redis 0.4.4

fast and simple redis-database client

Redis client for dart

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Redis protocol parser and client writent in dart language
It is fast and simple by design. It requres no external package to run.

Supported features:

• transactions and CAS (check-and-set) pattern
• pubsub
• unicode
• performance and simplicity

Simple

Redis client is simple serialiser and desierialiser of redis protocol. There are also some addictional helping functon and classes available to make using redis features easier.

Redis protocol is composition of array, strings(and bulk) and integers. For example executing command SET is no more that serializing array of strings ["SET","key","value"]. Commands can be executed by

Future f = command.send_object(["SET","key","value"]);

This enables sending any command. Before sending commands one need to open connection to redis. I will assume that you are running redis server locally on port 6379. In this example we will open connection, execute command 'SET key 0' and then print result.

import 'package:redis/redis.dart';
...
RedisConnection conn = new RedisConnection();
conn.connect('localhost',6379).then((Command command){
    command.send_object(["SET","key","0"]).then((var response)
        print(response);
    )
}

Due to simple implementation it is possible to execute command on different ways. One an most straightforward way is one after another

RedisConnection conn = new RedisConnection();
conn.connect('localhost',6379).then((Command command){
  command.send_object(["SET","key","0"])
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 'OK');
    return command.send_object(["INCR","key"]);
  })
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 1);  
    return command.send_object(["INCR","key"]);
  })
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 2);
    return command.send_object(["INCR","key"]);
  })
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 3);
    return command.send_object(["GET","key"]);
  })
  .then((var response){
    return print(response); // 3
  });
});

Other possibility is to execute commands one by one without waiting for previous command to complete. We can send all commands without need to wait for result and we can be still sure, that response handled by Future will be completed in correct order.

RedisConnection conn = new RedisConnection();
conn.connect('localhost',6379).then((Command command){
  command.send_object(["SET","key","0"])
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 'OK');
  });
  command.send_object(["INCR","key"])
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 1);  
  });
  command.send_object(["INCR","key"])
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 2);
  });
  command.send_object(["INCR","key"])
  .then((var response){
    assert(response == 3);
  });
  command.send_object(["GET","key"])
  .then((var response){
     print(response); // 3
  });
});

Difference is that there are 5 commands in last examples and only one on previous example.

Generic

Redis responses and request can be arbitrarly nested. Mapping

Redis	Dart
String	String
Integer	Integer
Array	List
Error	RedisError

* Both simple string and bulk string from redis are serialied to dart string. String from dart to redis is converted to bulk string. UTF8 encoding is used in both directions.

Lists can be nested. This is usefull when executing EVAL command

command.send_object(["EVAL","return {KEYS[1],{KEYS[2],{ARGV[1]},ARGV[2]},2}","2","key1","key2","first","second"])
.then((response){
  print(response);
});

result in

[key1, [key2, [first], second], 2]

Fast

Tested on laptop can execute and process 130K INCR operations per second.

This is code that yields such result

const int N = 200000;
int start;
RedisConnection conn = new RedisConnection();
conn.connect('localhost',6379).then((Command command){
  print("test started, please wait ...");
  start =  new DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch;
  command.pipe_start();
  command.send_object(["SET","test","0"]);
  for(int i=1;i<=N;i++){
    command.send_object(["INCR","test"])
    .then((v){
      if(i != v)
        throw("wrong received value, we got $v");
    });
  }
  //last command will be executed and then processed last
  command.send_object(["GET","test"]).then((v){
    print(v);
    double diff = (new DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch - start)/1000.0;
    double perf = N/diff;
    print("$N operations done in $diff s\nperformance $perf/s");
  });
  command.pipe_end();
});

We are not just sending 200K commands here, but also checking result of every send command.

Using command.pipe_start(); and command.pipe_end(); is nothing more that enabling and disabling Nagle's algorhitm on socket. By default it is disabled to achieve shortest possible latency at expense of having more TCP packets and extra overhead. Enabling Nagle's algorithm during transactions can achieve greater data throughput and less overhead.

Transactions

Transactions by redis protocol are started by command MULTI and then completed with command EXEC. .multi(), .exec() and class Transaction are implemented as additional helpers for checking result of each command executed during transaction.

Future<Transaction> Command.multi();

Executing multi() will return Future with Transaction. This class should be used to execute commands by calling .send_object. It returns Future that is called after calling .exec().

import 'package:redis/redis.dart';
...

RedisConnection conn = new RedisConnection();
conn.connect('localhost',6379).then((Command command){
  command.multi().then((Transaction trans){
    trans.send_object(["SET","val","0"]);
    for(int i=0;i<200000;++i){
      trans.send_object(["INCR","val"]).then((v){
        assert(i==v);
      });
    }
    trans.send_object(["GET","val"]).then((v){
      print("number is now $v");
    });
    trans.exec();
  });
});

CAS

It is impossible to write code that depends on result of previous command during transaction, because all commands are executed at once. To overcome this case, user should employ technique CAS. Cas is convenience class for simplifying this pattern.

Cas constructor requires Command as argument.

Cas implements two methods watch() and multiAndExec().
watch takes two arguments. First argument is list of keys to watch and second argument is handler to call and to proceed with CAS.

for example:

cas.watch(["key1,key2,key3"],(){
  //body of CAS
});`

Failure happens if watched key is modified out of transaction. When this happens handler is called until final transaction completes. multiAndExec is used to complete transation. Method takes handler where argument is Transaction.

For example:

//last part in body of CAS
cas.multiAndExec((Transaction trans){
  trans.send_object(["SET","key1",v1]);
  trans.send_object(["SET","key2",v2]);
  trans.send_object(["SET","key2",v2]);
});

imagine we have the need to atomically increment the value of a key by 1 (let's suppose Redis doesn't have INCR).

Cas cas = new Cas(command);
cas.watch(["key"], (){
  command.send_object(["GET","key"]).then((String val){
    int i = int.parse(val);
    i++;
    cas.multiAndExec((Transaction trans){
      trans.send_object(["SET","key",i.toString()]);
    });
  });
});

Unicode

By default UTF8 encoding/decoding for string is used. Each string is converted in binary array using UTF8 encoding. This makes ascii string compatible in both direction.

PubSub

PubSub is helper for dispatching received messages. First, create new PubSubCommand from existing Command

PubSubCommand pubsub=new PubSubCommand(command);

Once PubSubCommand is created, old Command is invalidated and should not be used on same connection. PubSubCommand allows commands

void subscribe(List<String> channels)
void psubscribe(List<String> channels)
void unsubscribe(List<String> channels)
void punsubscribe(List<String> channels)

and additional Stream getStream([String pattern = "*"])

getStream returns Stream that sends streams according to optionally provided pattern Unlike Redis rich pattern matching, this pattern allows only for optional * wild char at the end of string.

Example for receiving and printing all messages

pubsub.getStream().listen((message){
  print("message: $message");
});

Here is complete example from test code.

import 'package:redis/redis.dart';

main(){
  RedisConnection conn1 = new RedisConnection();
  RedisConnection conn2 = new RedisConnection();
  Command command; //on conn1
  PubSubCommand pubsub; //on conn2

  conn1.connect('localhost',6379)
  .then((Command cmd){
    command = cmd;
    return conn2.connect('localhost',6379);
  })
  .then((Command cmd){
    pubsub=new PubSubCommand(cmd);
    pubsub.psubscribe(["a*","b*","*"]);
    pubsub.getStream().listen((msg){
      print("Message for \"*\"  - msg: $msg");
     });

    pubsub.getStream("a*").listen((msg){
      print("Message for \"a*\" - msg: $msg");
    });
  })
  .then((_){
    command.send_object(["PUBLISH","aaa","aa"]);
    command.send_object(["PUBLISH","bbb","bb"]);
    command.send_object(["PUBLISH","ccc","cc"]);
  });
}

Output is

Message for "*"  - msg: [pmessage, a*, aaa, aa]
Message for "a*" - msg: [pmessage, a*, aaa, aa]
Message for "*"  - msg: [pmessage, *, aaa, aa]
Message for "a*" - msg: [pmessage, *, aaa, aa]
Message for "*"  - msg: [pmessage, b*, bbb, bb]
Message for "*"  - msg: [pmessage, *, bbb, bb]
Message for "*"  - msg: [pmessage, *, ccc, cc]

Todo

In near future:

• Better documentation
• Implement all "generic commands" with named commands
• Better error handling - that is ability to recover from error
• Spell check code

Changes

0.4.4

• bugfix for subscribe -> https://github.com/ra1u/redis-dart/issues/3
• performance improvement
• add PubSub class (simpler/shorter/faster? PubSubCommand)
• doc update and example of EVAL

0.4.3

• Cas helper
• improved unit tests

0.4.2

• Improved performance by 10%
• Pubsub interface uses Stream
• Better test coverage
• Improved documentation

0.4.1

• Command raise error if used during transaction.

0.4.0

• PubSub interface is made simpler but backward incompatible :(
• README is updated