Configure transaction timeout

This page describes how to set a timeout for transactions using the Spanner client libraries. The transaction fails with a DEADLINE_EXCEEDED error if the transaction can't finish within the given timeout value.

You can set timeout values for transactions and for RPC request statements. Setting a longer timeout value for the transaction than the timeout value for the statement that is executed in the transaction doesn't increase the timeout for the statement, which is constrained by its own timeout value.

Also, if the timeout error occurs during the execution of the Commit request, it's still possible that the transaction was committed.

You can set a transaction timeout using the Go and Java client libraries.

Go

import (
	"context"
	"errors"
	"fmt"
	"io"
	"time"

	"cloud.google.com/go/spanner"
	"google.golang.org/api/iterator"
	"google.golang.org/grpc/codes"
)

func transactionTimeout(w io.Writer, db string) error {
	ctx := context.Background()
	client, err := spanner.NewClient(ctx, db)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer client.Close()

	// Create a context with a 60-second timeout and use this context to run a read/write transaction.
	// This context timeout will be applied to the entire transaction, and the transaction will fail
	// if it cannot finish within the specified timeout value. The Spanner client library applies the
	// (remainder of the) timeout to each statement that is executed in the transaction.
	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 60*time.Second)
	defer cancel()

	_, err = client.ReadWriteTransaction(ctx, func(ctx context.Context, txn *spanner.ReadWriteTransaction) error {
		selectStmt := spanner.Statement{
			SQL: `SELECT SingerId, FirstName, LastName FROM Singers ORDER BY LastName, FirstName`,
		}
		// The context that is passed in to the transaction function should be used for each statement
		// is executed.
		iter := txn.Query(ctx, selectStmt)
		defer iter.Stop()
		for {
			row, err := iter.Next()
			if errors.Is(err, iterator.Done) {
				break
			}
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}
			var singerID int64
			var firstName, lastName string
			if err := row.Columns(&singerID, &firstName, &lastName); err != nil {
				return err
			}
			fmt.Fprintf(w, "%d %s %s\n", singerID, firstName, lastName)
		}
		stmt := spanner.Statement{
			SQL: `INSERT INTO Singers (SingerId, FirstName, LastName)
					VALUES (38, 'George', 'Washington')`,
		}
		rowCount, err := txn.Update(ctx, stmt)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "%d record(s) inserted.\n", rowCount)
		return nil
	})
	// Check if an error was returned by the transaction.
	// The spanner.ErrCode(err) function will return codes.OK if err == nil.
	code := spanner.ErrCode(err)
	if code == codes.OK {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Transaction with timeout was executed successfully\n")
	} else if code == codes.DeadlineExceeded {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Transaction timed out\n")
	} else {
		fmt.Fprintf(w, "Transaction failed with error code %v\n", code)
	}
	return err
}

Java

import com.google.cloud.spanner.DatabaseClient;
import com.google.cloud.spanner.DatabaseId;
import com.google.cloud.spanner.ResultSet;
import com.google.cloud.spanner.Spanner;
import com.google.cloud.spanner.SpannerOptions;
import com.google.cloud.spanner.Statement;
import io.grpc.Context;
import io.grpc.Context.CancellableContext;
import io.grpc.Deadline;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

/**
 * Sample showing how to set a timeout for an entire transaction for the Cloud Spanner Java client.
 */
class TransactionTimeoutExample {

  static void executeTransactionWithTimeout() {
    // TODO(developer): Replace these variables before running the sample.
    String projectId = "my-project";
    String instanceId = "my-instance";
    String databaseId = "my-database";

    executeTransactionWithTimeout(projectId, instanceId, databaseId, 60L, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
  }

  // Execute a read/write transaction with a timeout for the entire transaction.
  static void executeTransactionWithTimeout(
      String projectId,
      String instanceId,
      String databaseId,
      long timeoutValue,
      TimeUnit timeoutUnit) {
    try (Spanner spanner = SpannerOptions.newBuilder().setProjectId(projectId).build()
        .getService()) {
      DatabaseClient client =
          spanner.getDatabaseClient(DatabaseId.of(projectId, instanceId, databaseId));
      // Create a gRPC context with a deadline and with cancellation.
      // gRPC context deadlines require the use of a scheduled executor.
      ScheduledExecutorService executor = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
      try (CancellableContext context =
          Context.current()
              .withDeadline(Deadline.after(timeoutValue, timeoutUnit), executor)
              .withCancellation()) {
        context.run(
            () -> {
              client
                  .readWriteTransaction()
                  .run(
                      transaction -> {
                        try (ResultSet resultSet =
                            transaction.executeQuery(
                                Statement.of(
                                    "SELECT SingerId, FirstName, LastName\n"
                                        + "FROM Singers\n"
                                        + "ORDER BY LastName, FirstName"))) {
                          while (resultSet.next()) {
                            System.out.printf(
                                "%d %s %s\n",
                                resultSet.getLong("SingerId"),
                                resultSet.getString("FirstName"),
                                resultSet.getString("LastName"));
                          }
                        }
                        String sql =
                            "INSERT INTO Singers (SingerId, FirstName, LastName)\n"
                                + "VALUES (20, 'George', 'Washington')";
                        long rowCount = transaction.executeUpdate(Statement.of(sql));
                        System.out.printf("%d record inserted.%n", rowCount);
                        return null;
                      });
            });
      }
    }
  }
}