DynamoDB Dynomite Create

Examples

Post.create(title: "post 1")
Post.create!(title: "post 2")

Post.create(title: "post 3") do |post|
  post.category = "ruby"
end

Checks for Uniqueness

> post = Post.create(id: "post-ITWxoTTYKKXWtCrX")
dynomite/item/query/write/save.rb:27:in `handle_conditional_check_failed_exception':
A Post with the primary key {:id=>"post-ITWxoTTYKKXWtCrX"} already exists (Dynomite::Error::RecordNotUnique)

With DynamoDB, uniqueness is based on the primary key. If you update an item with the same Primary Key, the same item gets overwritten. If you try to create 2 items with the same Primary Key, dynomite will raise a Dynomite::Error::RecordNotUnique error.

An error will also be raised using new

> post = Post.new(id: "post-ITWxoTTYKKXWtCrX")
> post.save
dynomite/item/query/write/save.rb:27:in `handle_conditional_check_failed_exception':
A Post with the primary key {:id=>"post-ITWxoTTYKKXWtCrX"} already exists (Dynomite::Error::RecordNotUnique)

Interestingly, under the hood, DynamoDB uses put_item with a condition_expression and attribute_not_exists to check if the record already exists. So uniqueness is ensured at the database level.

Here’s another example with a Primary Key that is a Composite Key.

> Product.create(category: "Electronics", sku: 101, name: "Smartphone", price: 500, stock_quantity: 50)
dynomite/item/query/write/save.rb:27:in `handle_conditional_check_failed_exception':
A Product with the primary key {:category=>"Electronics", :sku=>101} already exists (Dynomite::Error::RecordNotUnique)

Auto-Generates Friendly Id

A unique id is generated if you do not specify the Partition Key value.

post = Post.create(title: "title 1")
post.id # => post-yoZGM7woMlpwCe2d

The id prefix is the underscore class name by default. It can be overridden with id_prefix though it’s not recommended.

class Post < ApplicationItem
  id_prefix("my_post")
end

Auto-Generates String and Number for Partition and Sort Key

If the primary key is not set, a random one is generated for both the partition_key and the optional sort_key. Here’s how it works.

  • If the field is a string, a random 40-char string is generated IE: a3775e920a997814f6ffc14dfed631095d63e09f
  • If the field is a number, a random 40-length number that does not start with zero is generated. IE: 1554754521804542800906134042971319052310
  • If the field is named id, then a friendly name is generated based on the class name. IE: post-kGLAV8PZuYwXYBGQ

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