All Products
Search
Document Center

Tablestore:Create a data table

Last Updated:Aug 19, 2024

This topic describes how to create a data table by calling the CreateTable operation. When you call the CreateTable operation to create a data table, you must specify schema information and configuration information for the data table. If the data table belongs to a high-performance instance, you can configure the reserved read throughput and the reserved write throughput based on your business requirements. You can create one or more index tables when you create a data table.

Usage notes

  • After you create a data table, a few seconds are required to load the data table. During this period, all read and write operations on the data table fail. Perform operations on the data table after the data table is loaded.

  • You must specify the primary key when you create a data table. A primary key consists of one to four primary key columns. Specify a name and data type for each primary key column.

  • In system design scenarios that require unique IDs, such as item IDs on e-commerce websites, user IDs on large websites, post IDs in forums, and message IDs in chat tools, you can specify an auto-increment primary key column when you create a data table. For more information, see Configure an auto-increment primary key column.

Prerequisites

API operations

/// <summary>
/// Create a table based on table information including the table name, primary key schema, and reserved read and write throughput. 
/// </summary>
/// <param name="request">Request parameters.</param>
/// <returns>The information returned by the CreateTable operation. The result is null. 
/// </returns>
public CreateTableResponse CreateTable(CreateTableRequest request);

/// <summary>
/// The asynchronous mode of CreateTable. 
/// </summary>
public Task<CreateTableResponse> CreateTableAsync(CreateTableRequest request);

Parameters

Parameter

Description

tableMeta

The schema information about the data table. The schema information contains the following parameters:

  • tableName: the name of the data table.

  • primaryKeySchema: the schema of the primary key for the table. For more information, see Primary keys and attributes.

    Note

    You do not need to specify the schema for attribute columns. Different rows in a Tablestore table can have different attribute columns. You can specify the names of attribute columns when you write data to a data table.

    • The primary key of a data table can contain one to four primary key columns. Primary key columns are sorted in the order in which they are added. For example, PRIMARY KEY (A, B, C) and PRIMARY KEY (A, C, B) have different primary key schemas. Tablestore sorts rows based on the values of all primary key columns.

    • The first primary key column is the partition key. Data that has the same partition key is stored in the same partition. We recommend that you keep the size of data with the same partition key less than or equal to 10 GB. Otherwise, a single partition may be too large to split. We recommend that you evenly distribute requests to read data from and write data to different partition keys for load balancing.

  • definedColumnSchema: the predefined columns of the table and the data types of the predefined column values. Primary key columns cannot be specified as predefined columns. You can use predefined columns as the index columns or attribute columns of index tables.

tableOptions

The configuration information about the data table. For more information, see Data versions and TTL.

The configuration information includes the following parameters:

  • timeToLive: the time to live (TTL) of data in the data table. The TTL indicates the validity period of data. If the retention period of data exceeds the TTL, the data expires. Tablestore automatically deletes expired data.

    The minimum value of the timeToLive parameter is 86400, which is equal to one day. A value of -1 indicates that data never expires.

    When you create a data table, you can set the timeToLive parameter to -1. This way, the data in the table never expires. After the table is created, you can call the UpdateTable operation to modify the value of the timeToLive parameter.

    Unit: seconds.

    Note

    If you want to create an index table for the data table, the timeToLive parameter must meet one of the following requirements:

    • The timeToLive parameter of the data table is set to -1, which specifies that data in the data table never expires.

    • The timeToLive parameter of the data table is set to a value other than -1 and update operations on the data table are prohibited.

  • maxVersions: the maximum number of versions of the data that can be retained for an attribute column. If the number of versions of data in an attribute column exceeds the value of this parameter, Tablestore automatically deletes the data of earlier versions.

    When you create a data table, you can set this parameter based on your business requirements. After the data table is created, you can call the UpdateTable operation to modify the value of the maxVersions parameter.

    Note

    If you want to create an index table for the data table, you must set the maxVersions parameter to 1.

  • deviationCellVersionInSec: the max version offset, which is the maximum difference between the current system time and the timestamp of the written data. The difference between the version number and the time at which the data is written must be less than or equal to the value of the deviationCellVersionInSec parameter. Otherwise, an error occurs when the data is written.

    The valid version range of data in an attribute column is calculated by using the following formula: Valid version range = [max{Data written time - Max version offset, Data written time - TTL value}, Data written time + Max version offset).

    When you create a data table, Tablestore uses the default value of 86400 if you do not specify a max version offset. After the data table is created, you can call the UpdateTable operation to modify the value of the deviationCellVersionInSec parameter.

    Unit: seconds.

  • allowUpdate: specifies whether to allow the UpdateRow operation. The default value is true, which specifies that the UpdateRow operation is allowed. If you set the allowUpdate parameter to false, the UpdateRow operation is prohibited.

reservedThroughput

The reserved read throughput and reserved write throughput of the data table.

You can set the reserved read throughput and reserved write throughput only to 0 for data tables in capacity instances. Reserved throughput does not apply to capacity instances.

The default value 0 specifies that you are charged for all throughput on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Unit: capacity unit (CU).

  • If you set the reserved read throughput or reserved write throughput to a value that is greater than 0 for a data table, Tablestore reserves resources for the data table. After you create the data table, you are charged for the reserved throughput resources. You are charged for additional throughput on a pay-as-you-go basis. For more information, see Billing overview.

  • If you set the reserved read throughput or reserved write throughput to 0, Tablestore does not reserve resources for the data table.

indexMetas

The schema information about the index table. Each indexMeta contains the following parameters:

  • indexName: the name of the index table.

  • primaryKey: the primary key of the index table, which is a combination of all primary key columns and a random number of predefined columns of the data table.

  • definedColumns: the attribute columns of the index table. The attribute columns are a combination of predefined columns of the data table.

  • indexUpdateMode: the update mode of the index table. Valid value: IUM_ASYNC_INDEX.

  • indexType: the type of the index table. Valid value: IT_GLOBAL_INDEX.

Examples

Create a data table without creating an index table

The following sample code shows how to create a data table that has two primary key columns and reserved read and write throughput of (0, 0).

// Create a schema for the primary key columns, including the number, names, and data types of primary key columns. 
 // The first primary key column is named pk0 and is of the INTEGER type. The first primary key column is also the partition key. 
 // The second primary key column is named pk1 and is of the STRING type. 
 var primaryKeySchema = new PrimaryKeySchema();
 primaryKeySchema.Add("pk0", ColumnValueType.Integer);
 primaryKeySchema.Add("pk1", ColumnValueType.String);

 // Create a tableMeta object based on the table name and the schema of the primary key columns. 
 var tableMeta = new TableMeta("SampleTable", primaryKeySchema);

 // Set the reserved read throughput and reserved write throughput to 0. 
 var reservedThroughput = new CapacityUnit(0, 0);

 try
 {
     // Construct a CreateTableRequest object. 
     var request = new CreateTableRequest(tableMeta, reservedThroughput);

     // Call the CreateTable operation of the client. If no exception is returned, a table is created. 
     otsClient.CreateTable(request);

     Console.WriteLine("Create table succeeded.");
 }
 // If an exception is returned, the operation fails. Handle the exception. 
 catch (Exception ex)
 {
     Console.WriteLine("Create table failed, exception:{0}", ex.Message);
 }
            

Configure a global secondary index when you create a data table

The following sample code shows how to create a data table and configure a global secondary index for the data table at the same time. The data table contains two primary key columns: the Pk1 column of the STRING type and the Pk2 column of the STRING type. The data table also contains two predefined columns: the Col1 column of the STRING type and the Col2 column of the STRING type. The primary key columns of the global secondary index are the Col1, Pk1, and Pk2 columns. The attribute column of the global secondary index is the Col2 column.

public static void CreateTableWithGlobalIndex()
{
    // Create a data table that contains two primary key columns Pk1 and Pk2 and two predefined columns Col1 and Col2. 
    // Create an index table and set one primary key column of the index table to Col1. The name of the primary key column is Pk0. 
    OTSClient otsClient = Config.GetClient();

    Console.WriteLine("Start create table with globalIndex...");
    PrimaryKeySchema primaryKeySchema = new PrimaryKeySchema
        {
            { Pk1, ColumnValueType.String },
            { Pk2, ColumnValueType.String }
        };
    TableMeta tableMeta = new TableMeta(TableName, primaryKeySchema);
    tableMeta.DefinedColumnSchema = new DefinedColumnSchema {
            { Col1, DefinedColumnType.STRING},
            { Col2, DefinedColumnType.STRING}
        };

    IndexMeta indexMeta = new IndexMeta(IndexName);
    indexMeta.PrimaryKey = new List<string>() { Col1 };
    indexMeta.DefinedColumns = new List<string>() { Col2 };
    //indexMeta.IndexType = IndexType.IT_GLOBAL_INDEX;
    //indexMeta.IndexUpdateModel = IndexUpdateMode.IUM_ASYNC_INDEX;

    List<IndexMeta> indexMetas = new List<IndexMeta>() { };
    indexMetas.Add(indexMeta);

    CapacityUnit reservedThroughput = new CapacityUnit(0, 0);
    CreateTableRequest request = new CreateTableRequest(tableMeta, reservedThroughput, indexMetas);
    otsClient.CreateTable(request);

    Console.WriteLine("Table is created: " + TableName);
}

References

  • For information about the API operation that you can call to create a data table, see CreateTable.

  • You can call API operations to read and write data in a data table. For more information, see Basic operations on data.

  • You can update a table to modify the information about the table, such as the TTL and max versions. For more information, see UpdateTable.

  • You can query the names of tables to view all existing tables in an instance. For more information, see List the names of tables.

  • You can query the description of a table to view the configuration information about the table, such as the max versions and TTL. For more information, see Query the description of a table.

  • You can delete a data table that you no longer require. For more information, see Delete a data table.