Update

Jump to the Code block for a combined complete example.

Setup

The following examples use the setup and record below to illustrate single record updates in an Aerospike database.

import com.aerospike.client.AerospikeClient;
import com.aerospike.client.policy.WritePolicy;
import com.aerospike.client.policy.RecordExistsAction;
import com.aerospike.client.Bin;
import com.aerospike.client.Key;
import com.aerospike.client.Record;

// Establishes a connection to the server
AerospikeClient client = new AerospikeClient("127.0.0.1", 3000);

// Creates a key with the namespace "sandbox", set "ufodata", and user key 5001
Key key = new Key("sandbox", "ufodata", 5001);

The record structure:

+------+----------+----------+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| PK   | occurred | reported | posted   | report                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | location                                                   |
+------+----------+----------+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+
| 5001 | 20220531 | 20220601 | 20220601 | MAP('{"shape":["circle", "flash", "disc"], "summary":"Large flying disc flashed in the sky above the student union. Craziest thing I've ever seen!", "city":"Ann Arbor", "state":"Michigan", "duration":"5 minutes"}') | GeoJSON('{"type":"Point","coordinates":[42.2808,83.743]}') |
+------+----------+----------+----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------+

Policies

Create and Update both utilize write policies that can be defined per command. The client employs a RecordExistsAction, specified within the write policy, to define the operation semantics when a record already exists. The default is UPDATE.

The following variants are available:

Action Type	Description
CREATE_ONLY	Create if record doesn’t exist already.
UPDATE	Create if record doesn’t exist, update otherwise.
UPDATE_ONLY	Update only, if record exists.
REPLACE	Create if record doesn’t exist, replace otherwise.
REPLACE_ONLY	Replace only, if record exists.

The following example sets the policy to update the record, only if it already exists.

// Can use a previously defined write policy or create a new one
WritePolicy updatePolicy = new WritePolicy();
updatePolicy.recordExistsAction = RecordExistsAction.UPDATE_ONLY;

Update a record

Update

With the write policy RecordExistsAction set to UPDATE or UPDATE_ONLY, new bins can be added to a record and existing bin values can be updated.

The following example updates the posted bin value to 20220602.

// Create bin with new value
Bin newPosted = new Bin("posted", 20220602);

// Update record with new bin value
client.put(updatePolicy, key, newPosted);

// Close the connection to the server
client.close();

Type specific

Type specific updates can add integers or append/prepend strings to existing integer and string bin values, respectively.

The following example decrements the posted bin value by one.

// Create bin with value to be added
Bin newPosted = new Bin("posted", -1);

// Add new bin value to existing bin
client.add(updatePolicy, key, newPosted);

// Close the connection to the server
client.close();

Note

Best practice is to apply add and append/prepend operations as part of a command, and not to use the full-record operation variant described above. Refer to Transaction Operations for information on operations and more client examples.

Replace

To replace a record, set the RecordExistsAction in the write policy to either REPLACE or REPLACE_ONLY. Refer to the policies section above for more information on setting the policy and the create page for creating a record to replace the existing one.

The following example sets the existing write policy to replace ony if the record already exists.

// Updating the previously defined write policy
updatePolicy.recordExistsAction = RecordExistsAction.REPLACE_ONLY;

Note

A replace can have a performance advantage over an update as a replace may not require reading the record from the device. Certain situations such as a stored key or a secondary index on a bin, and more, may still require a read on a replace, eliminating any performance advantage.

Delete a bin

A bin is deleted by setting it to null. Delete the posted bin by setting its value to null.

// Set bin value to null
Bin removeBin = Bin.asNull("posted");

// Update record with null bin
client.put(null, key, removeBin);

// Close the connection to the server
client.close();

Note

Updating a bin value to null, when it is the only bin in the record, deletes the record.

Code block

Expand this section for a single code block to read a record

import com.aerospike.client.AerospikeClient;
import com.aerospike.client.policy.WritePolicy;
import com.aerospike.client.policy.RecordExistsAction;
import com.aerospike.client.Bin;
import com.aerospike.client.Key;
import com.aerospike.client.Record;

// Establishes a connection to the server
AerospikeClient client = new AerospikeClient("127.0.0.1", 3000);

// Creates a key with the namespace "sandbox", set "ufodata", and user key 5001
Key key = new Key("sandbox", "ufodata", 5001);

// Can use a previously defined write policy or create a new one
WritePolicy updatePolicy = new WritePolicy();
updatePolicy.recordExistsAction = RecordExistsAction.UPDATE_ONLY;

// Create bin with new value
Bin newPosted = new Bin("posted", 20220602);

// Update record with new bin value
client.put(updatePolicy, key, newPosted);

// Close the connection to the server
client.close();