Update Records

Runs multiple predicate-based updates in a single call. With the list of given expressions, any matching record's column values will be updated as provided in input parameter new_values_maps. There is also an optional 'upsert' capability where if a particular predicate doesn't match any existing record, then a new record can be inserted.

Note that this operation can only be run on an original table and not on a result view.

This operation can update primary key values. By default only 'pure primary key' predicates are allowed when updating primary key values. If the primary key for a table is the column 'attr1', then the operation will only accept predicates of the form: "attr1 == 'foo'" if the attr1 column is being updated. For a composite primary key (e.g. columns 'attr1' and 'attr2') then this operation will only accept predicates of the form: "(attr1 == 'foo') and (attr2 == 'bar')". Meaning, all primary key columns must appear in an equality predicate in the expressions. Furthermore each 'pure primary key' predicate must be unique within a given request. These restrictions can be removed by utilizing some available options through input parameter options.

The update_on_existing_pk option specifies the record primary key collision policy for tables with a primary key, while ignore_existing_pk specifies the record primary key collision error-suppression policy when those collisions result in the update being rejected. Both are ignored on tables with no primary key.

Input Parameter Description

Name

Type

Description

table_name

string

Name of table to be updated, in [schema_name.]table_name format, using standard name resolution rules. Must be a currently existing table and not a view.

expressions

array of strings

A list of the actual predicates, one for each update; format should follow the guidelines here .

new_values_maps

array of maps of string to strings and/or nulls

List of new values for the matching records. Each element is a map with (key, value) pairs where the keys are the names of the columns whose values are to be updated; the values are the new values. The number of elements in the list should match the length of input parameter expressions.

records_to_insert

array of bytes

An optional list of new binary-avro encoded records to insert, one for each update. If one of input parameter expressions does not yield a matching record to be updated, then the corresponding element from this list will be added to the table. The default value is an empty array ( [] ).

records_to_insert_str

array of strings

An optional list of JSON encoded objects to insert, one for each update, to be added if the particular update did not match any objects. The default value is an empty array ( [] ).

record_encoding

string

Identifies which of input parameter records_to_insert and input parameter records_to_insert_str should be used. The default value is binary. The supported values are:

binary
json

options

map of string to strings

Optional parameters. The default value is an empty map ( {} ).

Supported Parameters (keys)

Parameter Description

global_expression

An optional global expression to reduce the search space of the predicates listed in input parameter expressions. The default value is ''.

bypass_safety_checks

When set to true, all predicates are available for primary key updates. Keep in mind that it is possible to destroy data in this case, since a single predicate may match multiple objects (potentially all of records of a table), and then updating all of those records to have the same primary key will, due to the primary key uniqueness constraints, effectively delete all but one of those updated records. The default value is false. The supported values are:

true
false

update_on_existing_pk

Specifies the record collision policy for updating a table with a primary key. There are two ways that a record collision can occur. The first is an "update collision", which happens when the update changes the value of the updated record's primary key, and that new primary key already exists as the primary key of another record in the table. The second is an "insert collision", which occurs when a given filter in input parameter expressions finds no records to update, and the alternate insert record given in input parameter records_to_insert (or input parameter records_to_insert_str) contains a primary key matching that of an existing record in the table. If update_on_existing_pk is set to true, "update collisions" will result in the existing record collided into being removed and the record updated with values specified in input parameter new_values_maps taking its place; "insert collisions" will result in the collided-into record being updated with the values in input parameter records_to_insert/input parameter records_to_insert_str (if given). If set to false, the existing collided-into record will remain unchanged, while the update will be rejected and the error handled as determined by ignore_existing_pk. If the specified table does not have a primary key, then this option has no effect. The default value is false.

Supported Values	Description
true	Overwrite the collided-into record when updating a record's primary key or inserting an alternate record causes a primary key collision between the record being updated/inserted and another existing record in the table
false	Reject updates which cause primary key collisions between the record being updated/inserted and an existing record in the table

ignore_existing_pk

Specifies the record collision error-suppression policy for updating a table with a primary key, only used when primary key record collisions are rejected (update_on_existing_pk is false). If set to true, any record update that is rejected for resulting in a primary key collision with an existing table record will be ignored with no error generated. If false, the rejection of any update for resulting in a primary key collision will cause an error to be reported. If the specified table does not have a primary key or if update_on_existing_pk is true, then this option has no effect. The default value is false.

Supported Values	Description
true	Ignore updates that result in primary key collisions with existing records
false	Treat as errors any updates that result in primary key collisions with existing records

update_partition

Force qualifying records to be deleted and reinserted so their partition membership will be reevaluated. The default value is false. The supported values are:

true
false

truncate_strings

If set to true, any strings which are too long for their charN string fields will be truncated to fit. The default value is false. The supported values are:

true
false

use_expressions_in_new_values_maps

When set to true, all new values in input parameter new_values_maps are considered as expression values. When set to false, all new values in input parameter new_values_maps are considered as constants. NOTE: When true, string constants will need to be quoted to avoid being evaluated as expressions. The default value is false. The supported values are:

true
false

record_id

ID of a single record to be updated (returned in the call to Insert Records or Get Records from Collection ).

Output Parameter Description

Name	Type	Description
count_updated	long	Total number of records updated.
counts_updated	array of longs	Total number of records updated per predicate in input parameter expressions.
count_inserted	long	Total number of records inserted (due to expressions not matching any existing records).
counts_inserted	array of longs	Total number of records inserted per predicate in input parameter expressions (will be either 0 or 1 for each expression).
info	map of string to strings	Additional information.