Java ILP client

Quickstart#

Add a QuestDB as a dependency to your build project:

<dependency>
<groupId>org.questdb</groupId>
<artifactId>questdb</artifactId>
<version>7.1.3</version>
</dependency>

The code bellow creates an instance of a client, configures it to connect to a QuestDB server running on localhost on a TCP port 9009. Then it sends two rows, each with one symbol, long column and one string column. It instructs the QuestDB server to assign a timestamp by using a local wall-clock.

package com.example.sender;
import io.questdb.client.Sender;
public class BasicExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try (Sender sender = Sender.builder().address("localhost:9009").build()) {
sender.table("inventors")
.symbol("born", "Austrian Empire")
.longColumn("id", 0)
.stringColumn("name", "Nicola Tesla")
.atNow();
sender.table("inventors")
.symbol("born", "USA")
.longColumn("id", 1)
.stringColumn("name", "Thomas Alva Edison")
.atNow();
}
}
}

Example with TLS and Authentication enabled#

This sample configures a client to use TLS encryption for a connection to a QuestDB server. It also instructs the client to authenticate.

package com.example.sender;
import io.questdb.client.Sender;
public class AuthTlsExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
try (Sender sender = Sender.builder()
.address("clever-black-363-c1213c97.ilp.b04c.questdb.net:32074")
.enableTls()
.enableAuth("admin").authToken("GwBXoGG5c6NoUTLXnzMxw_uNiVa8PKobzx5EiuylMW0")
.build()) {
sender.table("inventors")
.symbol("born", "Austrian Empire")
.longColumn("id", 0)
.stringColumn("name", "Nicola Tesla")
.atNow();
sender.table("inventors")
.symbol("born", "USA")
.longColumn("id", 1)
.stringColumn("name", "Thomas Alva Edison")
.atNow();
}
}
}

This configuration also works with QuestDB Cloud. If you are using a self-managed QuestDB with authentication enabled then authToken is the d portion of a JWK.

General usage pattern#

  1. Create a client instance via Sender.builder().

  2. Use table(CharSequence) to select a table for inserting a new row.

  3. Use symbol(CharSequence, CharSequence) to add all symbols. You must add symbols before adding other column type.

  4. Use the following options to add all the remaining columns:

    • stringColumn(CharSequence, CharSequence)
    • longColumn(CharSequence, long)
    • doubleColumn(CharSequence, double)
    • boolColumn(CharSequence, boolean)
    • timestampColumn(CharSequence, long)

  5. Use at(long) or atNow() to set a designated timestamp.

  6. Optionally: You can use flush() to send locally buffered data into a server.

  7. Go to the step no. 2 to start a new row.

  8. Use close() to dispose the Sender after you no longer need it.

Designated timestamp considerations#

The following options determine how a designated timestamp is assigned:

  • atNow() automatically assigns a timestamp based on a server wall-clock upon receiving a row.
  • at(long) assigns a specific timestamp.

The code samples above use QuestDB to assign timestamp automatically: atNow() instructs the server to assign a timestamp by using a local wall-clock. To assign a specific timestamp, use at(long) instead of atNow().

note

QuestDB works best when rows are ingested in chronological order. This means rows with older timestamps are ingested before rows with newer timestamps.

Receiving out-of-order data can have a performance impact:

  • For QuestDB 6.6 and later versions, the out-of-order data ingestion has been optimized and automated.

  • For QuestDB 6.5.5 and earlier versions, users need to configure Out-of-order commit lag setting.

Please note that the client does not interpret the timestamp in any way. It merely passes the timestamp to a server, and it is up to the server to interpret the timestamp. The default behavior of a QuestDB server is to treat the designated timestamp as a number of nanoseconds since 1st Jan 1970 UTC. See Timestamps for more details.

caution

By default, QuestDB's engine treats a designated timestamp as nanoseconds, but this does not mean that System.nanoTime() can be used to get the current time and pass it to at(long). System.nanoTime() is only useful for measuring elapsed time, and it is not related to any notion of system or wall-clock time.

Other considerations#

  • The Sender is not thread-safe. For multiple threads to send data to QuestDB, each thread should have its own Sender instance. An object pool can also be used to re-use Sender instances.
  • The Sender instance has to be closed after it is no longer in use. The Sender implements the java.lang.AutoCloseable interface, and therefore the try-with-resource pattern can be used to ensure that the Sender is closed.
  • A client buffers row data internally and sends them to a server in batches when the buffer is full. This improves performance significantly, but it also means that during a period of quiescence, some written rows may be retained in the buffer and are not sent to a server until the buffer are full.
  • The method flush() can be called to force sending the internal buffer to a server, even when the buffer is not full yet.

Configuration#

The client offers a builder API to configure all supported options. See Sender.builder().

Limitations#

The client supports TCP only. It does not support UDP as transport.

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