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<h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="stl_db_advanced_usage"></a>Using advanced Berkeley DB features with dbstl</h2>
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<dt>
<span class="sect2">
<a href="stl_db_advanced_usage.html#id3851383">Using bulk retrieval iterators</a>
</span>
</dt>
<dt>
<span class="sect2">
<a href="stl_db_advanced_usage.html#id3851384">Using the DB_RMW flag</a>
</span>
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<dt>
<span class="sect2">
<a href="stl_db_advanced_usage.html#id3852183">Using secondary index database and secondary containers</a>
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<p>
This section describes advanced Berkeley DB features that are
available through dbstl.
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<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 class="title"><a id="id3851383"></a>Using bulk retrieval iterators</h3>
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<p>
Bulk retrieval is an optimization option for const iterators and
nonconst but read-only iterators. Bulk retrieval can minimize the
number of database accesses performed by your application. It does this
by reading multiple entries at a time, which reduces read overhead.
Note that non-sequential reads will benefit less from, or even be hurt
by, this behavior, because it might result in unneeded data being read
from the database. Also, non-serializable reads may read obsolete
data, because part of the data read from the bulk read buffer may have
been updated since the retrieval.
</p>
<p>
When using the default transaction isolation, iterators will perform
serializable reads. In this situation, the bulk-retrieved data cannot
be updated until the iterator's cursor is closed.
</p>
<p>
Iterators using a different isolation levels, such as
<a href="../api_reference/C/dbcget.html#dbcget_DB_READ_COMMITTED" class="olink">DB_READ_COMMITTED</a> or <a href="../api_reference/C/dbopen.html#dbopen_DB_READ_UNCOMMITTED" class="olink">DB_READ_UNCOMMITTED</a> will not perform
serializable reads. The same is true for any iterators that do not use
transactions.
</p>
<p>
A bulk retrieval iterator can only move in a singled direction, from
beginning to end. This means that iterators only support operator++,
and reverse iterators only support operator--.
</p>
<p>
Iterator objects that use bulk retrieval might contain hundreds of
kilobytes of data, which makes copying the iterator object an expensive
operation. If possible, use ++iterator rather than iterator++. This
can save a useless copy construction of the iterator, as well as an
unnecessary dup/close of the cursor.
</p>
<p>
You can configure bulk retrieval for each container using both in the
const and non-const version of the <code class="methodname">begin()</code>
method. The non-const version of <code class="methodname">begin()</code> will
return a read-only cursor. Note that read-only means something
different in C++ than it does when referring to an iterator. The latter
only means that it cannot be used to update the database.
</p>
<p>
To configure the bulk retrieval buffer for an iterator when calling the
<code class="methodname">begin()</code> method, use the
<code class="function">BulkRetrievelItrOpt::bulk_retrieval(u_int32_t bulk_buffer_size)</code>
function.
</p>
<p>
If you move a <code class="classname">db_vector_iterator</code> randomly rather
than sequentially, then dbstl will not perform bulk retrieval because
there is little performance gain from bulk retrieval in such an access
pattern.
</p>
<p>
You can call <code class="function">iterator::set_bulk_buffer()</code> to modify
the iterator's bulk buffer size. Note that once bulk read is enabled,
only the bulk buffer size can be modified. This means that bulk read
cannot be disabled. Also, if bulk read was not enabled when you created
the iterator, you can't enable it after creation.
</p>
<p>
Example code using this feature can be found in the
<code class="methodname">StlAdvancedFeaturesExample::bulk_retrieval_read()</code> method.
</p>
</div>
<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 class="title"><a id="id3851384"></a>Using the DB_RMW flag</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
The <a href="../api_reference/C/dbcget.html#dbcget_DB_RMW" class="olink">DB_RMW</a> flag is an optimization for non-const (read-write)
iterators. This flag causes the underlying cursor to acquire a write
lock when reading so as to avoid deadlocks. Passing
<code class="function">ReadModifyWriteOption::read_modify_write()</code> to a
container's <code class="methodname">begin()</code> method creates an iterator
whose cursor has this behavior.
</p>
</div>
<div class="sect2" lang="en" xml:lang="en">
<div class="titlepage">
<div>
<div>
<h3 class="title"><a id="id3852183"></a>Using secondary index database and secondary containers</h3>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p>
Because duplicate keys are forbidden in primary databases, only
<code class="classname">db_map</code>, <code class="classname">db_set</code> and
<code class="classname">db_vector</code> are allowed to use primary databases.
For this reason, they are called
<span class="bold"><strong>primary containers</strong></span>.
A secondary database that supports duplicate keys can be used with
<code class="classname">db_multimap</code> containers. These are called
<span class="bold"><strong>secondary containers</strong></span>. Finally, a
secondary database that forbids duplicate keys can back a
<code class="classname">db_map</code> container.
</p>
<p>
The <span class="bold"><strong>data_type</strong></span> of this
<code class="classname">db_multimap</code> secondary container is the
<span class="bold"><strong>data_type</strong></span> for the primary container. For
example, a <code class="classname">db_map<int, Person></code> object
where the <code class="classname">Person</code> class has an
<code class="literal">age</code> property of type <code class="literal">size_t</code>, a
<code class="classname">db_multimap<size_t, Person></code> using a
secondary database allows access to a person by age.
</p>
<p>
A container created from a secondary database can only be used to
iterate, search or delete. It can not be used to update or insert.
While dbstl does expose the update and insert operations, Berkeley DB
does not, and an exception will be thrown if attempts are made to
insert objects into or update objects of a secondary container.
</p>
<p>
Example code demonstrating this feature is available in the
<code class="methodname">StlAdvancedFeaturesExample::secondary_containers()</code> method.
</p>
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