Quickstart using the console

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

• Create a Cloud Spanner instance, database, and table.
• Add a schema.
• Write and modify data.
• Run a query.

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

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 Cloud project. Learn how to confirm that billing is enabled for your project.

4. Enable the Cloud Spanner API for the project.

   Enable the Cloud Spanner API

Create an instance

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

1. Go to the Cloud Spanner Instances page in the Cloud Console.

   Go to the instances page

2. Click Create instance.

3. For the instance name, enter Test Instance.

4. For the instance ID, enter test-instance.

5. Use a Regional configuration.

6. Choose any regional configuration from the drop-down menu.

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

7. Use default compute capacity of 1000 processing units.

   Your instance creation page now looks like this:

   

8. Click Create.

   Your instance appears in the instance list.

Create a database

1. Go to the Cloud Spanner Instances page in the Cloud Console.

   Go to the instances page

2. Click the Test Instance instance.

3. Click Create database.

4. For the database name, enter example-db.

   Your database creation page now looks like this:

   

5. Skip the Define your schema step for now. You'll define your schema in the next section of this quickstart.

6. Click Create.

   The Cloud Console displays the Overview page for the database you created.

Create a schema for your database

1. On example-db's Overview page, click Create table at the start of the list of tables.

   The Cloud Console displays the Write DDL statements page.

2. Enter:

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

3. Click Submit.

   The Cloud Console returns to example-db's Overview page and shows that Schema updates are underway. When the update is complete, the page looks like this:

   

Insert and modify data

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

Insert data

1. On example-db's Overview page, click the Singers table in the list of tables.

   The Cloud Console displays the Singers table's Schema page.

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

3. Click Insert.

   The Cloud Console displays the Singers table's Query page with a new query tab containing template INSERT and SELECT statements you edit to insert a row in the Singers table and view the result of that insertion:

     -- 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>;
   

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

     -- 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;
   

5. Click Run.

   Cloud 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:

   

7. Click Insert to add an additional row.

   The Cloud Console again displays the Singers table's Query page with a new query tab containing the same template INSERT and SELECT statements.

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

     -- 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;
   

9. Click Run.

   After Cloud 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:

    

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

1. Click Insert to add row.

   The Cloud Console again displays the Singers table's Query page with a new query tab containing the same template INSERT and SELECT statements.

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

       -- 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;
   

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

3. Click Run.

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

4. Click the table link. The Singers table now has three rows, and the row for SingerID 3 has a LastName that is an empty string:

   

Edit data

1. On the Singers table's Data page, check the box next to the row for SingerId 3, then click Edit.

   The Cloud Console displays the Singers table's Query page with a new query tab containing template UPDATE and SELECT statements you edit to update the row in the Singers table and view the result of that update. Note that the WHERE clauses of both statements indicate that the row to update is the one for SingerId 3.

     -- 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;
   

2. Edit the UPDATE statement's SET clause to update only the BirthDate column:

     -- 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;
   

3. Click Run.

   Cloud 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 row for SingerId 3 in the Singers table now has a BirthDate value:

   

Delete data

1. On the Singers table's Data page, check the box next to the row for SingerId 2, then click Delete.

2. In the dialog that appears, click Confirm.

   The Singers table now has two rows:

   

Run a query

1. On example-db's Overview page, click Query in the side menu to display example-db's Query page.

2. Click New tab to create a new query tab. Then, enter this query:

   SELECT * FROM Singers;
   

3. Click Run.

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

   

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

Cleanup

To avoid additional charges to your Cloud Billing account, delete the database and the instance that you created.

Delete the database

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

   Go to the instances page

2. Click Test Instance.

3. Click example-db.

4. In the Database details page, click DELETE DATABASE.

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

Delete the instance

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

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

   Go to the instances page

2. Click Test Instance.

3. Click DELETE INSTANCE.

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

What's next

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