JDBC session management commands (GoogleSQL)

The Spanner JDBC driver (Java Database Connectivity) supports session management statements, which let you modify the state of your connection, execute transactions, and efficiently execute batches of statements.

The following commands apply to GoogleSQL-dialect databases.

Connection statements

The following statements make changes to or display properties of the current connection.

READONLY

A boolean indicating whether or not the connection is in read-only mode. The default is false .

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READONLY 
 SET 
  
 READONLY 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 true 
  
 | 
  
 false 
  
 }

You can change the value of this property only while there is no active transaction.

▶ Example: Read-only transaction (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to use this property to execute read-only transactions in Spanner.

  SET 
  
 READONLY 
  
 = 
  
 TRUE 
 ; 
 -- This transaction is a read-only transaction. 
 BEGIN 
  
 TRANSACTION 
 ; 
 -- The following two queries both use the read-only transaction. 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 Title 
 FROM 
  
 Albums 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 Title 
 ; 
 -- This shows the read timestamp that was used for the two queries. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READ_TIMESTAMP 
 ; 
 -- This marks the end of the read-only transaction. The next statement starts 
 -- a new read-only transaction. 
 COMMIT 
 ;

AUTOCOMMIT

A boolean indicating whether or not the connection is in autocommit mode. The default is true .

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT 
 SET 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 true 
  
 | 
  
 false 
  
 }

You can change the value of this property only when there is no active transaction.

When AUTOCOMMIT is set to false, a new transaction is initiated automatically after you execute COMMIT or ROLLBACK . The first statement that you execute starts the transaction.

▶ Example: Autocommit (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to use the autocommit property.

  -- The default value for AUTOCOMMIT is true. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT 
 ; 
 -- This insert statement is automatically committed after it is executed, as 
 -- the connection is in autocommit mode. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ); 
 -- Turning off autocommit means that a new transaction is automatically started 
 -- when the next statement is executed. 
 SET 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT 
  
 = 
  
 FALSE 
 ; 
 -- The following statement starts a new transaction. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 2 
 , 
  
 200 
 , 
  
 2 
 ); 
 -- This statement uses the same transaction as the previous statement. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 3 
 , 
  
 300 
 , 
  
 3 
 ); 
 -- Commit the current transaction with the two INSERT statements. 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- Transactions can also be executed in autocommit mode by executing the BEGIN 
 -- statement. 
 SET 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT 
  
 = 
  
 TRUE 
 ; 
 -- Execute a transaction while in autocommit mode. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 4 
 , 
  
 400 
 , 
  
 4 
 ); 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 5 
 , 
  
 500 
 , 
  
 5 
 ); 
 COMMIT 
 ;

RETRY_ABORTS_INTERNALLY

A boolean indicating whether the connection automatically retries aborted transactions. The default is true .

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 RETRY_ABORTS_INTERNALLY 
 SET 
  
 RETRY_ABORTS_INTERNALLY 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 true 
  
 | 
  
 false 
  
 }

You can change the value of this property only after a transaction has started (see BEGIN TRANSACTION ) and before any statements are executed within the transaction.

When you set RETRY_ABORTS_INTERNALLY to true, the connection keeps a checksum of all data that the connection returns to the client application. This is used to retry the transaction if it is aborted by Spanner.

The default value is true . We recommend setting this value to false if your application already retries aborted transactions.

AUTOCOMMIT_DML_MODE

A STRING property indicating the autocommit mode for Data Manipulation Language (DML) statements.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT_DML_MODE 
 SET 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT_DML_MODE 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 'TRANSACTIONAL' 
  
 | 
  
 'PARTITIONED_NON_ATOMIC' 
  
 }

The possible values are:

In TRANSACTIONAL mode, the driver executes DML statements as separate atomic transactions. The driver creates a new transaction, executes the DML statement, and either commits the transaction upon successful execution or rolls back the transaction in the case of an error.
In PARTITIONED_NON_ATOMIC mode, the driver executes DML statements as partitioned update statements . A partitioned update statement can run as a series of many transactions, each covering a subset of the rows impacted. The partitioned statement provides weakened semantics in exchange for better scalability and performance.

The default is TRANSACTIONAL .

▶ Example: Partitioned DML (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to execute Partitioned DML using the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Change autocommit DML mode to use Partitioned DML. 
 SET 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT_DML_MODE 
  
 = 
  
 'PARTITIONED_NON_ATOMIC' 
 ; 
 -- Delete all singers that have been marked as inactive. 
 -- This statement is executed using Partitioned DML. 
 DELETE 
 FROM 
  
 singers 
 WHERE 
  
 active 
 = 
 false 
 ; 
 -- Change DML mode back to standard `TRANSACTIONAL`. 
 SET 
  
 AUTOCOMMIT_DML_MODE 
  
 = 
  
 'TRANSACTIONAL' 
 ;

STATEMENT_TIMEOUT

A property of type STRING indicating the current timeout value for statements.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 STATEMENT_TIMEOUT 
 SET 
  
 STATEMENT_TIMEOUT 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 '<INT64>{ s | ms | us | ns }' 
  
 | 
  
 NULL 
  
 }

The INT64 value is a whole number followed by a suffix indicating the time unit. A value of NULL indicates that there is no timeout value set. If a statement timeout value has been set, statements that take longer than the specified timeout value will cause a java.sql.SQLTimeoutException error and invalidate the transaction.

The supported time units are:

s : seconds
ms : milliseconds
us : microseconds
ns : nanoseconds

The default is NULL , which means no timeout value is set.

A statement timeout during a transaction invalidates the transaction, all subsequent statements in the invalidated transaction (except ROLLBACK ) fail, and the Spanner JDBC driver throws a java.sql.SQLTimeoutException .

READ_ONLY_STALENESS

A property of type STRING indicating the current read-only staleness setting that Spanner uses for read-only transactions and queries in AUTOCOMMIT mode.

SHOW VARIABLE READ_ONLY_STALENESS
SET READ_ONLY_STALENESS =  staleness_type 
 
  staleness_type 
 
:

{ 'STRONG' 
  | 'MIN_READ_TIMESTAMP  timestamp 
 
'
  | 'READ_TIMESTAMP  timestamp 
 
'
  | 'MAX_STALENESS <INT64>{ s | ms | us | ns }'
  | 'EXACT_STALENESS <INT64>{ s | ms | us | ns }' }

The read-only staleness value applies to all subsequent read-only transactions and for all queries in AUTOCOMMIT mode.

The default is STRONG .

The timestamp bound options are as follows:

STRONG tells Spanner to perform a strong read .
MAX_STALENESS defines the time interval Spanner uses to perform a bounded staleness read , relative to now() .
MIN_READ_TIMESTAMP defines an absolute time Spanner uses to perform a bounded staleness read .
EXACT_STALENESS defines the time interval Spanner uses to perform an exact staleness read , relative to now() .
READ_TIMESTAMP defines an absolute time Spanner uses to perform an exact staleness read.

Timestamps must use the following format:

 YYYY 
- [M]M 
- [D]D 
T [[H]H:[M]M:[S]S[.DDDDDD]][timezone]

The supported time units for setting MAX_STALENESS and EXACT_STALENESS values are:

s : seconds
ms : milliseconds
us : microseconds
ns : nanoseconds

You can modify the value of this property only while there is no active transaction.

▶ Example: Read-only staleness (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to execute queries using a custom staleness value with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Set the read-only staleness to MAX_STALENESS 10 seconds. 
 SET 
  
 READ_ONLY_STALENESS 
  
 = 
  
 'MAX_STALENESS 10s' 
 ; 
 -- Execute a query in auto-commit mode. This returns results that are up to 
 -- 10 seconds stale. 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Read-only staleness can also be applied to read-only transactions. 
 -- MAX_STALENESS is only allowed for queries in autocommit mode. 
 -- Change the staleness to EXACT_STALENESS and start a read-only transaction. 
 SET 
  
 READ_ONLY_STALENESS 
  
 = 
  
 'EXACT_STALENESS 10s' 
 ; 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 Title 
 , 
  
 SingerId 
 FROM 
  
 Albums 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 Title 
 ; 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- Set the read staleness to an exact timestamp. 
 SET 
  
 READ_ONLY_STALENESS 
  
 = 
  
 'READ_TIMESTAMP 2024-01-26T10:36:00Z' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ;

OPTIMIZER_VERSION

A property of type STRING indicating the optimizer version . The version is either an integer or ' LATEST '.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 OPTIMIZER_VERSION 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_VERSION 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 'version' 
 | 
 'LATEST' 
 | 
 '' 
  
 }

Sets the version of the optimizer to be used for all the following statements on the connection. If the optimizer version is set to '' (the empty string), then Spanner uses the latest version. If no optimizer version is set, Spanner uses the optimizer version that is set at the database level.

The default is '' .

▶ Example: Optimizer version (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to execute queries using a specific optimizer version with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Set the optimizer version to 5 and execute a query. 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_VERSION 
  
 = 
  
 '5' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Execute the same query with the latest optimizer version. 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_VERSION 
  
 = 
  
 'LATEST' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Revert back to using the default optimizer version that has been set for the 
 -- database. 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_VERSION 
  
 = 
  
 '' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ;

OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS_PACKAGE

A property of type STRING indicating the current optimizer statistics package that is used by this connection.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS_PACKAGE 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS_PACKAGE 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 'package' 
 | 
 '' 
  
 }

Sets the optimizer statistics package to use for all following statements on the connection. <package> must be a valid package name. If no optimizer statistics package is set, Spanner uses the optimizer statistics package that is set at the database level.

The default is '' .

▶ Example: Optimizer statistics package (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to execute queries using a specific optimizer statistics package with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Show the available optimizer statistics packages in this database. 
 SELECT 
  
 * 
  
 FROM 
  
 INFORMATION_SCHEMA 
 . 
 SPANNER_STATISTICS 
 ; 
 -- Set the optimizer statistics package and execute a query. 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS_PACKAGE 
  
 = 
  
 'auto_20240124_06_47_29UTC' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Execute the same query with the default optimizer statistics package. 
 SET 
  
 OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS_PACKAGE 
  
 = 
  
 '' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ;

RETURN_COMMIT_STATS

A property of type BOOL indicating whether statistics should be returned for transactions on this connection. You can see returned statistics by executing the SHOW VARIABLE COMMIT_RESPONSE command.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 RETURN_COMMIT_STATS 
 SET 
  
 RETURN_COMMIT_STATS 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 true 
  
 | 
  
 false 
  
 }

The default is false .

▶ Example: Commit statistics (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to view commit statistics for a transaction with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Enable the returning of commit stats. 
 SET 
  
 RETURN_COMMIT_STATS 
  
 = 
  
 true 
 ; 
 -- Execute a transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ), 
  
 ( 
 2 
 , 
  
 200 
 , 
  
 2 
 ), 
  
 ( 
 3 
 , 
  
 300 
 , 
  
 3 
 ); 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- View the commit response with the transaction statistics for the last 
 -- transaction that was committed. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 COMMIT_RESPONSE 
 ;

RPC_PRIORITY

A property of type STRING indicating the relative priority for Spanner requests. The priority acts as a hint to the Spanner scheduler and doesn't guarantee order of execution.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 RPC_PRIORITY 
 SET 
  
 RPC_PRIORITY 
  
 = 
  
 { 
 'HIGH' 
 | 
 'MEDIUM' 
 | 
 'LOW' 
 | 
 'NULL' 
 }

'NULL' means that no hint should be included in the request.

The default is 'NULL' .

You can also use a statement hint to specify the RPC priority:

  @ 
 { 
 RPC_PRIORITY 
 = 
 PRIORITY_LOW 
 } 
  
 SELECT 
  
 * 
  
 FROM 
  
 Albums

For more information, see Priority .

Transaction statements

The following statements manage and commit Spanner transactions.

READ_TIMESTAMP

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READ_TIMESTAMP

Returns a result set with one row and one column of type TIMESTAMP containing the read timestamp of the most recent read-only transaction. This statement returns a timestamp only when either a read-only transaction is still active and has executed at least one query, or immediately after a read-only transaction is committed and before a new transaction starts. Otherwise, the result is NULL .

▶ Example: Read timestamp (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to view the last read timestamp for a read-only operation with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Execute a query in autocommit mode using the default read-only staleness 
 -- (strong). 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Show the read timestamp that was used for the previous query. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READ_TIMESTAMP 
 ; 
 -- Set a non-deterministic read-only staleness and execute the same query. 
 SET 
  
 READ_ONLY_STALENESS 
  
 = 
  
 'MAX_STALENESS 20s' 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Show the read timestamp that was used for the previous query. The timestamp 
 -- is determined by Spanner, and is guaranteed to be no less than 
 -- 20 seconds stale. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READ_TIMESTAMP 
 ; 
 -- The read timestamp of a read-only transaction can also be retrieved. 
 SET 
  
 READ_ONLY_STALENESS 
  
 = 
  
 'STRONG' 
 ; 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Show the read timestamp of the current read-only transaction. All queries in 
 -- this transaction will use this read timestamp. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READ_TIMESTAMP 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 Title 
 FROM 
  
 Albums 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 Title 
 ; 
 -- The read timestamp is the same as for the previous query, as all queries in 
 -- the same transaction use the same read timestamp. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 READ_TIMESTAMP 
 ; 
 COMMIT 
 ;

COMMIT_TIMESTAMP

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 COMMIT_TIMESTAMP

Returns a result set with one row and one column of type TIMESTAMP containing the commit timestamp of the last read-write transaction that Spanner committed. This statement returns a timestamp only when you execute it after you commit a read-write transaction and before you execute any subsequent SELECT , DML , or schema change statements. Otherwise, the result is NULL .

▶ Example: Commit timestamp (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to view the last commit timestamp for a write operation with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Execute a DML statement. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ), 
  
 ( 
 2 
 , 
  
 200 
 , 
  
 2 
 ), 
  
 ( 
 3 
 , 
  
 300 
 , 
  
 3 
 ); 
 -- Show the timestamp that the statement was committed. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 COMMIT_TIMESTAMP 
 ;

COMMIT_RESPONSE

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 COMMIT_RESPONSE

Returns a result set with one row and two columns:

COMMIT_TIMESTAMP (type= TIMESTAMP ) indicates when the most recent transaction was committed.
MUTATION_COUNT (type= INT64 ) indicates how many mutations were applied in the committed transaction. This value is always empty when executed on the emulator.

The mutation count is available only if SET RETURN_COMMIT_STATS was set to true prior to the transaction commit.

▶ Example: Commit response (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to view the last commit response for a write operation with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Enable returning commit stats in addition to the commit timestamp. 
 SET 
  
 RETURN_COMMIT_STATS 
  
 = 
  
 true 
 ; 
 -- Execute a DML statement. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ), 
  
 ( 
 2 
 , 
  
 200 
 , 
  
 2 
 ), 
  
 ( 
 3 
 , 
  
 300 
 , 
  
 3 
 ); 
 -- Show the timestamp that the statement was committed. 
 SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 COMMIT_RESPONSE 
 ;

BEGIN [TRANSACTION]

  BEGIN 
  
 [ 
 TRANSACTION 
 ]

Starts a new transaction. The keyword TRANSACTION is optional.

Use COMMIT or ROLLBACK to terminate a transaction.
If you have enabled AUTOCOMMIT mode , this statement temporarily takes the connection out of AUTOCOMMIT mode. The connection returns to AUTOCOMMIT mode when the transaction ends.
The transaction mode is determined by the current READONLY setting for this connection. This value is set by using the SET READONLY = {TRUE | FALSE} command.
The transaction mode can be changed by executing SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY or SET TRANSACTION READ WRITE directly after executing BEGIN [TRANSACTION] .

You can execute this statement only while there is no active transaction.

▶ Example: BEGIN TRANSACTION (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to start different types of transactions with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- This starts a transaction using the current defaults of this connection. 
 -- The value of READONLY determines whether the transaction is a 
 -- read-write or a read-only transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ); 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- Set READONLY to TRUE to use read-only transactions by default. 
 SET 
  
 READONLY 
 = 
 TRUE 
 ; 
 -- This starts a read-only transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- Execute 'SET TRANSACTION READ WRITE' or 'SET TRANSACTION READ ONLY' directly 
 -- after the BEGIN statement to override the current default of the connection. 
 SET 
  
 READONLY 
 = 
 FALSE 
 ; 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 COMMIT 
 ;

COMMIT [TRANSACTION]

  COMMIT 
  
 [ 
 TRANSACTION 
 ]

Commits the current transaction. The keyword TRANSACTION is optional.

Committing a read-write transaction makes all updates of this transaction visible to other transactions and releases all of the transaction's locks on Spanner.
Committing a read-only transaction ends the current read-only transaction. Any subsequent statement starts a new transaction. There is no semantic difference between COMMIT and ROLLBACK for a read-only transaction.

You can execute this statement only while there is an active transaction.

▶ Example: COMMIT TRANSACTION (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to commit a transaction with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Execute a regular read-write transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ); 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- Execute a read-only transaction. Read-only transactions also need to be 
 -- either committed or rolled back in the Spanner JDBC driver in order 
 -- to mark the end of the transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 COMMIT 
 ;

ROLLBACK [TRANSACTION]

  ROLLBACK 
  
 [ 
 TRANSACTION 
 ]

Performs a ROLLBACK of the current transaction. The keywords TRANSACTION is optional.

Performing a ROLLBACK of a read-write transaction clears any buffered mutations, rolls back the transaction on Spanner, and releases any locks the transaction held.
Performing a ROLLBACK of a read-only transaction ends the current read-only transaction. Any subsequent statements start a new transaction. There is no semantic difference between COMMIT and ROLLBACK for a read-only transaction on a connection.

You can execute this statement only while there is an active transaction.

▶ Example: ROLLBACK TRANSACTION (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to rollback a transaction with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Use ROLLBACK to undo the effects of a transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ); 
 -- This ensures that the insert statement is not persisted in the database. 
 ROLLBACK 
 ; 
 -- Read-only transactions also need to be either committed or rolled back in the 
 -- Spanner JDBC driver in order to mark the end of the transaction. 
 -- There is no semantic difference between rolling back or committing a 
 -- read-only transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 ROLLBACK 
 ;

SET TRANSACTION

  SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 { 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
  
 | 
  
 READ 
  
 WRITE 
  
 }

Sets the transaction mode for the current transaction.

You can execute this statement only when AUTOCOMMIT is false , or if you have started a transaction by executing BEGIN [TRANSACTION] and have not yet executed any statements in the transaction.

This statement sets the transaction mode for the current transaction only. When the transaction commits or rolls back, the next transaction uses the default mode for the connection (see SET READONLY ).

▶ Example: SET TRANSACTION (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to set transaction characteristics with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Start a transaction and set the transaction mode to read-only. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 ONLY 
 ; 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ORDER 
  
 BY 
  
 LastName 
 ; 
 -- Commit the read-only transaction to mark the end of the transaction. 
 COMMIT 
 ; 
 -- Start a transaction and set the transaction mode to read-write. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 SET 
  
 TRANSACTION 
  
 READ 
  
 WRITE 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 T 
  
 ( 
 id 
 , 
  
 col_a 
 , 
  
 col_b 
 ) 
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 100 
 , 
  
 1 
 ); 
 COMMIT 
 ;

Batch statements

The following statements manage batches of DDL statements and send those batches to Spanner.

START BATCH DDL

  START 
  
 BATCH 
  
 DDL

Starts a batch of DDL statements on the connection. All subsequent statements during the batch must be DDL statements. The DDL statements are buffered locally and sent to Spanner as one batch when you execute RUN BATCH . Executing multiple DDL statements as one batch is typically faster than running the statements separately.

You can execute this statement only while there is no active transaction.

▶ Example: DDL batch (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to execute a DDL batch with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Start a DDL batch. All following statements must be DDL statements. 
 START 
  
 BATCH 
  
 DDL 
 ; 
 -- This statement is buffered locally until RUN BATCH is executed. 
 CREATE 
  
 TABLE 
  
 Singers 
  
 ( 
  
 SingerId 
  
 INT64 
  
 NOT 
  
 NULL 
 , 
  
 FirstName 
  
 STRING 
 ( 
 MAX 
 ), 
  
 LastName 
  
 STRING 
 ( 
 MAX 
 ) 
 ) 
  
 PRIMARY 
  
 KEY 
  
 ( 
 SingerId 
 ); 
 -- This statement is buffered locally until RUN BATCH is executed. 
 CREATE 
  
 TABLE 
  
 Albums 
  
 ( 
  
 AlbumId 
  
 INT64 
  
 NOT 
  
 NULL 
 , 
  
 Title 
  
 STRING 
 ( 
 MAX 
 ), 
  
 SingerId 
  
 INT64 
 , 
  
 CONSTRAINT 
  
 fk_albums_singers 
  
 FOREIGN 
  
 KEY 
  
 ( 
 SingerId 
 ) 
  
 REFERENCES 
  
 Singers 
  
 ( 
 SingerId 
 ) 
 ) 
  
 PRIMARY 
  
 KEY 
  
 ( 
 AlbumId 
 ); 
 -- This runs the DDL statements as one batch. 
 RUN 
  
 BATCH 
 ;

RUN BATCH

  RUN 
  
 BATCH

Sends all buffered DDL statements in the current DDL batch to the database, waits for Spanner to execute these statements, and ends the current DDL batch.

If Spanner cannot execute at least one DDL statement, RUN BATCH returns an error for the first DDL statement that Spanner cannot execute. Otherwise, RUN BATCH returns successfully.

ABORT BATCH [TRANSACTION]

Clears all buffered DDL statements in the current DDL batch and ends the batch.

You can execute this statement only when a DDL batch is active. You can use ABORT BATCH regardless of whether or not the batch has buffered DDL statements. All preceding DDL statements in the batch will be aborted.

▶ Example: Abort DDL batch (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to abort a DDL batch with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Start a DDL batch. All following statements must be DDL statements. 
 START 
  
 BATCH 
  
 DDL 
 ; 
 -- The following statements are buffered locally. 
 CREATE 
  
 TABLE 
  
 Singers 
  
 ( 
  
 SingerId 
  
 INT64 
  
 NOT 
  
 NULL 
 , 
  
 FirstName 
  
 STRING 
 ( 
 MAX 
 ), 
  
 LastName 
  
 STRING 
 ( 
 MAX 
 ) 
 ) 
  
 PRIMARY 
  
 KEY 
  
 ( 
 SingerId 
 ); 
 CREATE 
  
 TABLE 
  
 Albums 
  
 ( 
  
 AlbumId 
  
 INT64 
  
 NOT 
  
 NULL 
 , 
  
 Title 
  
 STRING 
 ( 
 MAX 
 ), 
  
 SingerId 
  
 INT64 
 , 
  
 CONSTRAINT 
  
 fk_albums_singers 
  
 FOREIGN 
  
 KEY 
  
 ( 
 SingerId 
 ) 
  
 REFERENCES 
  
 Singers 
  
 ( 
 SingerId 
 ) 
 ) 
  
 PRIMARY 
  
 KEY 
  
 ( 
 AlbumId 
 ); 
 -- This aborts the DDL batch and removes the DDL statements from the buffer. 
 ABORT 
  
 BATCH 
 ;

START BATCH DML and RUN Batch

The following statements batch the two DML statements together and send these in one call to the server. A DML batch can be executed as part of a transaction or in autocommit mode.

  START 
  
 BATCH 
  
 DML 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 'ONE' 
 ); 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 2 
 , 
  
 'TWO' 
 ); 
 RUN 
  
 BATCH 
 ;

▶ Example: DML batch (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to execute a DML batch with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Start a DML batch. All following statements must be a DML statement. 
 START 
  
 BATCH 
  
 DML 
 ; 
 -- The following statements are buffered locally. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 1 
 , 
  
 'ONE' 
 ); 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 2 
 , 
  
 'TWO' 
 ); 
 -- This sends the statements to Spanner. 
 RUN 
  
 BATCH 
 ; 
 -- DML batches can also be part of a read/write transaction. 
 BEGIN 
 ; 
 -- Insert a row using a single statement. 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 3 
 , 
  
 'THREE' 
 ); 
 -- Insert two rows using a batch. 
 START 
  
 BATCH 
  
 DML 
 ; 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 4 
 , 
  
 'FOUR' 
 ); 
 INSERT 
  
 INTO 
  
 MYTABLE 
  
 ( 
 ID 
 , 
  
 NAME 
 ) 
  
 VALUES 
  
 ( 
 5 
 , 
  
 'FIVE' 
 ); 
 RUN 
  
 BATCH 
 ; 
 -- Rollback the current transaction. This rolls back both the single DML 
 -- statement and the DML batch. 
 ROLLBACK 
 ;

Data Boost and partitioned query statements

The partitionQuery API divides a query into smaller pieces, or partitions, and uses multiple machines to fetch the partitions in parallel. Each partition is identified by a partition token. The PartitionQuery API has higher latency than the standard query API, because it is only intended for bulk operations such as exporting or scanning the whole database.

Data Boost lets you execute analytics queries and data exports with near-zero impact to existing workloads on the provisioned Spanner instance. Data Boost only supports partitioned queries .

You can enable Data Boost with the SET DATA_BOOST_ENABLED statement.

The Spanner JDBC driver supports three alternatives for executing partitioned queries:

SET AUTO_PARTITION_MODE = true
RUN PARTITIONED QUERY sql
PARTITION sql followed by multiple RUN PARTITION 'partition-token'

Each of these methods are described in the following sections.

DATA_BOOST_ENABLED

A property of type BOOL indicating whether this connection should use Data Boost for partitioned queries. The default is false .

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 DATA_BOOST_ENABLED 
 SET 
  
 DATA_BOOST_ENABLED 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 true 
  
 | 
  
 false 
  
 }

▶ Example: Execute a query using Data Boost (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to a query using Data Boost with the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Enable Data Boost on this connection. 
 SET 
  
 DATA_BOOST_ENABLED 
  
 = 
  
 true 
 ; 
 -- Execute a partitioned query. Data Boost is only used for partitioned queries. 
 RUN 
  
 PARTITIONED 
  
 QUERY 
  
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
  
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ;

For a full example, see DataBoostExample.

AUTO_PARTITION_MODE

A property of type BOOL indicating whether the connection automatically uses partitioned queries for all queries that are executed.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 AUTO_PARTITION_MODE 
 SET 
  
 AUTO_PARTITION_MODE 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 true 
  
 | 
  
 false 
 }

Set this variable to true if you want the connection to use partitioned query for all queries that are executed.
Also set DATA_BOOST_ENABLED to true if you want the connection to use Data Boost for all queries.

The default is false .

▶ Example: Execute (Click to expand)

This example executes two queries with the Spanner JDBC driver using Data Boost

  SET 
  
 AUTO_PARTITION_MODE 
  
 = 
  
 true 
 SET 
  
 DATA_BOOST_ENABLED 
  
 = 
  
 true 
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
  
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 SELECT 
  
 SingerId 
 , 
  
 Title 
  
 FROM 
  
 Albums

For a full example, see AutoPartitionModeExample.

RUN PARTITIONED QUERY

  RUN 
  
 PARTITIONED 
  
 QUERY 
  
< sql 
>

Executes a query as a partitioned query on Spanner. Ensure that DATA_BOOST_ENABLED is set to true to execute the query with Data Boost :

  SET 
  
 DATA_BOOST_ENABLED 
  
 = 
  
 true 
 RUN 
  
 PARTITIONED 
  
 QUERY 
  
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
  
 FROM 
  
 Singers

The Spanner JDBC driver internally partitions the query and executes partitions in parallel. The results are merged into one result set and returned to the application. The number of worker threads executing partitions can be set with the variable MAX_PARTITIONED_PARALLELISM .

For a full example, see RunPartitionedQueryExample.

PARTITION <SQL>

  PARTITION 
  
< sql 
>

Creates a list of partitions to execute a query against Spanner and returns these a list of partition tokens. Each partition token can be executed on a separate connection on the same or another client using the RUN PARTITION 'partition-token' command.

▶ Example: Partition query (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to partition a query and then execute each partition separately using the Spanner JDBC driver.

  -- Partition a query. This returns a list of partition tokens that can be 
 -- executed either on this connection or on any other connection to the same 
 -- database. 
 PARTITION 
  
 SELECT 
  
 FirstName 
 , 
  
 LastName 
  
 FROM 
  
 Singers 
 ; 
 -- Run the partitions that were returned from the previous statement. 
 RUN 
  
 PARTITION 
  
 'partition-token-1' 
 ; 
 RUN 
  
 PARTITION 
  
 'partition-token-2' 
 ;

For a full example, see PartitionQueryExample.

RUN PARTITION 'partition-token'

  RUN 
  
 PARTITION 
  
 'partition-token'

Executes a query partition that has previously been returned by the PARTITION command. The command can be executed on any connection that is connected to the same database as the database that created the partition tokens.

MAX_PARTITIONED_PARALLELISM

A property of type INT64 indicating the number of worker threads the Spanner JDBC driver uses to execute partitions. This value is used for:

AUTO_PARTITION_MODE = true
RUN PARTITIONED QUERY sql

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 MAX_PARTITIONED_PARALLELISM 
 SET 
  
 MAX_PARTITIONED_PARALLELISM 
  
 = 
  
< INT64 
>

Sets the maximum number of worker threads that the Spanner JDBC driver can use to execute partitions. Setting this value to 0 instructs the Spanner JDBC driver to use the number of CPU cores on the client machine as the maximum.

The default is 0 .

Directed read statements

A property of type STRING that sets the directed read option for the following statements.

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 DIRECTED_READ 
 SET 
  
 DIRECTED_READ 
 = 
 '{"includeReplicas":{"replicaSelections":[{"location":"<location-name>"}]}}'

For more information, see Directed reads .

Savepoint commands

The following statements enable and disable emulated savepoints in transactions. You can create a savepoint by calling the java.sql.Connection#setSavepoint() method.

The Spanner JDBC driver emulates savepoints to support frameworks that rely on these for nested transactions. Savepoints are emulated by keeping track of a running checksum for the results that have been returned by statements in the transaction. When rolling back to a savepoint, the Spanner JDBC driver rolls back the transaction, and then retries the transaction up to the point where the savepoint was set. The checksum of the retry is compared to the checksum of the initial transaction to verify that the same results were returned.

SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT

  SHOW 
  
 VARIABLE 
  
 SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT 
 SET 
  
 SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT 
  
 = 
  
 { 
  
 'DISABLED' 
  
 | 
  
 'FAIL_AFTER_ROLLBACK' 
  
 | 
  
 'ENABLED' 
  
 }

A property of type STRING indicating the current SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT configuration. Possible values are:

DISABLED : All savepoint commands are disabled and will fail.
FAIL_AFTER_ROLLBACK : Savepoint commands are enabled. Rolling back to a savepoint rolls back the entire transaction. The transaction fails if you try to use the transaction after rolling back to a savepoint.
ENABLED : All savepoint commands are enabled. Rolling back to a savepoint will rollback the transaction and retry is performed to the savepoint. This operation fails with an AbortedDueToConcurrentModificationException error if the underlying data that has been used by the transaction up to the savepoint has changed.

The default value is FAIL_AFTER_ROLLBACK .

You can change the value of this variable only while there is no active transaction.

▶ Example: Savepoint support (Click to expand)

The following example shows how to enable and disable savepoints support in the Spanner JDBC driver.

  try 
  
 ( 
 Connection 
  
 connection 
  
 = 
  
 DriverManager 
 . 
 getConnection 
 ( 
  
 String 
 . 
 format 
 ( 
  
 "jdbc:cloudspanner:/projects/%s/instances/%s/databases/%s" 
 , 
  
 "my-project" 
 , 
  
 "my-instance" 
 , 
  
 "my-database" 
 ))) 
  
 { 
  
 // Savepoints can only be used when AutoCommit=false. 
  
 connection 
 . 
 setAutoCommit 
 ( 
 false 
 ); 
  
 // Disables setting a savepoint. 
  
 connection 
 . 
 createStatement 
 (). 
 execute 
 ( 
 "SET SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT='DISABLED'" 
 ); 
  
 // The following statement fails because savepoints have been disabled. 
  
 connection 
 . 
 setSavepoint 
 ( 
 "my_savepoint1" 
 ); 
  
 // Enables setting a savepoint and releasing a savepoint. 
  
 // Rolling back to a savepoint is disabled. 
  
 connection 
 . 
 createStatement 
 (). 
 execute 
 ( 
 "SET SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT='FAIL_AFTER_ROLLBACK'" 
 ); 
  
 Savepoint 
  
 mySavepoint2 
  
 = 
  
 connection 
 . 
 setSavepoint 
 ( 
 "my_savepoint2" 
 ); 
  
 connection 
 . 
 createStatement 
 (). 
 execute 
 ( 
 "insert into my_table (id, value) values (1, 'One')" 
 ); 
  
 connection 
 . 
 releaseSavepoint 
 ( 
 mySavepoint2 
 ); 
  
 connection 
 . 
 commit 
 (); 
  
 // Enables setting, releasing and rolling back to a savepoint. 
  
 connection 
 . 
 createStatement 
 (). 
 execute 
 ( 
 "SET SAVEPOINT_SUPPORT='ENABLED'" 
 ); 
  
 Savepoint 
  
 mySavepoint3 
  
 = 
  
 connection 
 . 
 setSavepoint 
 ( 
 "my_savepoint3" 
 ); 
  
 connection 
 . 
 createStatement 
 (). 
 execute 
 ( 
 "insert into my_table (id, value) values (2, 'Two')" 
 ); 
  
 connection 
 . 
 rollback 
 ( 
 mySavepoint3 
 ); 
 }

What's next

Learn how to connect JDBC to a GoogleSQL-dialect database .