DynomiteDB uses a Redis-compatible API which means that all keys are stored in a single, flat monolithic namespace.
A properly designed schema is just as important when using DynomiteDB as it is with any other database. However, with DynomiteDB the entire schema is defined by properly named keys.
In DynomiteDB you define your schema using a colon : delimited sequence of entities and values in the key. As with all data modeling, the first step in defining a schema in DynomiteDB is to understand the various entities (such as user, or company, or message) that is used by your application. The primary entity should be the first element in the key.
We are going to define a schema for DynomiteDB by comparing to the example SQL below.
SELECT name, email
FROM user
WHERE id = 7
SQL select statement
In the example above, the primary entity is user, which is used as the table name. Therefore, we will begin the key name as user: (remember that : is used as a delimiter).
Next, the SQL above uses the WHERE clause to select a specific row within the table. We will use a similar syntax to define the key, which is now user:id=7.
Our key of user:id=7 now clearly communicates that the associated value is for a user with an id of 7.
A key with multiple filters can be created by adding additional attribute=value conditions to the key name. It is recommended that you follow the rules below to ensure that your schema follows a well defined pattern:
For example, if we need to store a value for a user with id = 7, nationality = “US” and email = “bob@example.com”, then we would create the key as follows:
user:id=7:email=bob@example.com:nationality=US