class: use this to construct a SQL string.
  • The ResultSet class: use this to access the data returned by a SQL statement or read call.

Here's how to issue the query and access the data:

static void query(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  try (ResultSet resultSet =
      dbClient
          .singleUse() // Execute a single read or query against Cloud Spanner.
          .executeQuery(Statement.of("SELECT SingerId, AlbumId, AlbumTitle FROM Albums"))) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %d %s\n", resultSet.getLong(0), resultSet.getLong(1), resultSet.getString(2));
    }
  }
}

Run the sample using the query argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    query test-instance example-db

You should see the following result:

1 1 Total Junk
1 2 Go, Go, Go
2 1 Green
2 2 Forever Hold Your Peace
2 3 Terrified

Query using a SQL parameter

If your application has a frequently executed query, you can improve its performance by parameterizing it. The resulting parametric query can be cached and reused, which reduces compilation costs. For more information, see Use query parameters to speed up frequently executed queries.

Here is an example of using a parameter in the WHERE clause to query records containing a specific value for LastName.

GoogleSQL 

static void queryWithParameter(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  Statement statement =
      Statement.newBuilder(
              "SELECT SingerId, FirstName, LastName "
                  + "FROM Singers "
                  + "WHERE LastName = @lastName")
          .bind("lastName")
          .to("Garcia")
          .build();
  try (ResultSet resultSet = dbClient.singleUse().executeQuery(statement)) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %s %s\n",
          resultSet.getLong("SingerId"),
          resultSet.getString("FirstName"),
          resultSet.getString("LastName"));
    }
  }
}

PostgreSQL 

static void queryWithParameter(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  Statement statement =
      Statement.newBuilder(
              "SELECT singerid AS \"SingerId\", "
                  + "firstname as \"FirstName\", lastname as \"LastName\" "
                  + "FROM Singers "
                  + "WHERE LastName = $1")
          .bind("p1")
          .to("Garcia")
          .build();
  try (ResultSet resultSet = dbClient.singleUse().executeQuery(statement)) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %s %s\n",
          resultSet.getLong("SingerId"),
          resultSet.getString("FirstName"),
          resultSet.getString("LastName"));
    }
  }
}

Run the sample using the queryWithParameter argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    querywithparameter test-instance example-db

You should see the following result:

12 Melissa Garcia

Read data using the read API

In addition to Spanner's SQL interface, Spanner also supports a read interface.

Use the read() method of the ReadContext class to read rows from the database. Use a KeySet object to define a collection of keys and key ranges to read.

Here's how to read the data:

static void read(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  try (ResultSet resultSet =
      dbClient
          .singleUse()
          .read(
              "Albums",
              KeySet.all(), // Read all rows in a table.
              Arrays.asList("SingerId", "AlbumId", "AlbumTitle"))) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %d %s\n", resultSet.getLong(0), resultSet.getLong(1), resultSet.getString(2));
    }
  }
}

Run the sample using the read argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    read test-instance example-db

You should see output similar to:

1 1 Total Junk
1 2 Go, Go, Go
2 1 Green
2 2 Forever Hold Your Peace
2 3 Terrified

Update the database schema

Assume you need to add a new column called MarketingBudget to the Albums table. Adding a new column to an existing table requires an update to your database schema. Spanner supports schema updates to a database while the database continues to serve traffic. Schema updates don't require taking the database offline and they don't lock entire tables or columns; you can continue writing data to the database during the schema update. Read more about supported schema updates and schema change performance in Make schema updates.

Add a column

You can add a column on the command line using the Google Cloud CLI or programmatically using the Spanner client library for Java.

On the command line

Use the following ALTER TABLE command to add the new column to the table:

GoogleSQL 

gcloud spanner databases ddl update example-db --instance=test-instance \
    --ddl='ALTER TABLE Albums ADD COLUMN MarketingBudget INT64'

PostgreSQL 

gcloud spanner databases ddl update example-db --instance=test-instance \
    --ddl='ALTER TABLE Albums ADD COLUMN MarketingBudget BIGINT'

You should see:

Schema updating...done.

Use the Spanner client library for Java

Use the updateDatabaseDdl() method of the DatabaseAdminClient class to modify the schema:

GoogleSQL 

static void addMarketingBudget(DatabaseAdminClient adminClient, DatabaseName databaseName) {
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    adminClient.updateDatabaseDdlAsync(
        databaseName,
        Arrays.asList("ALTER TABLE Albums ADD COLUMN MarketingBudget INT64")).get();
    System.out.println("Added MarketingBudget column");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

PostgreSQL 

static void addMarketingBudget(DatabaseAdminClient adminClient, DatabaseName databaseName) {
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    adminClient.updateDatabaseDdlAsync(
        databaseName,
        Arrays.asList("ALTER TABLE Albums ADD COLUMN MarketingBudget bigint")).get();
    System.out.println("Added MarketingBudget column");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

Run the sample using the addmarketingbudget argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    addmarketingbudget test-instance example-db

You should see:

Added MarketingBudget column.

Write data to the new column

The following code writes data to the new column. It sets MarketingBudget to 100000 for the row keyed by Albums(1, 1) and to 500000 for the row keyed by Albums(2, 2).

static void update(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  // Mutation can be used to update/insert/delete a single row in a table. Here we use
  // newUpdateBuilder to create update mutations.
  List<Mutation> mutations =
      Arrays.asList(
          Mutation.newUpdateBuilder("Albums")
              .set("SingerId")
              .to(1)
              .set("AlbumId")
              .to(1)
              .set("MarketingBudget")
              .to(100000)
              .build(),
          Mutation.newUpdateBuilder("Albums")
              .set("SingerId")
              .to(2)
              .set("AlbumId")
              .to(2)
              .set("MarketingBudget")
              .to(500000)
              .build());
  // This writes all the mutations to Cloud Spanner atomically.
  dbClient.write(mutations);
}

Run the sample using the update argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    update test-instance example-db

You can also execute a SQL query or a read call to fetch the values that you just wrote.

Here's the code to execute the query:

GoogleSQL 

static void queryMarketingBudget(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  // Rows without an explicit value for MarketingBudget will have a MarketingBudget equal to
  // null. A try-with-resource block is used to automatically release resources held by
  // ResultSet.
  try (ResultSet resultSet =
      dbClient
          .singleUse()
          .executeQuery(Statement.of("SELECT SingerId, AlbumId, MarketingBudget FROM Albums"))) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %d %s\n",
          resultSet.getLong("SingerId"),
          resultSet.getLong("AlbumId"),
          // We check that the value is non null. ResultSet getters can only be used to retrieve
          // non null values.
          resultSet.isNull("MarketingBudget") ? "NULL" : resultSet.getLong("MarketingBudget"));
    }
  }
}

PostgreSQL 

static void queryMarketingBudget(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  // Rows without an explicit value for MarketingBudget will have a MarketingBudget equal to
  // null. A try-with-resource block is used to automatically release resources held by
  // ResultSet.
  try (ResultSet resultSet =
      dbClient
          .singleUse()
          .executeQuery(Statement.of("SELECT singerid as \"SingerId\", "
              + "albumid as \"AlbumId\", marketingbudget as \"MarketingBudget\" "
              + "FROM Albums"))) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %d %s\n",
          resultSet.getLong("SingerId"),
          resultSet.getLong("AlbumId"),
          // We check that the value is non null. ResultSet getters can only be used to retrieve
          // non null values.
          resultSet.isNull("MarketingBudget") ? "NULL" :
              resultSet.getLong("MarketingBudget"));
    }
  }
}

To execute this query, run the sample using the querymarketingbudget argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    querymarketingbudget test-instance example-db

You should see:

1 1 100000
1 2 NULL
2 1 NULL
2 2 500000
2 3 NULL

Update data

You can update data using DML in a read-write transaction.

You use the executeUpdate() method to execute a DML statement.

GoogleSQL 

static void writeWithTransactionUsingDml(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  dbClient
      .readWriteTransaction()
      .run(transaction -> {
        // Transfer marketing budget from one album to another. We do it in a transaction to
        // ensure that the transfer is atomic.
        String sql1 =
            "SELECT MarketingBudget from Albums WHERE SingerId = 2 and AlbumId = 2";
        ResultSet resultSet = transaction.executeQuery(Statement.of(sql1));
        long album2Budget = 0;
        while (resultSet.next()) {
          album2Budget = resultSet.getLong("MarketingBudget");
        }
        // Transaction will only be committed if this condition still holds at the time of
        // commit. Otherwise it will be aborted and the callable will be rerun by the
        // client library.
        long transfer = 200000;
        if (album2Budget >= transfer) {
          String sql2 =
              "SELECT MarketingBudget from Albums WHERE SingerId = 1 and AlbumId = 1";
          ResultSet resultSet2 = transaction.executeQuery(Statement.of(sql2));
          long album1Budget = 0;
          while (resultSet2.next()) {
            album1Budget = resultSet2.getLong("MarketingBudget");
          }
          album1Budget += transfer;
          album2Budget -= transfer;
          Statement updateStatement =
              Statement.newBuilder(
                      "UPDATE Albums "
                          + "SET MarketingBudget = @AlbumBudget "
                          + "WHERE SingerId = 1 and AlbumId = 1")
                  .bind("AlbumBudget")
                  .to(album1Budget)
                  .build();
          transaction.executeUpdate(updateStatement);
          Statement updateStatement2 =
              Statement.newBuilder(
                      "UPDATE Albums "
                          + "SET MarketingBudget = @AlbumBudget "
                          + "WHERE SingerId = 2 and AlbumId = 2")
                  .bind("AlbumBudget")
                  .to(album2Budget)
                  .build();
          transaction.executeUpdate(updateStatement2);
        }
        return null;
      });
}

PostgreSQL 

static void writeWithTransactionUsingDml(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  dbClient
      .readWriteTransaction()
      .run(transaction -> {
        // Transfer marketing budget from one album to another. We do it in a transaction to
        // ensure that the transfer is atomic.
        String sql1 =
            "SELECT marketingbudget as \"MarketingBudget\" from Albums WHERE "
                + "SingerId = 2 and AlbumId = 2";
        ResultSet resultSet = transaction.executeQuery(Statement.of(sql1));
        long album2Budget = 0;
        while (resultSet.next()) {
          album2Budget = resultSet.getLong("MarketingBudget");
        }
        // Transaction will only be committed if this condition still holds at the time of
        // commit. Otherwise it will be aborted and the callable will be rerun by the
        // client library.
        long transfer = 200000;
        if (album2Budget >= transfer) {
          String sql2 =
              "SELECT marketingbudget as \"MarketingBudget\" from Albums WHERE "
                  + "SingerId = 1 and AlbumId = 1";
          ResultSet resultSet2 = transaction.executeQuery(Statement.of(sql2));
          long album1Budget = 0;
          while (resultSet2.next()) {
            album1Budget = resultSet2.getLong("MarketingBudget");
          }
          album1Budget += transfer;
          album2Budget -= transfer;
          Statement updateStatement =
              Statement.newBuilder(
                      "UPDATE Albums "
                          + "SET MarketingBudget = $1"
                          + "WHERE SingerId = 1 and AlbumId = 1")
                  .bind("p1")
                  .to(album1Budget)
                  .build();
          transaction.executeUpdate(updateStatement);
          Statement updateStatement2 =
              Statement.newBuilder(
                      "UPDATE Albums "
                          + "SET MarketingBudget = $1"
                          + "WHERE SingerId = 2 and AlbumId = 2")
                  .bind("p1")
                  .to(album2Budget)
                  .build();
          transaction.executeUpdate(updateStatement2);
        }
        return null;
      });
}

Run the sample using the writewithtransactionusingdml argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    writewithtransactionusingdml test-instance example-db

Use a secondary index

Suppose you wanted to fetch all rows of Albums that have AlbumTitle values in a certain range. You could read all values from the AlbumTitle column using a SQL statement or a read call, and then discard the rows that don't meet the criteria, but doing this full table scan is expensive, especially for tables with a lot of rows. Instead you can speed up the retrieval of rows when searching by non-primary key columns by creating a secondary index on the table.

Adding a secondary index to an existing table requires a schema update. Like other schema updates, Spanner supports adding an index while the database continues to serve traffic. Spanner automatically backfills the index with your existing data. Backfills might take a few minutes to complete, but you don't need to take the database offline or avoid writing to the indexed table during this process. For more details, see Add a secondary index.

After you add a secondary index, Spanner automatically uses it for SQL queries that are likely to run faster with the index. If you use the read interface, you must specify the index that you want to use.

Add a secondary index

You can add an index on the command line using the gcloud CLI or programmatically using the Spanner client library for Java.

On the command line

Use the following CREATE INDEX command to add an index to the database:

gcloud spanner databases ddl update example-db --instance=test-instance \
    --ddl='CREATE INDEX AlbumsByAlbumTitle ON Albums(AlbumTitle)'

You should see:

Schema updating...done.

Using the Spanner client library for Java

Use the updateDatabaseDdl() method of the DatabaseAdminClient class to add an index:

static void addIndex(DatabaseAdminClient adminClient, DatabaseName databaseName) {
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    adminClient.updateDatabaseDdlAsync(
        databaseName,
        Arrays.asList("CREATE INDEX AlbumsByAlbumTitle ON Albums(AlbumTitle)")).get();
    System.out.println("Added AlbumsByAlbumTitle index");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

Run the sample using the addindex argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    addindex test-instance example-db

Adding an index can take a few minutes. After the index is added, you should see:

Added the AlbumsByAlbumTitle index.

Read using the index

For SQL queries, Spanner automatically uses an appropriate index. In the read interface, you must specify the index in your request.

To use the index in the read interface, use the readUsingIndex() method of the ReadContext class.

The following code fetches all AlbumId, and AlbumTitle columns from the AlbumsByAlbumTitle index.

static void readUsingIndex(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  try (ResultSet resultSet =
      dbClient
          .singleUse()
          .readUsingIndex(
              "Albums",
              "AlbumsByAlbumTitle",
              KeySet.all(),
              Arrays.asList("AlbumId", "AlbumTitle"))) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf("%d %s\n", resultSet.getLong(0), resultSet.getString(1));
    }
  }
}

Run the sample using the readindex argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    readindex test-instance example-db

You should see:

2 Forever Hold Your Peace
2 Go, Go, Go
1 Green
3 Terrified
1 Total Junk

Add an index for index-only reads

You might have noticed that the previous read example doesn't include reading the MarketingBudget column. This is because Spanner's read interface doesn't support the ability to join an index with a data table to look up values that are not stored in the index.

Create an alternate definition of AlbumsByAlbumTitle that stores a copy of MarketingBudget in the index.

On the command line

GoogleSQL 

gcloud spanner databases ddl update example-db --instance=test-instance \
    --ddl='CREATE INDEX AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 ON Albums(AlbumTitle) STORING (MarketingBudget)

PostgreSQL 

gcloud spanner databases ddl update example-db --instance=test-instance \
    --ddl='CREATE INDEX AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 ON Albums(AlbumTitle) INCLUDE (MarketingBudget)

Adding an index can take a few minutes. After the index is added, you should see:

Schema updating...done.

Using the Spanner client library for Java

Use the updateDatabaseDdl() method of the DatabaseAdminClient class to add an index with a STORING clause for GoogleSQL and INCLUDE clause for PostgreSQL:

GoogleSQL 

static void addStoringIndex(DatabaseAdminClient adminClient, DatabaseName databaseName) {
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    adminClient.updateDatabaseDdlAsync(
        databaseName,
        Arrays.asList(
            "CREATE INDEX AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 ON Albums(AlbumTitle) "
                + "STORING (MarketingBudget)")).get();
    System.out.println("Added AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 index");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

PostgreSQL 

static void addStoringIndex(DatabaseAdminClient adminClient, DatabaseName databaseName) {
  try {
    // Initiate the request which returns an OperationFuture.
    adminClient.updateDatabaseDdlAsync(
        databaseName,
        Arrays.asList(
            "CREATE INDEX AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 ON Albums(AlbumTitle) "
                + "INCLUDE (MarketingBudget)")).get();
    System.out.println("Added AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 index");
  } catch (ExecutionException e) {
    // If the operation failed during execution, expose the cause.
    throw (SpannerException) e.getCause();
  } catch (InterruptedException e) {
    // Throw when a thread is waiting, sleeping, or otherwise occupied,
    // and the thread is interrupted, either before or during the activity.
    throw SpannerExceptionFactory.propagateInterrupt(e);
  }
}

Run the sample using the addstoringindex argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    addstoringindex test-instance example-db

Adding an index can take a few minutes. After the index is added, you should see:

Added AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 index

Now you can execute a read that fetches all AlbumId, AlbumTitle, and MarketingBudget columns from the AlbumsByAlbumTitle2 index:

static void readStoringIndex(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  // We can read MarketingBudget also from the index since it stores a copy of MarketingBudget.
  try (ResultSet resultSet =
      dbClient
          .singleUse()
          .readUsingIndex(
              "Albums",
              "AlbumsByAlbumTitle2",
              KeySet.all(),
              Arrays.asList("AlbumId", "AlbumTitle", "MarketingBudget"))) {
    while (resultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %s %s\n",
          resultSet.getLong(0),
          resultSet.getString(1),
          resultSet.isNull("MarketingBudget") ? "NULL" : resultSet.getLong("MarketingBudget"));
    }
  }
}

Run the sample using the readstoringindex argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    readstoringindex test-instance example-db

You should see output similar to:

2 Forever Hold Your Peace 300000
2 Go, Go, Go NULL
1 Green NULL
3 Terrified NULL
1 Total Junk 300000

Retrieve data using read-only transactions

Suppose you want to execute more than one read at the same timestamp. Read-only transactions observe a consistent prefix of the transaction commit history, so your application always gets consistent data. Use a ReadOnlyTransaction object for executing read-only transactions. Use the readOnlyTransaction() method of the DatabaseClient class to get a ReadOnlyTransaction object.

The following shows how to run a query and perform a read in the same read-only transaction:

static void readOnlyTransaction(DatabaseClient dbClient) {
  // ReadOnlyTransaction must be closed by calling close() on it to release resources held by it.
  // We use a try-with-resource block to automatically do so.
  try (ReadOnlyTransaction transaction = dbClient.readOnlyTransaction()) {
    ResultSet queryResultSet =
        transaction.executeQuery(
            Statement.of("SELECT SingerId, AlbumId, AlbumTitle FROM Albums"));
    while (queryResultSet.next()) {
      System.out.printf(
          "%d %d %s\n",
          queryResultSet.getLong(0), queryResultSet.getLong(1), queryResultSet.getString(2));
    }
    try (ResultSet readResultSet =
        transaction.read(
            "Albums", KeySet.all(), Arrays.asList("SingerId", "AlbumId", "AlbumTitle"))) {
      while (readResultSet.next()) {
        System.out.printf(
            "%d %d %s\n",
            readResultSet.getLong(0), readResultSet.getLong(1), readResultSet.getString(2));
      }
    }
  }
}

Run the sample using the readonlytransaction argument.

java -jar target/spanner-snippets/spanner-google-cloud-samples.jar \
    readonlytransaction test-instance example-db

You should see output similar to:

2 2 Forever Hold Your Peace
1 2 Go, Go, Go
2 1 Green
2 3 Terrified
1 1 Total Junk
1 1 Total Junk
1 2 Go, Go, Go
2 1 Green
2 2 Forever Hold Your Peace
2 3 Terrified

Cleanup

To avoid incurring additional charges to your Cloud Billing account for the resources used in this tutorial, drop the database and delete the instance that you created.

Delete the database

If you delete an instance, all databases within it are automatically deleted. This step shows how to delete a database without deleting an instance (you would still incur charges for the instance).

On the command line

gcloud spanner databases delete example-db --instance=test-instance

Using the Google Cloud console

  1. Go to the Spanner Instances page in the Google Cloud console.

    Go to the Instances page

  2. Click the instance.

  3. Click the database that you want to delete.

  4. In the Database details page, click Delete.

  5. Confirm that you want to delete the database and click Delete.

Delete the instance

Deleting an instance automatically drops all databases created in that instance.

On the command line

gcloud spanner instances delete test-instance

Using the Google Cloud console

  1. Go to the Spanner Instances page in the Google Cloud console.

    Go to the Instances page

  2. Click your instance.

  3. Click Delete.

  4. Confirm that you want to delete the instance and click Delete.

What's next