# 13. API: SODA

Oracle Database Simple Oracle Document Access (SODA) allows documents to be inserted, queried, and retrieved from Oracle Database using a set of NoSQL-style python-oracledb methods. By default, documents are JSON strings. See the user manual for examples.

## 13.1. SODA Requirements

To use SODA, the role SODA_APP must be granted to the user. To create collections, users need the CREATE TABLE privilege. These can be granted by a DBA:

    SQL> grant soda_app, create table to myuser;

Advanced users who are using Oracle sequences for keys will also need the CREATE SEQUENCE privilege.

SODA requires Oracle Client 18.3 or higher and Oracle Database 18.1 and higher.

Note

If you are using Oracle Database 21c (or later) and create new collections you need to do one of the following:

- Use Oracle Client libraries 21c (or later)

- Or explicitly use collection metadata when creating collections and set the data storage type to BLOB, for example:

      {
          "keyColumn": {
              "name":"ID"
          },
          "contentColumn": {
              "name": "JSON_DOCUMENT",
              "sqlType": "BLOB"
          },
          "versionColumn": {
              "name": "VERSION",
              "method": "UUID"
          },
          "lastModifiedColumn": {
              "name": "LAST_MODIFIED"
          },
          "creationTimeColumn": {
              "name": "CREATED_ON"
          }
      }

- Or, set the database initialization parameter compatible to 19 or lower.

Otherwise, you may get errors such as `ORA-40842: unsupported value JSON in the metadata for the field sqlType` or `ORA-40659: Data type does not match the specification in the collection metadata`.

## 13.2. SodaDatabase Objects

Note

The SODA Database object is an extension the DB API. It is returned by the method `Connection.getSodaDatabase()`.

### 13.2.1. SodaDatabase Methods

SodaDatabase.createCollection(name, metadata=None, mapMode=False)

  Creates a SODA collection with the given name and returns a new SODA collection object. If you try to create a collection, and a collection with the same name and metadata already exists, then that existing collection is opened without error.

  If `metadata` is specified, it is expected to be a string containing valid JSON or a dictionary that will be transformed into a JSON string. This JSON permits you to specify the configuration of the collection including storage options; specifying the presence or absence of columns for creation timestamp, last modified timestamp and version; whether the collection can store only JSON documents; and methods of key and version generation. The default metadata creates a collection that only supports JSON documents and uses system generated keys. See this collection metadata reference for more information.

  If the `mapMode` parameter is set to True, the new collection is mapped to an existing table instead of creating a table. If a collection is created in this way, dropping the collection will not drop the existing table either.

SodaDatabase.createDocument(content, key=None, mediaType='application/json')

  Creates a SODA document usable for SODA write operations. You only need to use this method if your collection requires client-assigned keys or has non-JSON content; otherwise, you can pass your content directly to SODA write operations. SodaDocument attributes ‘createdOn’, ‘lastModified’ and ‘version’ will be None.

  The `content` parameter can be a dictionary or list which will be transformed into a JSON string and then UTF-8 encoded. It can also be a string which will be UTF-8 encoded or it can be a bytes object which will be stored unchanged. If a bytes object is provided and the content is expected to be JSON, note that SODA only supports UTF-8, UTF-16LE and UTF-16BE encodings.

  The `key` parameter should only be supplied if the collection in which the document is to be placed requires client-assigned keys.

  The `mediaType` parameter should only be supplied if the collection in which the document is to be placed supports non-JSON documents and the content for this document is non-JSON. Using a standard MIME type for this value is recommended but any string will be accepted.

SodaDatabase.getCollectionNames(startName=None, limit=0)

  Returns a list of the names of collections in the database that match the criteria, in alphabetical order.

  If the `startName` parameter is specified, the list of names returned will start with this value and also contain any names that fall after this value in alphabetical order.

  If the `limit` parameter is specified and is non-zero, the number of collection names returned will be limited to this value.

SodaDatabase.openCollection(name)

  Opens an existing collection with the given name and returns a new SODA collection object. If a collection with that name does not exist, None is returned.

## 13.3. SodaCollection Objects

Note

The SODA Collection object is an extension the DB API. It is used to represent SODA collections and is created by methods `SodaDatabase.createCollection()` and `SodaDatabase.openCollection()`.

### 13.3.1. SodaCollection Methods

SodaCollection.createIndex(spec)

  Creates an index on a SODA collection. The spec is expected to be a dictionary or a JSON-encoded string. See this overview for information on indexes in SODA.

  Note

  A commit should be performed before attempting to create an index.

SodaCollection.drop()

  Drops the collection from the database, if it exists. Note that if the collection was created with mapMode set to True the underlying table will not be dropped.

  A boolean value is returned indicating if the collection was actually dropped.

SodaCollection.dropIndex(name, force=False)

  Drops the index with the specified name, if it exists.

  The `force` parameter, if set to True, can be used to force the dropping of an index that the underlying Oracle Database domain index doesn’t normally permit. This is only applicable to spatial and JSON search indexes. See here for more information.

  A boolean value is returned indicating if the index was actually dropped.

SodaCollection.find()

  This method is used to begin an operation that will act upon documents in the collection. It creates and returns a SodaOperation object which is used to specify the criteria and the operation that will be performed on the documents that match that criteria.

SodaCollection.getDataGuide()

  Returns a SODA document object containing property names, data types and lengths inferred from the JSON documents in the collection. It can be useful for exploring the schema of a collection. Note that this method is only supported for JSON-only collections where a JSON search index has been created with the ‘dataguide’ option enabled. If there are no documents in the collection, None is returned.

SodaCollection.insertMany(docs)

  Inserts a list of documents into the collection at one time. Each of the input documents can be a dictionary or list or an existing SODA document object.

  Note

  This method requires Oracle Client 18.5 and higher and is available only as a preview.

SodaCollection.insertManyAndGet(docs, hint=None)

  Similarly to `insertMany()` this method inserts a list of documents into the collection at one time. The only difference is that it returns a list of SODA Document objects. Note that for performance reasons the returned documents do not contain the content.

  The `hint` parameter, if specified, supplies a hint to the database when processing the SODA operation. This is expected to be a string in the same format as a SQL hint but without any comment characters, for example `hint="MONITOR"`. Pass only the hint `"MONITOR"` (turn on monitoring) or `"NO_MONITOR"` (turn off monitoring). See the Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide documentation MONITOR and NO_MONITOR Hints and Monitoring Database Operations for more information.

  Note

  - This method requires Oracle Client 18.5 and higher.

  - Use of the `hint` parameter requires Oracle Client 21.3 or higher (or Oracle Client 19 from 19.11).

SodaCollection.insertOne(doc)

  Inserts a given document into the collection. The input document can be a dictionary or list or an existing SODA document object.

SodaCollection.insertOneAndGet(doc, hint=None)

  Similarly to `insertOne()` this method inserts a given document into the collection. The only difference is that it returns a SODA Document object. Note that for performance reasons the returned document does not contain the content.

  The `hint` parameter, if specified, supplies a hint to the database when processing the SODA operation. This is expected to be a string in the same format as a SQL hint but without any comment characters, for example `hint="MONITOR"`. Pass only the hint `"MONITOR"` (turn on monitoring) or `"NO_MONITOR"` (turn off monitoring). See the Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide documentation MONITOR and NO_MONITOR Hints and Monitoring Database Operations for more information.

  Note

  Use of the `hint` parameter requires Oracle Client 21.3 or higher (or Oracle Client 19 from 19.11).

SodaCollection.save(doc)

  Saves a document into the collection. This method is equivalent to `insertOne()` except that if client-assigned keys are used, and the document with the specified key already exists in the collection, it will be replaced with the input document.

  This method requires Oracle Client 19.9 or higher in addition to the usual SODA requirements.

SodaCollection.saveAndGet(doc, hint=None)

  Saves a document into the collection. This method is equivalent to `insertOneAndGet()` except that if client-assigned keys are used, and the document with the specified key already exists in the collection, it will be replaced with the input document.

  The `hint` parameter, if specified, supplies a hint to the database when processing the SODA operation. This is expected to be a string in the same format as a SQL hint but without any comment characters, for example `hint="MONITOR"`. Pass only the hint `"MONITOR"` (turn on monitoring) or `"NO_MONITOR"` (turn off monitoring). See the Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide documentation MONITOR and NO_MONITOR Hints and Monitoring Database Operations for more information.

  This method requires Oracle Client 19.9 or higher in addition to the usual SODA requirements.

  Note

  Use of the `hint` parameter requires Oracle Client 21.3 or higher (or Oracle Client 19 from 19.11).

SodaCollection.truncate()

  Removes all of the documents in the collection, similarly to what is done for rows in a table by the TRUNCATE TABLE statement.

### 13.3.2. SodaCollection Attributes

SodaCollection.metadata

  This read-only attribute returns a dictionary containing the metadata that was used to create the collection. See this collection metadata reference for more information.

SodaCollection.name

  This read-only attribute returns the name of the collection.

## 13.4. SodaDoc Objects

Note

The SODA Document object is an extension the DB API. It is returned by the methods `SodaDatabase.createDocument()`, `SodaOperation.getDocuments()` and `SodaOperation.getOne()` as well as by iterating over SODA document cursors.

### 13.4.1. SodaDoc Methods

SodaDoc.getContent()

  Returns the content of the document as a dictionary or list. This method assumes that the content is application/json and will raise an exception if this is not the case. If there is no content, however, None will be returned.

SodaDoc.getContentAsBytes()

  Returns the content of the document as a bytes object. If there is no content, however, None will be returned.

SodaDoc.getContentAsString()

  Returns the content of the document as a string. If the document encoding is not known, UTF-8 will be used. If there is no content, however, None will be returned.

### 13.4.2. SodaDoc Attributes

SodaDoc.createdOn

  This read-only attribute returns the creation time of the document in ISO 8601 format. Documents created by `SodaDatabase.createDocument()` or fetched from collections where this attribute is not stored will return None.

SodaDoc.key

  This read-only attribute returns the unique key assigned to this document. Documents created by `SodaDatabase.createDocument()` may not have a value assigned to them and return None.

SodaDoc.lastModified

  This read-only attribute returns the last modified time of the document in ISO 8601 format. Documents created by `SodaDatabase.createDocument()` or fetched from collections where this attribute is not stored will return None.

SodaDoc.mediaType

  This read-only attribute returns the media type assigned to the document. By convention this is expected to be a MIME type but no checks are performed on this value. If a value is not specified when calling `SodaDatabase.createDocument()` or the document is fetched from a collection where this component is not stored, the string “application/json” is returned.

SodaDoc.version

  This read-only attribute returns the version assigned to this document. Documents created by `SodaDatabase.createDocument()` or fetched from collections where this attribute is not stored will return None.

## 13.5. SodaDocCursor Objects

Note

The SODA Document Cursor object is an extension the DB API. It is returned by the method `SodaOperation.getCursor()` and implements the iterator protocol. Each iteration will return a SODA document object.

### 13.5.1. SodaDocCursor Methods

SodaDocCursor.close()

  Closes the cursor now, rather than whenever __del__ is called. The cursor will be unusable from this point forward; an Error exception will be raised if any operation is attempted with the cursor.

## 13.6. SodaOperation Objects

Note

The SODA Operation Object is an extension to the DB API. It represents an operation that will be performed on all or some of the documents in a SODA collection. It is created by the method `SodaCollection.find()`.

### 13.6.1. SodaOperation Methods

SodaOperation.count()

  Returns a count of the number of documents in the collection that match the criteria. If `skip()` or `limit()` were called on this object, an exception is raised.

SodaOperation.fetchArraySize(value)

  This is a tuning method to specify the number of documents that are internally fetched in batches by calls to `getCursor()` and `getDocuments()`. It does not affect how many documents are returned to the application. A value of 0 will use the default value (100). This method is only available in Oracle Client 19.5 and higher.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

SodaOperation.filter(value)

  Sets a filter specification for complex document queries and ordering of JSON documents. Filter specifications must be provided as a dictionary or JSON-encoded string and can include comparisons, regular expressions, logical and spatial operators, among others. See the overview of SODA filter specifications for more information.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

SodaOperation.getCursor()

  Returns a SODA Document Cursor object that can be used to iterate over the documents that match the criteria.

SodaOperation.getDocuments()

  Returns a list of SODA Document objects that match the criteria.

SodaOperation.getOne()

  Returns a single SODA Document object that matches the criteria. Note that if multiple documents match the criteria only the first one is returned.

SodaOperation.hint(value)

  Specifies a hint that will be provided to the SODA operation when it is performed. This is expected to be a string in the same format as a SQL hint but without any comment characters, for example `hint("MONITOR")`. Pass only the hint `"MONITOR"` (turn on monitoring) or `"NO_MONITOR"` (turn off monitoring). See the Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide documentation MONITOR and NO_MONITOR Hints and Monitoring Database Operations for more information.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

  Use of this method requires Oracle Client 21.3 or higher (or Oracle Client 19 from 19.11).

SodaOperation.key(value)

  Specifies that the document with the specified key should be returned. This causes any previous calls made to this method and `keys()` to be ignored.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

SodaOperation.keys(seq)

  Specifies that documents that match the keys found in the supplied sequence should be returned. This causes any previous calls made to this method and `key()` to be ignored.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

SodaOperation.limit(value)

  Specifies that only the specified number of documents should be returned. This method is only usable for read operations such as `getCursor()` and `getDocuments()`. For write operations, any value set using this method is ignored.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

SodaOperation.remove()

  Removes all of the documents in the collection that match the criteria. The number of documents that have been removed is returned.

SodaOperation.replaceOne(doc)

  Replaces a single document in the collection with the specified document. The input document can be a dictionary or list or an existing SODA document object. A boolean indicating if a document was replaced or not is returned.

  Currently the method `key()` must be called before this method can be called.

SodaOperation.replaceOneAndGet(doc)

  Similarly to `replaceOne()`, this method replaces a single document in the collection with the specified document. The only difference is that it returns a SODA document object. Note that for performance reasons the returned document does not contain the content.

SodaOperation.skip(value)

  Specifies the number of documents that match the other criteria that will be skipped. This method is only usable for read operations such as `getCursor()` and `getDocuments()`. For write operations, any value set using this method is ignored.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.

SodaOperation.version(value)

  Specifies that documents with the specified version should be returned. Typically this is used with `key()` to implement optimistic locking, so that the write operation called later does not affect a document that someone else has modified.

  As a convenience, the SodaOperation object is returned so that further criteria can be specified by chaining methods together.