View Source mnesia (mnesia v4.23.1)
A distributed telecommunications DBMS
The following are some of the most important and attractive capabilities provided by Mnesia:
- A relational/object hybrid data model that is suitable for telecommunications applications.
- A DBMS query language, Query List Comprehension (QLC) as an add-on library.
- Persistence. Tables can be coherently kept on disc and in the main memory.
- Replication. Tables can be replicated at several nodes.
- Atomic transactions. A series of table manipulation operations can be grouped into a single atomic transaction.
- Location transparency. Programs can be written without knowledge of the actual data location.
- Extremely fast real-time data searches.
- Schema manipulation routines. The DBMS can be reconfigured at runtime without stopping the system.
This Reference Manual describes the Mnesia API. This includes functions that define and manipulate Mnesia tables.
All functions in this Reference Manual can be used in any combination with
queries using the list comprehension notation. For information about the query
notation, see the qlc
manual page in STDLIB.
Data in Mnesia is organized as a set of tables. Each table has a name that must be an atom. Each table is made up of Erlang records. The user is responsible for the record definitions. Each table also has a set of properties. The following are some of the properties that are associated with each table:
type
. Each table can haveset
,ordered_set
, orbag
semantics. Notice that currentlyordered_set
is not supported fordisc_only_copies
.If a table is of type
set
, each key leads to either one or zero records.If a new item is inserted with the same key as an existing record, the old record is overwritten. However, if a table is of type
bag
, each key can map to several records. All records in typebag
tables are unique, only the keys can be duplicated.record_name
. All records stored in a table must have the same name. The records must be instances of the same record type.ram_copies
. A table can be replicated on a number of Erlang nodes. Propertyram_copies
specifies a list of Erlang nodes where RAM copies are kept. These copies can be dumped to disc at regular intervals. However, updates to these copies are not written to disc on a transaction basis.disc_copies
. This property specifies a list of Erlang nodes where the table is kept in RAM and on disc. All updates of the table are performed in the actual table and are also logged to disc. If a table is of typedisc_copies
at a certain node, the entire table is resident in RAM memory and on disc. Each transaction performed on the table is appended to aLOG
file and written into the RAM table.disc_only_copies
. Some, or all, table replicas can be kept on disc only. These replicas are considerably slower than the RAM-based replicas.index
. This is a list of attribute names, or integers, which specify the tuple positions on which Mnesia is to build and maintain an extra index table.local_content
. When an application requires tables whose contents are local to each node,local_content
tables can be used. The table name is known to all Mnesia nodes, but its content is unique on each node. This means that access to such a table must be done locally. Set fieldlocal_content
totrue
to enable thelocal_content
behavior. Default isfalse
.majority
. This attribute istrue
orfalse
; default isfalse
. Whentrue
, a majority of the table replicas must be available for an update to succeed. Majority checking can be enabled on tables with mission-critical data, where it is vital to avoid inconsistencies because of network splits.snmp
. Each (set-based) Mnesia table can be automatically turned into a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) ordered table as well. This property specifies the types of the SNMP keys.attributes
. The names of the attributes for the records that are inserted in the table.
For information about the complete set of table properties and their details,
see mnesia:create_table/2
.
This Reference Manual uses a table of persons to illustrate various examples. The following record definition is assumed:
-record(person, {name,
age = 0,
address = unknown,
salary = 0,
children = []}),
The first record attribute is the primary key, or key for short.
The function descriptions are sorted in alphabetical order. It is recommended to
start to read about mnesia:create_table/2
, mnesia:lock/2
, and
mnesia:activity/4
before you continue and learn about the rest.
Writing or deleting in transaction-context creates a local copy of each modified
record during the transaction. During iteration, that is, mnesia:fold[lr]/4
,
mnesia:next/2
, mnesia:prev/2
, and mnesia:snmp_get_next_index/2
, Mnesia
compensates for every written or deleted record, which can reduce the
performance.
If possible, avoid writing or deleting records in the same transaction before iterating over the table.
Configuration Parameters
Mnesia reads the following application configuration parameters:
-mnesia access_module Module
. The name of the Mnesia activity access callback module. Default ismnesia
.-mnesia auto_repair true | false
. This flag controls if Mnesia automatically tries to repair files that have not been properly closed. Default istrue
.-mnesia backup_module Module
. The name of the Mnesia backup callback module. Default ismnesia_backup
.-mnesia debug Level
. Controls the debug level of Mnesia. The possible values are as follows:none
- No trace outputs. This is the default.verbose
- Activates tracing of important debug events. These events generate{mnesia_info, Format, Args}
system events. Processes can subscribe to these events withmnesia:subscribe/1
. The events are always sent to the Mnesia event handler.debug
- Activates all events at the verbose level plus full trace of all debug events. These debug events generate{mnesia_info, Format, Args}
system events. Processes can subscribe to these events withmnesia:subscribe/1
. The events are always sent to the Mnesia event handler. On this debug level, the Mnesia event handler starts subscribing to updates in the schema table.trace
- Activates all events at the debug level. On this level, the Mnesia event handler starts subscribing to updates on all Mnesia tables. This level is intended only for debugging small toy systems, as many large events can be generated.false
- An alias for none.true
- An alias for debug.
-mnesia core_dir Directory
. The name of the directory where Mnesia core files is stored, or false. Setting it implies that also RAM-only nodes generate a core file if a crash occurs.-mnesia dc_dump_limit Number
. Controls how oftendisc_copies
tables are dumped from memory. Tables are dumped whenfilesize(Log) > (filesize(Tab)/Dc_dump_limit)
. Lower values reduce CPU overhead but increase disk space and startup times. Default is 4.-mnesia dir Directory
. The name of the directory where all Mnesia data is stored. The directory name must be unique for the current node. Two nodes must never share the the same Mnesia directory. The results are unpredictable.-mnesia dump_disc_copies_at_startup true | false
. If set to false, this disables the dumping ofdisc_copies
tables during startup while tables are being loaded. The default is true.-mnesia dump_log_load_regulation true | false
. Controls if log dumps are to be performed as fast as possible, or if the dumper is to do its own load regulation. Default isfalse
.This feature is temporary and will be removed in a future release
-mnesia dump_log_update_in_place true | false
. Controls if log dumps are performed on a copy of the original data file, or if the log dump is performed on the original data file. Default istrue
-mnesia dump_log_write_threshold Max
.Max
is an integer that specifies the maximum number of writes allowed to the transaction log before a new dump of the log is performed. Default is1000
log writes.-mnesia dump_log_time_threshold Max
.Max
is an integer that specifies the dump log interval in milliseconds. Default is 3 minutes. If a dump has not been performed withindump_log_time_threshold
milliseconds, a new dump is performed regardless of the number of writes performed.-mnesia event_module Module
. The name of the Mnesia event handler callback module. Default ismnesia_event
.-mnesia extra_db_nodes Nodes
specifies a list of nodes, in addition to the ones found in the schema, with which Mnesia is also to establish contact. Default is[]
(empty list).-mnesia fallback_error_function {UserModule, UserFunc}
. Specifies a user-supplied callback function, which is called if a fallback is installed and Mnesia goes down on another node. Mnesia calls the function with one argument, the name of the dying node, for example,UserModule:UserFunc(DyingNode)
. Mnesia must be restarted, otherwise the database can be inconsistent. The default behavior is to terminate Mnesia.-mnesia max_wait_for_decision Timeout
. Specifies how long Mnesia waits for other nodes to share their knowledge about the outcome of an unclear transaction. By default,Timeout
is set to the atominfinity
. This implies that if Mnesia upon startup detects a "heavyweight transaction" whose outcome is unclear, the local Mnesia waits until Mnesia is started on some (in the worst case all) of the other nodes that were involved in the interrupted transaction. This is a rare situation, but if it occurs, Mnesia does not guess if the transaction on the other nodes was committed or terminated. Mnesia waits until it knows the outcome and then acts accordingly.If
Timeout
is set to an integer value in milliseconds, Mnesia forces "heavyweight transactions" to be finished, even if the outcome of the transaction for the moment is unclear. AfterTimeout
milliseconds, Mnesia commits or terminates the transaction and continues with the startup. This can lead to a situation where the transaction is committed on some nodes and terminated on other nodes. If the transaction is a schema transaction, the inconsistency can be fatal.-mnesia no_table_loaders NUMBER
. Specifies the number of parallel table loaders during start. More loaders can be good if the network latency is high or if many tables contain few records. Default is2
.-mnesia send_compressed Level
. Specifies the level of compression to be used when copying a table from the local node to another one. Default is0
.Level
must be an integer in the interval[0, 9]
, where0
means no compression and9
means maximum compression. Before setting it to a non-zero value, ensure that the remote nodes understand this configuration.-mnesia max_transfer_size Number
. Specifies the estimated size in bytes of a single packet of data to be used when copying a table from the local node to another one. Default is64000
.-mnesia schema_location Loc
. Controls where Mnesia looks for its schema. ParameterLoc
can be one of the following atoms:disc
- Mandatory disc. The schema is assumed to be located in the Mnesia directory. If the schema cannot be found, Mnesia refuses to start. This is the old behavior.ram
- Mandatory RAM. The schema resides in RAM only. At startup, a tiny new schema is generated. This default schema only contains the definition of the schema table and only resides on the local node. Since no other nodes are found in the default schema, configuration parameterextra_db_nodes
must be used to let the node share its table definitions with other nodes.Parameter
extra_db_nodes
can also be used on disc based nodes.opt_disc
- Optional disc. The schema can reside on disc or in RAM. If the schema is found on disc, Mnesia starts as a disc-based node and the storage type of the schema table isdisc_copies
. If no schema is found on disc, Mnesia starts as a disc-less node and the storage type of the schema table isram_copies
. Default value for the application parameter isopt_disc
.
First, the SASL application parameters are checked, then the command-line flags are checked, and finally, the default value is chosen.
See Also
Summary
Functions
Makes the transaction silently return the tuple {aborted, Reason}
. Termination
of a Mnesia transaction means that an exception is thrown to an enclosing
catch
. Thus, the expression catch mnesia:abort(x)
does not terminate the
transaction.
Equivalent to async_dirty/2
Equivalent to backup/2
Equivalent to backup_checkpoint/3
Majority
must be a boolean. Default is false
. When true
, a majority of the
table replicas must be available for an update to succeed. When used on
fragmented tables, Tab
must be the base table name. Directly changing the
majority setting on individual fragments is not allowed.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:delete/3
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:delete_object/3
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:index_match_object/4
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:match_object/3
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:read/3
.
Mnesia has no special counter records. However, records of the form
{Tab, Key, Integer}
can be used as (possibly disc-resident) counters when
Tab
is a set
. This function updates a counter with a positive or negative
number. However, counters can never become less than zero. There are two
significant differences between this function and the action of first reading
the record, performing the arithmetic, and then writing the record
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:write/3
.
Equivalent to foldl/4
Equivalent to foldr/4
Installs a backup as fallback. The fallback is used to restore the database at the next startup. Installation of fallbacks requires Erlang to be operational on all the involved nodes, but it does not matter if Mnesia is running or not. The installation of the fallback fails if the local node is not one of the disc-resident nodes in the backup.
Works exactly like mnesia:first/1
, but returns the last object in Erlang term
order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
mnesia:first/1
and mnesia:last/1
are synonyms.
Works exactly like mnesia:next/2
, but returns the previous object in Erlang
term order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
mnesia:next/2
and mnesia:prev/2
are synonyms.
Prints information about all table definitions on the terminal.
Prints information about one table definition on the terminal.
Selects more objects with the match specification initiated by
mnesia:select/4
.
Equivalent to select/3
Removes the possibility for SNMP to manipulate the table.
Transforms an SNMP index to the corresponding Mnesia key. If the SNMP table has multiple keys, the key is a tuple of the key columns.
RowIndex
can specify a non-existing row. Specifically, it can be the empty
list. Returns the index of the next lexicographical row. If RowIndex
is the
empty list, this function returns the index of the first row in the table.
Reads a row by its SNMP index. This index is specified as an SNMP Object Identifier, a list of integers.
A direct one-to-one mapping can be established between Mnesia tables and SNMP tables. Many telecommunication applications are controlled and monitored by the SNMP protocol. This connection between Mnesia and SNMP makes it simple and convenient to achieve this mapping.
Equivalent to sync_dirty/2
Ensures that the local transaction log file is synced to disk. On a single node
system, data written to disk tables since the last dump can be lost if there is
a power outage. See dump_log/0
.
Equivalent to sync_transaction/3
Equivalent to sync_transaction/3
Equivalent to table/2
Equivalent to transaction/3
Equivalent to transaction/3
Calls mnesia:transform_table(Tab, Fun, NewAttributeList, RecName)
, where
RecName
is mnesia:table_info(Tab, record_name)
.
Equivalent to traverse_backup/6
Deinstalls a fallback before it has been used to restore the database. This is normally a distributed operation that is either performed on all nodes with disc resident schema, or none. Uninstallation of fallbacks requires Erlang to be operational on all involved nodes, but it does not matter if Mnesia is running or not. Which nodes that are considered as disc-resident nodes is determined from the schema information in the local fallback.
Types
-type activity() :: ets | async_dirty | sync_dirty | transaction | sync_transaction | {transaction, Retries :: non_neg_integer()} | {sync_transaction, Retries :: non_neg_integer()}.
-type config_key() :: extra_db_nodes | dc_dump_limit.
-type config_result() :: {ok, config_value()} | {error, term()}.
-type create_option() :: {access_mode, read_write | read_only} | {attributes, [atom()]} | {disc_copies, [node()]} | {disc_only_copies, [node()]} | {index, [index_attr()]} | {load_order, non_neg_integer()} | {majority, boolean()} | {ram_copies, [node()]} | {record_name, atom()} | {snmp, SnmpStruct :: term()} | {storage_properties, [{Backend :: module(), [BackendProp :: _]}]} | {type, set | ordered_set | bag} | {local_content, boolean()} | {user_properties, proplists:proplist()}.
-type debug_level() :: none | verbose | debug | trace.
-type index_attr() :: atom() | non_neg_integer() | {atom()}.
-type lock_kind() :: write_locks() | read_locks().
-type read_locks() :: read.
-type result() :: ok | {error, Reason :: term()}.
-type select_continuation() :: term().
-type snmp_type() :: fix_string | string | integer.
-type storage_type() :: ram_copies | disc_copies | disc_only_copies.
-type t_result(Res) :: {atomic, Res} | {aborted, Reason :: term()}.
-type table() :: atom().
-type tuple_of(_T) :: tuple().
-type write_locks() :: write | sticky_write.
Functions
-spec abort(_) -> no_return().
Makes the transaction silently return the tuple {aborted, Reason}
. Termination
of a Mnesia transaction means that an exception is thrown to an enclosing
catch
. Thus, the expression catch mnesia:abort(x)
does not terminate the
transaction.
-spec activate_checkpoint([Arg]) -> {ok, Name, [node()]} | {error, Reason :: term()} when Arg :: {name, Name} | {max, [table()]} | {min, [table()]} | {allow_remote, boolean()} | {ram_overrides_dump, boolean()}.
A checkpoint is a consistent view of the system. A checkpoint can be activated on a set of tables. This checkpoint can then be traversed and presents a view of the system as it existed at the time when the checkpoint was activated, even if the tables are being or have been manipulated.
Args
is a list of the following tuples:
{name,Name}
.Name
is the checkpoint name. Each checkpoint must have a name that is unique to the associated nodes. The name can be reused only once the checkpoint has been deactivated. By default, a name that is probably unique is generated.{max,MaxTabs}
.MaxTabs
is a list of tables that are to be included in the checkpoint. Default is[]
. For these tables, the redundancy is maximized and checkpoint information is retained together with all replicas. The checkpoint becomes more fault tolerant if the tables have several replicas. When a new replica is added by the schema manipulation functionmnesia:add_table_copy/3
, a retainer is also attached automatically.{min,MinTabs}
.MinTabs
is a list of tables that are to be included in the checkpoint. Default is []. For these tables, the redundancy is minimized and the checkpoint information is only retained with one replica, preferably on the local node.{allow_remote,Bool}
.false
means that all retainers must be local. The checkpoint cannot be activated if a table does not reside locally.true
allows retainers to be allocated on any node. Default istrue
.{ram_overrides_dump,Bool}
. Only applicable forram_copies
.Bool
allows you to choose to back up the table state as it is in RAM, or as it is on disc.true
means that the latest committed records in RAM are to be included in the checkpoint. These are the records that the application accesses.false
means that the records dumped toDAT
files are to be included in the checkpoint. These records are loaded at startup. Default isfalse
.
Returns {ok,Name,Nodes}
or {error,Reason}
. Name
is the (possibly
generated) checkpoint name. Nodes
are the nodes that are involved in the
checkpoint. Only nodes that keep a checkpoint retainer know about the
checkpoint.
Calls mnesia:activity(AccessContext, Fun, Args, AccessMod)
, where AccessMod
is the default access callback module obtained by
mnesia:system_info(access_module)
. Args
defaults to []
(empty list).
-spec activity(Kind, Fun, [Arg :: _], Mod) -> t_result(Res) | Res when Kind :: activity(), Fun :: fun((...) -> Res), Mod :: atom().
Executes the functional object Fun
with argument Args
.
The code that executes inside the activity can consist of a series of table
manipulation functions, which are performed in an AccessContext
. Currently,
the following access contexts are supported:
transaction
- Short for{transaction, infinity}
{transaction, Retries}
- Callsmnesia:transaction(Fun, Args, Retries)
. Notice that the result fromFun
is returned if the transaction is successful (atomic), otherwise the function exits with an abort reason.sync_transaction
- Short for{sync_transaction, infinity}
{sync_transaction, Retries}
- Callsmnesia:sync_transaction(Fun, Args, Retries)
. Notice that the result fromFun
is returned if the transaction is successful (atomic), otherwise the function exits with an abort reason.async_dirty
- Callsmnesia:async_dirty(Fun, Args)
.sync_dirty
- Callsmnesia:sync_dirty(Fun, Args)
.ets
- Callsmnesia:ets(Fun, Args)
.
This function (mnesia:activity/4
) differs in an important way from the
functions mnesia:transaction
, mnesia:sync_transaction
, mnesia:async_dirty
,
mnesia:sync_dirty
, and mnesia:ets
. Argument AccessMod
is the name of a
callback module, which implements the mnesia_access
behavior.
Mnesia forwards calls to the following functions:
- mnesia:lock/2 (read_lock_table/1, write_lock_table/1)
- mnesia:write/3 (write/1, s_write/1)
- mnesia:delete/3 (delete/1, s_delete/1)
- mnesia:delete_object/3 (delete_object/1, s_delete_object/1)
- mnesia:read/3 (read/1, wread/1)
- mnesia:match_object/3 (match_object/1)
- mnesia:all_keys/1
- mnesia:first/1
- mnesia:last/1
- mnesia:prev/2
- mnesia:next/2
- mnesia:index_match_object/4 (index_match_object/2)
- mnesia:index_read/3
- mnesia:table_info/2
to the corresponding:
- AccessMod:lock(ActivityId, Opaque, LockItem, LockKind)
- AccessMod:write(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Rec, LockKind)
- AccessMod:delete(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Key, LockKind)
- AccessMod:delete_object(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, RecXS, LockKind)
- AccessMod:read(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Key, LockKind)
- AccessMod:match_object(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Pattern, LockKind)
- AccessMod:all_keys(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, LockKind)
- AccessMod:first(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab)
- AccessMod:last(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab)
- AccessMod:prev(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Key)
- AccessMod:next(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Key)
- AccessMod:index_match_object(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, Pattern, Attr, LockKind)
- AccessMod:index_read(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, SecondaryKey, Attr, LockKind)
- AccessMod:table_info(ActivityId, Opaque, Tab, InfoItem)
ActivityId
is a record that represents the identity of the enclosing Mnesia
activity. The first field (obtained with
element(1, ActivityId)
) contains an atom, which can be
interpreted as the activity type: ets
, async_dirty
, sync_dirty
, or tid
.
tid
means that the activity is a transaction. The structure of the rest of the
identity record is internal to Mnesia.
Opaque
is an opaque data structure that is internal to Mnesia.
-spec add_table_copy(Tab, N, ST) -> t_result(ok) when Tab :: table(), N :: node(), ST :: storage_type().
Makes another copy of a table at the node Node
. Argument Type
must be either
of the atoms ram_copies
, disc_copies
, or disc_only_copies
. For example,
the following call ensures that a disc replica of the person
table also exists
at node Node
:
mnesia:add_table_copy(person, Node, disc_copies)
This function can also be used to add a replica of the table named schema
.
-spec add_table_index(Tab, I) -> t_result(ok) when Tab :: table(), I :: index_attr().
Table indexes can be used whenever the user wants to use frequently some other
field than the key field to look up records. If this other field has an
associated index, these lookups can occur in constant time and space. For
example, if your application wishes to use field age
to find efficiently all
persons with a specific age, it can be a good idea to have an index on field
age
. This can be done with the following call:
mnesia:add_table_index(person, age)
Indexes do not come for free. They occupy space that is proportional to the table size, and they cause insertions into the table to execute slightly slower.
Returns a list of all keys in the table named Tab
. The semantics of this
function is context-sensitive. For more information, see mnesia:activity/4
. In
transaction-context, it acquires a read lock on the entire table.
-spec async_dirty(Fun) -> Res | no_return() when Fun :: fun(() -> Res).
Equivalent to async_dirty/2
-spec async_dirty(Fun, [Arg :: _]) -> Res | no_return() when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res).
Calls the Fun
in a context that is not protected by a transaction. The Mnesia
function calls performed in the Fun
are mapped to the corresponding dirty
functions. This still involves logging, replication, and subscriptions, but
there is no locking, local transaction storage, or commit protocols involved.
Checkpoint retainers and indexes are updated, but they are updated dirty. As for
normal mnesia:dirty_*
operations, the operations are performed
semi-asynchronously. For details, see mnesia:activity/4
and the User's Guide.
The Mnesia tables can be manipulated without using transactions. This has some serious disadvantages, but is considerably faster, as the transaction manager is not involved and no locks are set. A dirty operation does, however, guarantee a certain level of consistency, and the dirty operations cannot return garbled records. All dirty operations provide location transparency to the programmer, and a program does not have to be aware of the whereabouts of a certain table to function.
Notice that it is more than ten times more efficient to read records dirty than within a transaction.
Depending on the application, it can be a good idea to use the dirty functions for certain operations. Almost all Mnesia functions that can be called within transactions have a dirty equivalent, which is much more efficient.
However, notice that there is a risk that the database can be left in an inconsistent state if dirty operations are used to update it. Dirty operations are only to be used for performance reasons when it is absolutely necessary.
Notice that calling (nesting) mnesia:[a]sync_dirty
inside a
transaction-context inherits the transaction semantics.
Equivalent to backup/2
Activates a new checkpoint covering all Mnesia tables, including the schema,
with maximum degree of redundancy, and performs a backup using
backup_checkpoint/2/3
. The default value of the backup callback module
BackupMod
is obtained by mnesia:system_info(backup_module)
.
Equivalent to backup_checkpoint/3
-spec backup_checkpoint(Name, Dest, Mod) -> result() when Name :: term(), Dest :: term(), Mod :: module().
The tables are backed up to external media using backup module BackupMod
.
Tables with the local contents property are backed up as they exist on the
current node. BackupMod
is the default backup callback module obtained by
mnesia:system_info(backup_module)
. For information about the exact callback
interface (the mnesia_backup behavior
), see the User's Guide.
-spec change_config(Config, Value) -> config_result() when Config :: config_key(), Value :: config_value().
Config
is to be an atom of the following configuration parameters:
extra_db_nodes
-Value
is a list of nodes that Mnesia is to try to connect to.ReturnValue
is those nodes inValue
that Mnesia is connected to.Notice that this function must only be used to connect to newly started RAM nodes (N.D.R.S.N.) with an empty schema. If, for example, this function is used after the network has been partitioned, it can lead to inconsistent tables.
Notice that Mnesia can be connected to other nodes than those returned in
ReturnValue
.dc_dump_limit
-Value
is a number. See the description in Section Configuration Parameters.ReturnValue
is the new value. Notice that this configuration parameter is not persistent. It is lost when Mnesia has stopped.
-spec change_table_access_mode(Tab :: table(), Mode) -> t_result(ok) when Mode :: read_only | read_write.
AcccessMode
is by default the atom read_write
but it can also be set to the
atom read_only
. If AccessMode
is set to read_only
, updates to the table
cannot be performed. At startup, Mnesia always loads read_only
tables locally
regardless of when and if Mnesia is terminated on other nodes.
-spec change_table_copy_type(Tab :: table(), Node :: node(), To :: storage_type()) -> t_result(ok).
For example:
mnesia:change_table_copy_type(person, node(), disc_copies)
Transforms the person
table from a RAM table into a disc-based table at
Node
.
This function can also be used to change the storage type of the table named
schema
. The schema table can only have ram_copies
or disc_copies
as the
storage type. If the storage type of the schema is ram_copies
, no other table
can be disc-resident on that node.
-spec change_table_load_order(Tab :: table(), Order) -> t_result(ok) when Order :: non_neg_integer().
The LoadOrder
priority is by default 0
(zero) but can be set to any integer.
The tables with the highest LoadOrder
priority are loaded first at startup.
Majority
must be a boolean. Default is false
. When true
, a majority of the
table replicas must be available for an update to succeed. When used on
fragmented tables, Tab
must be the base table name. Directly changing the
majority setting on individual fragments is not allowed.
Deletes all entries in the table Tab
.
Creates a new database on disc. Various files are created in the local Mnesia directory of each node. Notice that the directory must be unique for each node. Two nodes must never share the same directory. If possible, use a local disc device to improve performance.
mnesia:create_schema/1
fails if any of the Erlang nodes given as DiscNodes
are not alive, if Mnesia is running on any of the nodes, or if any of the nodes
already have a schema. Use mnesia:delete_schema/1
to get rid of old faulty
schemas.
Notice that only nodes with disc are to be included in DiscNodes
. Disc-less
nodes, that is, nodes where all tables including the schema only resides in RAM,
must not be included.
-spec create_table(Name :: table(), [create_option()]) -> t_result(ok).
Creates a Mnesia table called Name
according to argument TabDef
. This list
must be a list of {Item, Value}
tuples, where the following values are
allowed:
{access_mode, Atom}
. The access mode is by default the atomread_write
but it can also be set to the atomread_only
. IfAccessMode
is set toread_only
, updates to the table cannot be performed.At startup, Mnesia always loads
read_only
table locally regardless of when and if Mnesia is terminated on other nodes. This argument returns the access mode of the table. The access mode can beread_only
orread_write
.{attributes, AtomList}
is a list of the attribute names for the records that are supposed to populate the table. Default is[key, val]
. The table must at least have one extra attribute in addition to the key.When accessing single attributes in a record, it is not necessary, or even recommended, to hard code any attribute names as atoms. Use construct
record_info(fields, RecordName)
instead. It can be used for records of typeRecordName
.{disc_copies, Nodelist}
, whereNodelist
is a list of the nodes where this table is supposed to have disc copies. If a table replica is of typedisc_copies
, all write operations on this particular replica of the table are written to disc and to the RAM copy of the table.It is possible to have a replicated table of type
disc_copies
on one node and another type on another node. Default is[]
.{disc_only_copies, Nodelist}
, whereNodelist
is a list of the nodes where this table is supposed to havedisc_only_copies
. A disc only table replica is kept on disc only and unlike the other replica types, the contents of the replica do not reside in RAM. These replicas are considerably slower than replicas held in RAM.{index, Intlist}
, whereIntlist
is a list of attribute names (atoms) or record fields for which Mnesia is to build and maintain an extra index table. Theqlc
query compiler may be able to optimize queries if there are indexes available.{load_order, Integer}
. The load order priority is by default0
(zero) but can be set to any integer. The tables with the highest load order priority are loaded first at startup.{majority, Flag}
, whereFlag
must be a boolean. Iftrue
, any (non-dirty) update to the table is aborted, unless a majority of the table replicas are available for the commit. When used on a fragmented table, all fragments are given the same majority setting.{ram_copies, Nodelist}
, whereNodelist
is a list of the nodes where this table is supposed to have RAM copies. A table replica of typeram_copies
is not written to disc on a per transaction basis.ram_copies
replicas can be dumped to disc with the functionmnesia:dump_tables(Tabs)
. Default value for this attribute is[node()]
.{record_name, Name}
, whereName
must be an atom. All records stored in the table must have this name as the first element. It defaults to the same name as the table name.{snmp, SnmpStruct}
. For a description ofSnmpStruct
, seemnesia:snmp_open_table/2
. If this attribute is present inArgList
tomnesia:create_table/2
, the table is immediately accessible by SNMP. Therefore applications that use SNMP to manipulate and control the system can be designed easily, since Mnesia provides a direct mapping between the logical tables that make up an SNMP control application and the physical data that makes up a Mnesia table.{storage_properties, [{Backend, Properties}]
forwards more properties to the back end storage.Backend
can currently beets
ordets
.Properties
is a list of options sent to the back end storage during table creation.Properties
cannot contain properties already used by Mnesia, such astype
ornamed_table
.For example:
mnesia:create_table(table, [{ram_copies, [node()]}, {disc_only_copies, nodes()}, {storage_properties, [{ets, [compressed]}, {dets, [{auto_save, 5000}]} ]}])
{type, Type}
, whereType
must be either of the atomsset
,ordered_set
, orbag
. Default isset
. In aset
, all records have unique keys. In abag
, several records can have the same key, but the record content is unique. If a non-unique record is stored, the old conflicting records are overwritten.Notice that currently
ordered_set
is not supported fordisc_only_copies
.{local_content, Bool}
, whereBool
istrue
orfalse
. Default isfalse
.
For example, the following call creates the person
table (defined earlier) and
replicates it on two nodes:
mnesia:create_table(person,
[{ram_copies, [N1, N2]},
{attributes, record_info(fields, person)}]).
If it is required that Mnesia must build and maintain an extra index table on
attribute address
of all the person
records that are inserted in the table,
the following code would be issued:
mnesia:create_table(person,
[{ram_copies, [N1, N2]},
{index, [address]},
{attributes, record_info(fields, person)}]).
The specification of index
and attributes
can be hard-coded as
{index, [2]}
and {attributes, [name, age, address, salary, children]}
,
respectively.
mnesia:create_table/2
writes records into the table schema
. This function,
and all other schema manipulation functions, are implemented with the normal
transaction management system. This guarantees that schema updates are performed
on all nodes in an atomic manner.
-spec deactivate_checkpoint(Name :: _) -> result().
The checkpoint is automatically deactivated when some of the tables involved
have no retainer attached to them. This can occur when nodes go down or when a
replica is deleted. Checkpoints are also deactivated with this function. Name
is the name of an active checkpoint.
Deletes the replica of table Tab
at node Node
. When the last replica is
deleted with this function, the table disappears entirely.
This function can also be used to delete a replica of the table named schema
.
The Mnesia node is then removed. Notice that Mnesia must be stopped on the node
first.
-spec del_table_index(Tab, I) -> t_result(ok) when Tab :: table(), I :: index_attr().
Deletes the index on attribute with name AttrName
in a table.
-spec delete({Tab :: table(), Key :: _}) -> ok.
Calls mnesia:delete(Tab, Key, write)
.
-spec delete(Tab :: table(), Key :: _, LockKind :: write_locks()) -> ok.
Deletes all records in table Tab
with the key Key
.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a lock of type
LockKind
in the record. Currently, the lock types write
and sticky_write
are supported.
-spec delete_object(Rec :: tuple()) -> ok.
Calls mnesia:delete_object(Tab, Record, write)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Record)
.
-spec delete_object(Tab :: table(), Rec :: tuple(), LockKind :: write_locks()) -> ok.
If a table is of type bag
, it can sometimes be needed to delete only some of
the records with a certain key. This can be done with the function
delete_object/3
. A complete record must be supplied to
this function.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a lock of type
LockKind
on the record. Currently, the lock types write
and sticky_write
are supported.
Deletes a database created with mnesia:create_schema/1
.
mnesia:delete_schema/1
fails if any of the Erlang nodes given as DiscNodes
are not alive, or if Mnesia is running on any of the nodes.
After the database is deleted, it can still be possible to start Mnesia as a
disc-less node. This depends on how configuration parameter schema_location
is
set.
Warning
Use this function with extreme caution, as it makes existing persistent data obsolete. Think twice before using it.
Permanently deletes all replicas of table Tab
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:all_keys/1
.
-spec dirty_delete({Tab :: table(), Key :: _}) -> ok.
Calls mnesia:dirty_delete(Tab, Key)
.
-spec dirty_delete(Tab :: table(), Key :: _) -> ok.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:delete/3
.
-spec dirty_delete_object(Record :: tuple()) -> ok.
Calls mnesia:dirty_delete_object(Tab, Record)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Record)
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:delete_object/3
.
Records in set
or bag
tables are not ordered. However, there is an ordering
of the records that is unknown to the user. Therefore, a table can be traversed
by this function with the function mnesia:dirty_next/2
.
If there are no records in the table, this function returns the atom
'$end_of_table'
. It is therefore highly undesirable, but not disallowed, to
use this atom as the key for any user records.
-spec dirty_index_match_object(Pattern, Attr) -> [Record] when Pattern :: tuple(), Attr :: index_attr(), Record :: tuple().
Starts mnesia:dirty_index_match_object(Tab, Pattern, Pos)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Pattern)
.
-spec dirty_index_match_object(Tab, Pattern, Attr) -> [Record] when Tab :: table(), Pattern :: tuple(), Attr :: index_attr(), Record :: tuple().
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:index_match_object/4
.
-spec dirty_index_read(Tab, Key, Attr) -> [Record] when Tab :: table(), Key :: term(), Attr :: index_attr(), Record :: tuple().
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:index_read/3
.
Works exactly like mnesia:dirty_first/1
but returns the last object in Erlang
term order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
mnesia:dirty_first/1
and mnesia:dirty_last/1
are synonyms.
Calls mnesia:dirty_match_object(Tab, Pattern)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Pattern)
.
-spec dirty_match_object(Tab, Pattern) -> [Record] when Tab :: table(), Pattern :: tuple(), Record :: tuple().
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:match_object/3
.
Traverses a table and performs operations on all records in the table. When the
end of the table is reached, the special key '$end_of_table'
is returned.
Otherwise, the function returns a key that can be used to read the actual
record. The behavior is undefined if another Erlang process performs write
operations on the table while it is being traversed with the function
mnesia:dirty_next/2
.
Works exactly like mnesia:dirty_next/2
but returns the previous object in
Erlang term order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
mnesia:dirty_next/2
and mnesia:dirty_prev/2
are synonyms.
Calls mnesia:dirty_read(Tab, Key)
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:read/3
.
-spec dirty_select(Tab, Spec) -> [Match] when Tab :: table(), Spec :: ets:match_spec(), Match :: term().
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:select/2
.
Calls mnesia:dirty_update_counter(Tab, Key, Incr)
.
Mnesia has no special counter records. However, records of the form
{Tab, Key, Integer}
can be used as (possibly disc-resident) counters when
Tab
is a set
. This function updates a counter with a positive or negative
number. However, counters can never become less than zero. There are two
significant differences between this function and the action of first reading
the record, performing the arithmetic, and then writing the record:
- It is much more efficient.
mnesia:dirty_update_counter/3
is performed as an atomic operation although it is not protected by a transaction.
If two processes perform mnesia:dirty_update_counter/3
simultaneously, both
updates take effect without the risk of losing one of the updates. The new value
NewVal
of the counter is returned.
If Key
does not exist, a new record is created with value Incr
if it is
larger than 0, otherwise it is set to 0.
-spec dirty_write(Record :: tuple()) -> ok.
Calls mnesia:dirty_write(Tab, Record)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Record)
.
Dirty equivalent of the function mnesia:write/3
.
-spec dump_log() -> dumped.
Performs a user-initiated dump of the local log file. This is usually not necessary, as Mnesia by default manages this automatically. See configuration parameters dump_log_time_threshold and dump_log_write_threshold.
Dumps a set of ram_copies
tables to disc. The next time the system is started,
these tables are initiated with the data found in the files that are the result
of this dump. None of the tables can have disc-resident replicas.
-spec dump_to_textfile(File :: file:filename()) -> result() | error.
Dumps all local tables of a Mnesia system into a text file, which can be edited
(by a normal text editor) and then be reloaded with mnesia:load_textfile/1
.
Only use this function for educational purposes. Use other functions to deal
with real backups.
All Mnesia transactions, including all the schema update functions, either
return value {atomic, Val}
or the tuple {aborted, Reason}
. Reason
can be
either of the atoms in the following list. The function
error_description/1
returns a descriptive string that
describes the error.
nested_transaction
. Nested transactions are not allowed in this context.badarg
. Bad or invalid argument, possibly bad type.no_transaction
. Operation not allowed outside transactions.combine_error
. Table options illegally combined.bad_index
. Index already exists, or was out of bounds.already_exists
. Schema option to be activated is already on.index_exists
. Some operations cannot be performed on tables with an index.no_exists
. Tried to perform operation on non-existing (not-alive) item.system_limit
. A system limit was exhausted.mnesia_down
. A transaction involves records on a remote node, which became unavailable before the transaction was completed. Records are no longer available elsewhere in the network.not_a_db_node
. A node was mentioned that does not exist in the schema.bad_type
. Bad type specified in argument.node_not_running
. Node is not running.truncated_binary_file
. Truncated binary in file.active
. Some delete operations require that all active records are removed.illegal
. Operation not supported on this record.
Error
can be Reason
, {error, Reason}
, or {aborted, Reason}
. Reason
can
be an atom or a tuple with Reason
as an atom in the first field.
The following examples illustrate a function that returns an error, and the method to retrieve more detailed error information:
- The function [mnesia:create_table(bar, [{attributes,
3.14}])](
create_table/2
) returns the tuple{aborted,Reason}
, whereReason
is the tuple{bad_type,bar,3.14000}
. - The function mnesia:error_description(Reason) returns
the term
{"Bad type on some provided arguments",bar,3.14000}
, which is an error description suitable for display.
-spec ets(Fun) -> Res | no_return() when Fun :: fun(() -> Res).
Equivalent to ets/2
-spec ets(Fun, [Arg :: _]) -> Res | no_return() when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res).
Calls the Fun
in a raw context that is not protected by a transaction. The
Mnesia function call is performed in the Fun
and performed directly on the
local ETS tables on the assumption that the local storage type is ram_copies
and the tables are not replicated to other nodes. Subscriptions are not
triggered and checkpoints are not updated, but it is extremely fast. This
function can also be applied to disc_copies
tables if all operations are read
only. For details, see mnesia:activity/4
and the User's Guide.
Notice that calling (nesting) a mnesia:ets
inside a transaction-context
inherits the transaction semantics.
Records in set
or bag
tables are not ordered. However, there is an ordering
of the records that is unknown to the user. A table can therefore be traversed
by this function with the function mnesia:next/2
.
If there are no records in the table, this function returns the atom
'$end_of_table'
. It is therefore highly undesirable, but not disallowed, to
use this atom as the key for any user records.
Equivalent to foldl/4
-spec foldl(Fun, Acc0, Tab :: table(), LockKind :: lock_kind()) -> Acc when Fun :: fun((Record :: tuple(), Acc0) -> Acc).
Iterates over the table Table
and calls Function(Record, NewAcc)
for each
Record
in the table. The term returned from Function
is used as the second
argument in the next call to Function
.
foldl
returns the same term as the last call to Function
returned.
Equivalent to foldr/4
-spec foldr(Fun, Acc0, Tab :: table(), LockKind :: lock_kind()) -> Acc when Fun :: fun((Record :: tuple(), Acc0) -> Acc).
Works exactly like foldl/3
but iterates the table in the opposite
order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
foldr/3
and foldl/3
are synonyms.
The Mnesia algorithm for table load can lead to a situation where a table cannot be loaded. This situation occurs when a node is started and Mnesia concludes, or suspects, that another copy of the table was active after this local copy became inactive because of a system crash.
If this situation is not acceptable, this function can be used to override the strategy of the Mnesia table load algorithm. This can lead to a situation where some transaction effects are lost with an inconsistent database as result, but for some applications high availability is more important than consistent data.
-spec index_match_object(Pattern, Attr) -> [Record] when Pattern :: tuple(), Attr :: index_attr(), Record :: tuple().
Starts mnesia:index_match_object(Tab, Pattern, Pos, read)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Pattern)
.
-spec index_match_object(Tab, Pattern, Attr, LockKind) -> [Record] when Tab :: table(), Pattern :: tuple(), Attr :: index_attr(), LockKind :: lock_kind(), Record :: tuple().
In a manner similar to the function mnesia:index_read/3
, any index information
can be used when trying to match records. This function takes a pattern that
obeys the same rules as the function mnesia:match_object/3
, except that this
function requires the following conditions:
- The table
Tab
must have an index on positionPos
. - The element in position
Pos
inPattern
must be bound.Pos
is an integer (#record.Field
) or an attribute name.
The two index search functions described here are automatically started when
searching tables with qlc
list comprehensions and also when using the
low-level mnesia:[dirty_]match_object
functions.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a lock of type
LockKind
on the entire table or on a single record. Currently, the lock type
read
is supported.
-spec index_read(Tab, Key, Attr) -> [Record] when Tab :: table(), Key :: term(), Attr :: index_attr(), Record :: tuple().
Assume that there is an index on position Pos
for a certain record type. This
function can be used to read the records without knowing the actual key for the
record. For example, with an index in position 1 of table person
, the call
mnesia:index_read(person, 36, #person.age)
returns a list of all persons with
age 36. Pos
can also be an attribute name (atom), but if the notation
mnesia:index_read(person, 36, age)
is used, the field position is searched for
in runtime, for each call.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a read lock on the
entire table.
-spec info() -> ok.
Prints system information on the terminal. This function can be used even if Mnesia is not started. However, more information is displayed if Mnesia is started.
Calls mnesia:install_fallback(Opaque, Args)
, where Args
is
[{scope, global}]
.
-spec install_fallback(Src :: term(), Mod :: module() | [Opt]) -> result() when Opt :: Module | Scope | Dir, Module :: {module, Mod :: module()}, Scope :: {scope, global | local}, Dir :: {mnesia_dir, Dir :: string()}.
Installs a backup as fallback. The fallback is used to restore the database at the next startup. Installation of fallbacks requires Erlang to be operational on all the involved nodes, but it does not matter if Mnesia is running or not. The installation of the fallback fails if the local node is not one of the disc-resident nodes in the backup.
Args
is a list of the following tuples:
{module, BackupMod}
. All accesses of the backup media are performed through a callback module namedBackupMod
. ArgumentOpaque
is forwarded to the callback module, which can interpret it as it wishes. The default callback module is calledmnesia_backup
and it interprets argumentOpaque
as a local filename. The default for this module is also configurable through configuration parameter-mnesia mnesia_backup
.{scope, Scope}
. TheScope
of a fallback is eitherglobal
for the entire database orlocal
for one node. By default, the installation of a fallback is a global operation, which either is performed on all nodes with a disc-resident schema or none. Which nodes that are disc-resident is determined from the schema information in the backup.If
Scope
of the operation islocal
, the fallback is only installed on the local node.{mnesia_dir, AlternateDir}
. This argument is only valid if the scope of the installation islocal
. Normally the installation of a fallback is targeted to the Mnesia directory, as configured with configuration parameter-mnesia dir
. But by explicitly supplying anAlternateDir
, the fallback is installed there regardless of the Mnesia directory configuration parameter setting. After installation of a fallback on an alternative Mnesia directory, that directory is fully prepared for use as an active Mnesia directory.This is a dangerous feature that must be used with care. By unintentional mixing of directories, you can easily end up with an inconsistent database, if the same backup is installed on more than one directory.
-spec is_transaction() -> boolean().
When this function is executed inside a transaction-context, it returns true
,
otherwise false
.
Works exactly like mnesia:first/1
, but returns the last object in Erlang term
order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
mnesia:first/1
and mnesia:last/1
are synonyms.
-spec load_textfile(File :: file:filename()) -> t_result(ok) | {error, term()}.
Loads a series of definitions and data found in the text file (generated with
mnesia:dump_to_textfile/1
) into Mnesia. This function also starts Mnesia and
possibly creates a new schema. This function is intended for educational
purposes only. It is recommended to use other functions to deal with real
backups.
-spec lock(LockItem, LockKind) -> list() | tuple() | no_return() when LockItem :: {record, table(), Key :: term()} | {table, table()} | {global, Key :: term(), MnesiaNodes :: [node()]}, LockKind :: lock_kind() | load.
Write locks are normally acquired on all nodes where a replica of the table resides (and is active). Read locks are acquired on one node (the local node if a local replica exists). Most of the context-sensitive access functions acquire an implicit lock if they are started in a transaction-context. The granularity of a lock can either be a single record or an entire table.
The normal use is to call the function without checking the return value, as it
exits if it fails and the transaction is restarted by the transaction manager.
It returns all the locked nodes if a write lock is acquired and ok
if it was a
read lock.
The function mnesia:lock/2
is intended to support explicit locking on tables,
but is also intended for situations when locks need to be acquired regardless of
how tables are replicated. Currently, two kinds of LockKind
are supported:
write
- Write locks are exclusive. This means that if one transaction manages to acquire a write lock on an item, no other transaction can acquire any kind of lock on the same item.read
- Read locks can be shared. This means that if one transaction manages to acquire a read lock on an item, other transactions can also acquire a read lock on the same item. However, if someone has a read lock, no one can acquire a write lock at the same item. If someone has a write lock, no one can acquire either a read lock or a write lock at the same item.
Conflicting lock requests are automatically queued if there is no risk of a
deadlock. Otherwise the transaction must be terminated and executed again.
Mnesia does this automatically as long as the upper limit of the maximum
retries
is not reached. For details, see mnesia:transaction/3
.
For the sake of completeness, sticky write locks are also described here even if a sticky write lock is not supported by this function:
sticky_write
- Sticky write locks are a mechanism that can be used to optimize write lock acquisition. If your application uses replicated tables mainly for fault tolerance (as opposed to read access optimization purpose), sticky locks can be the best option available.When a sticky write lock is acquired, all nodes are informed which node is locked. Then, sticky lock requests from the same node are performed as a local operation without any communication with other nodes. The sticky lock lingers on the node even after the transaction ends. For details, see the User's Guide.
Currently, this function supports two kinds of LockItem
:
{table, Tab}
- This acquires a lock of typeLockKind
on the entire tableTab
.{global, GlobalKey, Nodes}
- This acquires a lock of typeLockKind
on the global resourceGlobalKey
. The lock is acquired on all active nodes in theNodes
list.
Locks are released when the outermost transaction ends.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires locks, otherwise it
ignores the request.
Calls mnesia:match_object(Tab, Pattern, read)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Pattern)
.
-spec match_object(Tab, Pattern, LockKind) -> [Record] when Tab :: table(), Pattern :: tuple(), LockKind :: lock_kind(), Record :: tuple().
Takes a pattern with "don't care" variables denoted as a '_'
parameter. This
function returns a list of records that matched the pattern. Since the second
element of a record in a table is considered to be the key for the record, the
performance of this function depends on whether this key is bound or not.
For example, the call
mnesia:match_object(person, {person, '_', 36, '_', '_'}, read)
returns a list
of all person records with an age
field of 36.
The function mnesia:match_object/3
automatically uses indexes if these exist.
However, no heuristics are performed to select the best index.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a lock of type
LockKind
on the entire table or a single record. Currently, the lock type
read
is supported.
Moves the copy of table Tab
from node From
to node To
.
The storage type is preserved. For example, a RAM table moved from one node remains a RAM on the new node. Other transactions can still read and write in the table while it is being moved.
This function cannot be used on local_content
tables.
Traverses a table and performs operations on all records in the table. When the
end of the table is reached, the special key '$end_of_table'
is returned.
Otherwise the function returns a key that can be used to read the actual record.
Works exactly like mnesia:next/2
, but returns the previous object in Erlang
term order for the ordered_set
table type. For all other table types,
mnesia:next/2
and mnesia:prev/2
are synonyms.
Equivalent to read/2
Calls function mnesia:read(Tab, Key, read)
.
Reads all records from table Tab
with key Key
. This function has the same
semantics regardless of the location of Tab
. If the table is of type bag
,
the function mnesia:read(Tab, Key)
can return an arbitrarily long list. If the
table is of type set
, the list is either of length 1, or []
.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a lock of type
LockKind
. Currently, the lock types read
, write
, and sticky_write
are
supported.
If the user wants to update the record, it is more efficient to use
write/sticky_write
as the LockKind
. If majority checking is active on the
table, it is checked as soon as a write lock is attempted. This can be used to
end quickly if the majority condition is not met.
-spec read_lock_table(Tab :: table()) -> ok.
Calls the function mnesia:lock({table, Tab}, read)
.
-spec report_event(Event :: _) -> ok.
When tracing a system of Mnesia applications it is useful to be able to interleave Mnesia own events with application-related events that give information about the application context.
Whenever the application begins a new and demanding Mnesia task, or if it enters
a new interesting phase in its execution, it can be a good idea to use
mnesia:report_event/1
. Event
can be any term and generates a
{mnesia_user, Event}
event for any processes that subscribe to Mnesia system
events.
-spec restore(Src :: _, [Arg]) -> t_result([table()]) when Op :: skip_tables | clear_tables | keep_tables | restore_tables, Arg :: {module, module()} | {Op, [table()]} | {default_op, Op}.
With this function, tables can be restored online from a backup without
restarting Mnesia. Opaque
is forwarded to the backup module. Args
is a list
of the following tuples:
{module,BackupMod}
. The backup moduleBackupMod
is used to access the backup media. If omitted, the default backup module is used.{skip_tables, TabList}
, whereTabList
is a list of tables that is not to be read from the backup.{clear_tables, TabList}
, whereTabList
is a list of tables that is to be cleared before the records from the backup are inserted. That is, all records in the tables are deleted before the tables are restored. Schema information about the tables is not cleared or read from the backup.{keep_tables, TabList}
, whereTabList
is a list of tables that is not to be cleared before the records from the backup are inserted. That is, the records in the backup are added to the records in the table. Schema information about the tables is not cleared or read from the backup.{recreate_tables, TabList}
, whereTabList
is a list of tables that is to be recreated before the records from the backup are inserted. The tables are first deleted and then created with the schema information from the backup. All the nodes in the backup need to be operational.{default_op, Operation}
, whereOperation
is either of the operationsskip_tables
,clear_tables
,keep_tables
, orrecreate_tables
. The default operation specifies which operation that is to be used on tables from the backup that is not specified in any of the mentioned lists. If omitted, operationclear_tables
is used.
The affected tables are write-locked during the restoration. However, regardless of the lock conflicts caused by this, the applications can continue to do their work while the restoration is being performed. The restoration is performed as one single transaction.
If the database is huge, it it not always possible to restore it online. In such cases, restore the old database by installing a fallback and then restart.
-spec s_delete({Tab :: table(), Key :: _}) -> ok.
Calls the function mnesia:delete(Tab, Key, sticky_write)
-spec s_delete_object(Rec :: tuple()) -> ok.
Calls the function mnesia:delete_object(Tab, Record, sticky_write)
, where
Tab
is element(1, Record)
.
-spec s_write(Record :: tuple()) -> ok.
Calls the function mnesia:write(Tab, Record, sticky_write)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Record)
.
-spec schema() -> ok.
Prints information about all table definitions on the terminal.
-spec schema(Tab :: table()) -> ok.
Prints information about one table definition on the terminal.
-spec select(Cont) -> {[Match], Cont} | '$end_of_table' when Match :: term(), Cont :: select_continuation().
Selects more objects with the match specification initiated by
mnesia:select/4
.
Notice that any modifying operations, that is, mnesia:write
or
mnesia:delete
, that are done between the mnesia:select/4
and
mnesia:select/1
calls are not visible in the result.
-spec select(Tab, Spec) -> [Match] when Tab :: table(), Spec :: ets:match_spec(), Match :: term().
Equivalent to select/3
-spec select(Tab, Spec, LockKind) -> [Match] when Tab :: table(), Spec :: ets:match_spec(), Match :: term(), LockKind :: lock_kind().
Matches the objects in table Tab
using a match_spec
as described in the
ets:select/3
. Optionally a lock read
or write
can be given as the third
argument. Default is read
. The return value depends on MatchSpec
.
Notice that for best performance, select
is to be used before any modifying
operations are done on that table in the same transaction. That is, do not use
write
or delete
before a select
.
In its simplest forms, the match_spec
look as follows:
MatchSpec = [MatchFunction]
MatchFunction = {MatchHead, [Guard], [Result]}
MatchHead = tuple() | record()
Guard = {"Guardtest name", ...}
Result = "Term construct"
For a complete description of select
, see the ERTS
User's Guide and the ets
manual page in STDLIB.
For example, to find the names of all male persons older than 30 in table Tab
:
MatchHead = #person{name='$1', sex=male, age='$2', _='_'},
Guard = {'>', '$2', 30},
Result = '$1',
mnesia:select(Tab,[{MatchHead, [Guard], [Result]}]),
-spec select(Tab, Spec, N, LockKind) -> {[Match], Cont} | '$end_of_table' when Tab :: table(), Spec :: ets:match_spec(), Match :: term(), N :: non_neg_integer(), LockKind :: lock_kind(), Cont :: select_continuation().
Matches the objects in table Tab
using a match_spec
as described in the
ERTS User's Guide, and returns a chunk of terms and a
continuation. The wanted number of returned terms is specified by argument
NObjects
. The lock argument can be read
or write
. The continuation is to
be used as argument to mnesia:select/1
, if more or all answers are needed.
Notice that for best performance, select
is to be used before any modifying
operations are done on that table in the same transaction. That is, do not use
mnesia:write
or mnesia:delete
before a mnesia:select
. For efficiency,
NObjects
is a recommendation only and the result can contain anything from an
empty list to all available results.
-spec set_debug_level(Level :: debug_level()) -> OldLevel :: debug_level().
Changes the internal debug level of Mnesia. For details, see Section Configuration Parameters.
For each table Mnesia determines its replica nodes (TabNodes
) and starts
mnesia:set_master_nodes(Tab, TabMasterNodes)
. where TabMasterNodes
is the
intersection of MasterNodes
and TabNodes
. For semantics, see
mnesia:set_master_nodes/2
.
If the application detects a communication failure (in a potentially partitioned
network) that can have caused an inconsistent database, it can use the function
mnesia:set_master_nodes(Tab, MasterNodes)
to define from which nodes each
table is to be loaded. At startup, the Mnesia normal table load algorithm is
bypassed and the table is loaded from one of the master nodes defined for the
table, regardless of when and if Mnesia terminated on other nodes. MasterNodes
can only contain nodes where the table has a replica. If the MasterNodes
list
is empty, the master node recovery mechanism for the particular table is reset,
and the normal load mechanism is used at the next restart.
The master node setting is always local. It can be changed regardless if Mnesia is started or not.
The database can also become inconsistent if configuration parameter
max_wait_for_decision
is used or if mnesia:force_load_table/1
is used.
-spec snmp_close_table(Tab :: table()) -> ok.
Removes the possibility for SNMP to manipulate the table.
Transforms an SNMP index to the corresponding Mnesia key. If the SNMP table has multiple keys, the key is a tuple of the key columns.
RowIndex
can specify a non-existing row. Specifically, it can be the empty
list. Returns the index of the next lexicographical row. If RowIndex
is the
empty list, this function returns the index of the first row in the table.
Reads a row by its SNMP index. This index is specified as an SNMP Object Identifier, a list of integers.
-spec snmp_open_table(Tab :: table(), Snmp :: snmp_struct()) -> ok.
A direct one-to-one mapping can be established between Mnesia tables and SNMP tables. Many telecommunication applications are controlled and monitored by the SNMP protocol. This connection between Mnesia and SNMP makes it simple and convenient to achieve this mapping.
Argument SnmpStruct
is a list of SNMP information. Currently, the only
information needed is information about the key types in the table. Multiple
keys cannot be handled in Mnesia, but many SNMP tables have multiple keys.
Therefore, the following convention is used: if a table has multiple keys, these
must always be stored as a tuple of the keys. Information about the key types is
specified as a tuple of atoms describing the types. The only significant type is
fix_string
. This means that a string has a fixed size.
For example, the following causes table person
to be ordered as an SNMP table:
mnesia:snmp_open_table(person, [{key, string}])
Consider the following schema for a table of company employees. Each employee is identified by department number and name. The other table column stores the telephone number:
mnesia:create_table(employee,
[{snmp, [{key, {integer, string}}]},
{attributes, record_info(fields, employees)}]),
The corresponding SNMP table would have three columns: department
, name
, and
telno
.
An option is to have table columns that are not visible through the SNMP
protocol. These columns must be the last columns of the table. In the previous
example, the SNMP table could have columns department
and name
only. The
application could then use column telno
internally, but it would not be
visible to the SNMP managers.
In a table monitored by SNMP, all elements must be integers, strings, or lists of integers.
When a table is SNMP ordered, modifications are more expensive than usual, O(logN). Also, more memory is used.
Notice that only the lexicographical SNMP ordering is implemented in Mnesia, not the actual SNMP monitoring.
-spec start() -> result().
Mnesia startup is asynchronous. The function call mnesia:start()
returns the
atom ok
and then starts to initialize the different tables. Depending on the
size of the database, this can take some time, and the application programmer
must wait for the tables that the application needs before they can be used.
This is achieved by using the function mnesia:wait_for_tables/2
.
The startup procedure for a set of Mnesia nodes is a fairly complicated
operation. A Mnesia system consists of a set of nodes, with Mnesia started
locally on all participating nodes. Normally, each node has a directory where
all the Mnesia files are written. This directory is referred to as the Mnesia
directory. Mnesia can also be started on disc-less nodes. For more information
about disc-less nodes, see mnesia:create_schema/1
and the User's Guide.
The set of nodes that makes up a Mnesia system is kept in a schema. Mnesia nodes
can be added to or removed from the schema. The initial schema is normally
created on disc with the function mnesia:create_schema/1
. On disc-less nodes,
a tiny default schema is generated each time Mnesia is started. During the
startup procedure, Mnesia exchanges schema information between the nodes to
verify that the table definitions are compatible.
Each schema has a unique cookie, which can be regarded as a unique schema identifier. The cookie must be the same on all nodes where Mnesia is supposed to run. For details, see the User's Guide.
The schema file and all other files that Mnesia needs are kept in the Mnesia
directory. The command-line option -mnesia dir Dir
can be used to specify the
location of this directory to the Mnesia system. If no such command-line option
is found, the name of the directory defaults to Mnesia.Node
.
application:start(mnesia)
can also be used.
-spec stop() -> stopped | {error, term()}.
Stops Mnesia locally on the current node.
application:stop(mnesia)
can also be used.
-spec subscribe(What) -> {ok, node()} | {error, Reason :: term()} when What :: system | activity | {table, table(), simple | detailed}.
Ensures that a copy of all events of type EventCategory
is sent to the caller.
The available event types are described in the
User's Guide.
-spec sync_dirty(Fun) -> Res | no_return() when Fun :: fun(() -> Res).
Equivalent to sync_dirty/2
-spec sync_dirty(Fun, [Arg :: _]) -> Res | no_return() when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res).
Calls the Fun
in a context that is not protected by a transaction. The Mnesia
function calls performed in the Fun
are mapped to the corresponding dirty
functions. It is performed in almost the same context as
mnesia:async_dirty/1,2
. The difference is that the operations are performed
synchronously. The caller waits for the updates to be performed on all active
replicas before the Fun
returns. For details, see mnesia:activity/4
and the
User's Guide.
-spec sync_log() -> result().
Ensures that the local transaction log file is synced to disk. On a single node
system, data written to disk tables since the last dump can be lost if there is
a power outage. See dump_log/0
.
-spec sync_transaction(Fun) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun(() -> Res).
Equivalent to sync_transaction/3
-spec sync_transaction(Fun, Retries) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun(() -> Res) | fun((...) -> Res), Retries :: non_neg_integer() | infinity; (Fun, Args :: [Arg :: _]) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res).
Equivalent to sync_transaction/3
-spec sync_transaction(Fun, [Arg :: _], Retries) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res), Retries :: non_neg_integer() | infinity.
Waits until data have been committed and logged to disk (if disk is used) on
every involved node before it returns, otherwise it behaves as
mnesia:transaction/[1,2,3]
.
This functionality can be used to avoid that one process overloads a database on another node.
Returns information about the Mnesia system, such as transaction statistics,
db_nodes
, and configuration parameters. The valid keys are as follows:
all
. Returns a list of all local system information. Each element is a{InfoKey, InfoVal}
tuple.New
InfoKey
s can be added and old undocumentedInfoKey
s can be removed without notice.access_module
. Returns the name of module that is configured to be the activity access callback module.auto_repair
. Returnstrue
orfalse
to indicate if Mnesia is configured to start the auto-repair facility on corrupted disc files.backup_module
. Returns the name of the module that is configured to be the backup callback module.checkpoints
. Returns a list of the names of the checkpoints currently active on this node.event_module
. Returns the name of the module that is the event handler callback module.db_nodes
. Returns the nodes that make up the persistent database. Disc-less nodes are only included in the list of nodes if they explicitly have been added to the schema, for example, withmnesia:add_table_copy/3
. The function can be started even if Mnesia is not yet running.debug
. Returns the current debug level of Mnesia.directory
. Returns the name of the Mnesia directory. It can be called even if Mnesia is not yet running.dump_log_load_regulation
. Returns a boolean that tells if Mnesia is configured to regulate the dumper process load.This feature is temporary and will be removed in future releases.
dump_log_time_threshold
. Returns the time threshold for transaction log dumps in milliseconds.dump_log_update_in_place
. Returns a boolean that tells if Mnesia is configured to perform the updates in the Dets files directly, or if the updates are to be performed in a copy of the Dets files.dump_log_write_threshold
. Returns the write threshold for transaction log dumps as the number of writes to the transaction log.extra_db_nodes
. Returns a list of extradb_nodes
to be contacted at startup.fallback_activated
. Returnstrue
if a fallback is activated, otherwisefalse
.held_locks
. Returns a list of all locks held by the local Mnesia lock manager.is_running
. Returnsyes
orno
to indicate if Mnesia is running. It can also returnstarting
orstopping
. Can be called even if Mnesia is not yet running.local_tables
. Returns a list of all tables that are configured to reside locally.lock_queue
. Returns a list of all transactions that are queued for execution by the local lock manager.log_version
. Returns the version number of the Mnesia transaction log format.master_node_tables
. Returns a list of all tables with at least one master node.protocol_version
. Returns the version number of the Mnesia inter-process communication protocol.running_db_nodes
. Returns a list of nodes where Mnesia currently is running. This function can be called even if Mnesia is not yet running, but it then has slightly different semantics.If Mnesia is down on the local node, the function returns those other
db_nodes
andextra_db_nodes
that for the moment are operational.If Mnesia is started, the function returns those nodes that Mnesia on the local node is fully connected to. Only those nodes that Mnesia has exchanged schema information with are included as
running_db_nodes
. After the merge of schemas, the local Mnesia system is fully operable and applications can perform access of remote replicas. Before the schema merge, Mnesia only operates locally. Sometimes there are more nodes included in therunning_db_nodes
list than alldb_nodes
andextra_db_nodes
together.schema_location
. Returns the initial schema location.subscribers
. Returns a list of local processes currently subscribing to system events.tables
. Returns a list of all locally known tables.transactions
. Returns a list of all currently active local transactions.transaction_failures
. Returns a number that indicates how many transactions have failed since Mnesia was started.transaction_commits
. Returns a number that indicates how many transactions have terminated successfully since Mnesia was started.transaction_restarts
. Returns a number that indicates how many transactions have been restarted since Mnesia was started.transaction_log_writes
. Returns a number that indicates how many write operations that have been performed to the transaction log since startup.use_dir
. Returns a boolean that indicates if the Mnesia directory is used or not. Can be started even if Mnesia is not yet running.version
. Returns the current version number of Mnesia.
-spec table(Tab :: table()) -> qlc:query_handle().
Equivalent to table/2
-spec table(Tab :: table(), Options) -> qlc:query_handle() when Options :: Option | [Option], Option :: MnesiaOpt | QlcOption, MnesiaOpt :: {traverse, SelectOp} | {lock, lock_kind()} | {n_objects, non_neg_integer()}, SelectOp :: select | {select, ets:match_spec()}, QlcOption :: {key_equality, '==' | '=:='}.
Returns a Query List Comprehension (QLC) query handle, see the qlc
manual
page in STDLIB. The module qlc
implements a query language that can use Mnesia
tables as sources of data. Calling mnesia:table/1,2
is the means to make the
mnesia
table Tab
usable to QLC.
Option
can contain Mnesia options or QLC options. Mnesia recognizes the
following options (any other option is forwarded to QLC).
{lock, Lock}
, wherelock
can beread
orwrite
. Default isread
.{n_objects,Number}
, wheren_objects
specifies (roughly) the number of objects returned from Mnesia to QLC. Queries to remote tables can need a larger chunk to reduce network overhead. By default,100
objects at a time are returned.{traverse, SelectMethod}
, wheretraverse
determines the method to traverse the whole table (if needed). The default method isselect
.
There are two alternatives for select
:
select
. The table is traversed by callingmnesia:select/4
andmnesia:select/1
. The match specification (the second argument ofselect/3
) is assembled by QLC: simple filters are translated into equivalent match specifications. More complicated filters need to be applied to all objects returned byselect/3
given a match specification that matches all objects.{select, MatchSpec}
. As forselect
, the table is traversed by callingmnesia:select/3
andmnesia:select/1
. The difference is that the match specification is explicitly given. This is how to state match specifications that cannot easily be expressed within the syntax provided by QLC.
The table_info/2
function takes two arguments. The first is
the name of a Mnesia table. The second is one of the following keys:
all
. Returns a list of all local table information. Each element is a{InfoKey, ItemVal}
tuple.New
InfoItem
s can be added and old undocumentedInfoItem
s can be removed without notice.access_mode
. Returns the access mode of the table. The access mode can beread_only
orread_write
.arity
. Returns the arity of records in the table as specified in the schema.attributes
. Returns the table attribute names that are specified in the schema.checkpoints
. Returns the names of the currently active checkpoints, which involve this table on this node.cookie
. Returns a table cookie, which is a unique system-generated identifier for the table. The cookie is used internally to ensure that two different table definitions using the same table name cannot accidentally be intermixed. The cookie is generated when the table is created initially.disc_copies
. Returns the nodes where adisc_copy
of the table resides according to the schema.disc_only_copies
. Returns the nodes where adisc_only_copy
of the table resides according to the schema.index
. Returns the list of index position integers for the table.load_node
. Returns the name of the node that Mnesia loaded the table from. The structure of the returned value is unspecified, but can be useful for debugging purposes.load_order
. Returns the load order priority of the table. It is an integer and defaults to0
(zero).load_reason
. Returns the reason of why Mnesia decided to load the table. The structure of the returned value is unspecified, but can be useful for debugging purposes.local_content
. Returnstrue
orfalse
to indicate if the table is configured to have locally unique content on each node.master_nodes
. Returns the master nodes of a table.memory
. Returns forram_copies
anddisc_copies
tables the number of words allocated in memory to the table on this node. Fordisc_only_copies
tables the number of bytes stored on disc is returned.ram_copies
. Returns the nodes where aram_copy
of the table resides according to the schema.record_name
. Returns the record name, common for all records in the table.size
. Returns the number of records inserted in the table.snmp
. Returns the SNMP struct.[]
means that the table currently has no SNMP properties.storage_type
. Returns the local storage type of the table. It can bedisc_copies
,ram_copies
,disc_only_copies
, or the atomunknown
.unknown
is returned for all tables that only reside remotely.subscribers
. Returns a list of local processes currently subscribing to local table events that involve this table on this node.type
. Returns the table type, which isbag
,set
, orordered_set
.user_properties
. Returns the user-associated table properties of the table. It is a list of the stored property records.version
. Returns the current version of the table definition. The table version is incremented when the table definition is changed. The table definition can be incremented directly when it has been changed in a schema transaction, or when a committed table definition is merged with table definitions from other nodes during startup.where_to_read
. Returns the node where the table can be read. If valuenowhere
is returned, either the table is not loaded or it resides at a remote node that is not running.where_to_write
. Returns a list of the nodes that currently hold an active replica of the table.wild_pattern
. Returns a structure that can be given to the various match functions for a certain table. A record tuple is where all record fields have value'_'
.
-spec transaction(Fun) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun(() -> Res).
Equivalent to transaction/3
-spec transaction(Fun, Retries) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun(() -> Res), Retries :: non_neg_integer() | infinity; (Fun, Args :: [Arg :: _]) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res).
Equivalent to transaction/3
-spec transaction(Fun, [Arg :: _], Retries) -> t_result(Res) when Fun :: fun((...) -> Res), Retries :: non_neg_integer() | infinity.
Executes the functional object Fun
with arguments Args
as a transaction.
The code that executes inside the transaction can consist of a series of table
manipulation functions. If something goes wrong inside the transaction as a
result of a user error or a certain table not being available, the entire
transaction is terminated and the function transaction/1
returns the tuple {aborted, Reason}
.
If all is going well, {atomic, ResultOfFun}
is returned, where ResultOfFun
is the value of the last expression in Fun
.
A function that adds a family to the database can be written as follows if there
is a structure {family, Father, Mother, ChildrenList}
:
add_family({family, F, M, Children}) ->
ChildOids = lists:map(fun oid/1, Children),
Trans = fun() ->
mnesia:write(F#person{children = ChildOids}),
mnesia:write(M#person{children = ChildOids}),
Write = fun(Child) -> mnesia:write(Child) end,
lists:foreach(Write, Children)
end,
mnesia:transaction(Trans).
oid(Rec) -> {element(1, Rec), element(2, Rec)}.
This code adds a set of people to the database. Running this code within one
transaction ensures that either the whole family is added to the database, or
the whole transaction terminates. For example, if the last child is badly
formatted, or the executing process terminates because of an 'EXIT'
signal
while executing the family code, the transaction terminates. Thus, the situation
where half a family is added can never occur.
It is also useful to update the database within a transaction if several
processes concurrently update the same records. For example, the function
raise(Name, Amount)
, which adds Amount
to the salary field of a person, is
to be implemented as follows:
raise(Name, Amount) ->
mnesia:transaction(fun() ->
case mnesia:wread({person, Name}) of
[P] ->
Salary = Amount + P#person.salary,
P2 = P#person{salary = Salary},
mnesia:write(P2);
_ ->
mnesia:abort("No such person")
end
end).
When this function executes within a transaction, several processes running on
different nodes can concurrently execute the function raise/2
without
interfering with each other.
Since Mnesia detects deadlocks, a transaction can be restarted any number of
times and therefore the Fun
shall not have any side effects such as waiting
for specific messages. This function attempts a restart as many times as
specified in Retries
. Retries
must be an integer greater than 0 or the atom
infinity
, default is infinity
. Mnesia uses exit
exceptions to signal that
a transaction needs to be restarted, thus a Fun
must not catch exit
exceptions with reason {aborted, term()}
.
-spec transform_table(Tab :: table(), Fun, [Attr]) -> t_result(ok) when Attr :: atom(), Fun :: fun((Record :: tuple()) -> Transformed :: tuple()) | ignore.
Calls mnesia:transform_table(Tab, Fun, NewAttributeList, RecName)
, where
RecName
is mnesia:table_info(Tab, record_name)
.
-spec transform_table(Tab :: table(), Fun, [Attr], RecName) -> t_result(ok) when RecName :: atom(), Attr :: atom(), Fun :: fun((Record :: tuple()) -> Transformed :: tuple()) | ignore.
Applies argument Fun
to all records in the table. Fun
is a function that
takes a record of the old type and returns a transformed record of the new type.
Argument Fun
can also be the atom ignore
, which indicates that only the
metadata about the table is updated. Use of ignore
is not recommended, but
included as a possibility for the user do to an own transformation.
NewAttributeList
and NewRecordName
specify the attributes and the new record
type of the converted table. Table name always remains unchanged. If
record_name
is changed, only the Mnesia functions that use table identifiers
work, for example, mnesia:write/3
works, but not mnesia:write/1
.
-spec traverse_backup(Src :: term(), Dest :: term(), Fun, Acc) -> {ok, Acc} | {error, Reason :: term()} when Fun :: fun((Items, Acc) -> {Items, Acc}).
Equivalent to traverse_backup/6
-spec traverse_backup(Src :: term(), SrcMod :: module(), Dest :: term(), DestMod :: module(), Fun, Acc) -> {ok, Acc} | {error, Reason :: term()} when Fun :: fun((Items, Acc) -> {Items, Acc}).
Iterates over a backup, either to transform it into a new backup, or read it. The arguments are explained briefly here. For details, see the User's Guide.
SourceMod
andTargetMod
are the names of the modules that actually access the backup media.Source
andTarget
are opaque data used exclusively by modulesSourceMod
andTargetMod
to initialize the backup media.Acc
is an initial accumulator value.Fun(BackupItems, Acc)
is applied to each item in the backup. TheFun
must return a tuple{BackupItems,NewAcc}
, whereBackupItems
is a list of valid backup items, andNewAcc
is a new accumulator value. The returned backup items are written in the target backup.LastAcc
is the last accumulator value. This is the lastNewAcc
value that was returned byFun
.
-spec uninstall_fallback() -> result().
Calls the function mnesia:uninstall_fallback([{scope, global}])
.
Deinstalls a fallback before it has been used to restore the database. This is normally a distributed operation that is either performed on all nodes with disc resident schema, or none. Uninstallation of fallbacks requires Erlang to be operational on all involved nodes, but it does not matter if Mnesia is running or not. Which nodes that are considered as disc-resident nodes is determined from the schema information in the local fallback.
Args
is a list of the following tuples:
{module, BackupMod}
. For semantics, seemnesia:install_fallback/2
.{scope, Scope}
. For semantics, seemnesia:install_fallback/2
.{mnesia_dir, AlternateDir}
. For semantics, seemnesia:install_fallback/2
.
-spec unsubscribe(What) -> {ok, node()} | {error, Reason :: term()} when What :: system | activity | {table, table(), simple | detailed}.
Stops sending events of type EventCategory
to the caller.
Node
is the local node.
Some applications need to wait for certain tables to be accessible to do useful
work. mnesia:wait_for_tables/2
either hangs until all tables in TabList
are
accessible, or until timeout
is reached.
Calls the function mnesia:read(Tab, Key, write)
.
-spec write(Record :: tuple()) -> ok.
Calls the function mnesia:write(Tab, Record, write)
, where Tab
is
element(1, Record)
.
-spec write(Tab :: table(), Record :: tuple(), LockKind :: write_locks()) -> ok.
Writes record Record
to table Tab
.
The function returns ok
, or terminates if an error occurs. For example, the
transaction terminates if no person
table exists.
The semantics of this function is context-sensitive. For details, see
mnesia:activity/4
. In transaction-context, it acquires a lock of type
LockKind
. The lock types write
and sticky_write
are supported.
-spec write_lock_table(Tab :: table()) -> ok.
Calls the function mnesia:lock({table, Tab}, write)
.