API: Persistence¶
Corda offers developers the option to expose all or some part of a contract state to an Object Relational Mapping (ORM) tool to be persisted in a RDBMS. The purpose of this is to assist vault development by effectively indexing persisted contract states held in the vault for the purpose of running queries over them and to allow relational joins between Corda data and private data local to the organisation owning a node.
The ORM mapping is specified using the Java Persistence API (JPA) as annotations and is converted to database table rows by the node automatically every time a state is recorded in the node’s local vault as part of a transaction.
Note
Presently the node includes an instance of the H2 database but any database that supports JDBC is a candidate and the node will in the future support a range of database implementations via their JDBC drivers. Much of the node internal state is also persisted there. You can access the internal H2 database via JDBC, please see the info in “Node administration” for details.
Schemas¶
Every ContractState
can implement the QueryableState
interface if it wishes to be inserted into the node’s local
database and accessible using SQL.
/**
* A contract state that may be mapped to database schemas configured for this node to support querying for,
* or filtering of, states.
*/
interface QueryableState : ContractState {
/**
* Enumerate the schemas this state can export representations of itself as.
*/
fun supportedSchemas(): Iterable<MappedSchema>
/**
* Export a representation for the given schema.
*/
fun generateMappedObject(schema: MappedSchema): PersistentState
}
The QueryableState
interface requires the state to enumerate the different relational schemas it supports, for
instance in cases where the schema has evolved, with each one being represented by a MappedSchema
object return
by the supportedSchemas()
method. Once a schema is selected it must generate that representation when requested
via the generateMappedObject()
method which is then passed to the ORM.
Nodes have an internal SchemaService
which decides what to persist and what not by selecting the MappedSchema
to use.
/**
* A configuration and customisation point for Object Relational Mapping of contract state objects.
*/
interface SchemaService {
/**
* Represents any options configured on the node for a schema.
*/
data class SchemaOptions(val databaseSchema: String? = null, val tablePrefix: String? = null)
/**
* Options configured for this node's schemas. A missing entry for a schema implies all properties are null.
*/
val schemaOptions: Map<MappedSchema, SchemaOptions>
/**
* Given a state, select schemas to map it to that are supported by [generateMappedObject] and that are configured
* for this node.
*/
fun selectSchemas(state: ContractState): Iterable<MappedSchema>
/**
* Map a state to a [PersistentState] for the given schema, either via direct support from the state
* or via custom logic in this service.
*/
fun generateMappedObject(state: ContractState, schema: MappedSchema): PersistentState
/**
* Registration mechanism to add custom contract schemas that extend the [MappedSchema] class.
*/
fun registerCustomSchemas(customSchemas: Set<MappedSchema>)
}
/**
* A database schema that might be configured for this node. As well as a name and version for identifying the schema,
* also list the classes that may be used in the generated object graph in order to configure the ORM tool.
*
* @param schemaFamily A class to fully qualify the name of a schema family (i.e. excludes version)
* @param version The version number of this instance within the family.
* @param mappedTypes The JPA entity classes that the ORM layer needs to be configure with for this schema.
*/
open class MappedSchema(schemaFamily: Class<*>,
val version: Int,
val mappedTypes: Iterable<Class<*>>) {
val name: String = schemaFamily.name
override fun toString(): String = "${this.javaClass.simpleName}(name=$name, version=$version)"
}
The SchemaService
can be configured by a node administrator to select the schemas used by each app. In this way the
relational view of ledger states can evolve in a controlled fashion in lock-step with internal systems or other
integration points and not necessarily with every upgrade to the contract code. It can select from the
MappedSchema
offered by a QueryableState
, automatically upgrade to a later version of a schema or even
provide a MappedSchema
not originally offered by the QueryableState
.
It is expected that multiple different contract state implementations might provide mappings to some common schema. For example an Interest Rate Swap contract and an Equity OTC Option contract might both provide a mapping to a common Derivative schema. The schemas should typically not be part of the contract itself and should exist independently of it to encourage re-use of a common set within a particular business area or Cordapp.
MappedSchema
offer a family name that is disambiguated using Java package style name-spacing derived from the
class name of a schema family class that is constant across versions, allowing the SchemaService
to select a
preferred version of a schema.
The SchemaService
is also responsible for the SchemaOptions
that can be configured for a particular
MappedSchema
which allow the configuration of a database schema or table name prefixes to avoid any clash with
other MappedSchema
.
Note
It is intended that there should be plugin support for the SchemaService
to offer the version upgrading
and additional schemas as part of Cordapps, and that the active schemas be configurable. However the present
implementation offers none of this and simply results in all versions of all schemas supported by a
QueryableState
being persisted. This will change in due course. Similarly, it does not currently support
configuring SchemaOptions
but will do so in the future.
Custom schema registration¶
Custom contract schemas are automatically registered at startup time for CorDapps. The node bootstrap process will scan
for schemas (any class that extends the MappedSchema
interface) in the plugins configuration directory in your CorDapp jar.
For testing purposes it is necessary to manually register custom schemas as follows:
- Tests using
MockNetwork
andMockNode
must explicitly register custom schemas using the registerCustomSchemas() method ofMockNode
- Tests using
MockServices
must explicitly register schemas using customSchemas attribute of theMockServices
makeTestDatabaseAndMockServices() helper method.
Note
Tests using the DriverDSL will automatically register your custom schemas if they are in the same project structure as the driver call.
Object relational mapping¶
The persisted representation of a QueryableState
should be an instance of a PersistentState
subclass,
constructed either by the state itself or a plugin to the SchemaService
. This allows the ORM layer to always
associate a StateRef
with a persisted representation of a ContractState
and allows joining with the set of
unconsumed states in the vault.
The PersistentState
subclass should be marked up as a JPA 2.1 Entity with a defined table name and having
properties (in Kotlin, getters/setters in Java) annotated to map to the appropriate columns and SQL types. Additional
entities can be included to model these properties where they are more complex, for example collections, so the mapping
does not have to be flat. The MappedSchema
must provide a list of all of the JPA entity classes for that schema
in order to initialise the ORM layer.
Several examples of entities and mappings are provided in the codebase, including Cash.State
and
CommercialPaper.State
. For example, here’s the first version of the cash schema.
package net.corda.finance.schemas
import net.corda.core.identity.AbstractParty
import net.corda.core.schemas.MappedSchema
import net.corda.core.schemas.PersistentState
import net.corda.core.serialization.CordaSerializable
import javax.persistence.Column
import javax.persistence.Entity
import javax.persistence.Index
import javax.persistence.Table
/**
* An object used to fully qualify the [CashSchema] family name (i.e. independent of version).
*/
object CashSchema
/**
* First version of a cash contract ORM schema that maps all fields of the [Cash] contract state as it stood
* at the time of writing.
*/
@CordaSerializable
object CashSchemaV1 : MappedSchema(schemaFamily = CashSchema.javaClass, version = 1, mappedTypes = listOf(PersistentCashState::class.java)) {
@Entity
@Table(name = "contract_cash_states",
indexes = arrayOf(Index(name = "ccy_code_idx", columnList = "ccy_code"),
Index(name = "pennies_idx", columnList = "pennies")))
class PersistentCashState(
/** X500Name of owner party **/
@Column(name = "owner_name")
var owner: AbstractParty,
@Column(name = "pennies")
var pennies: Long,
@Column(name = "ccy_code", length = 3)
var currency: String,
@Column(name = "issuer_key")
var issuerParty: String,
@Column(name = "issuer_ref")
var issuerRef: ByteArray
) : PersistentState()
}
Identity mapping¶
Schema entity attributes defined by identity types (AbstractParty
, Party
, AnonymousParty
) are automatically
processed to ensure only the X500Name
of the identity is persisted where an identity is well known, otherwise a null
value is stored in the associated column. To preserve privacy, identity keys are never persisted. Developers should use
the IdentityService
to resolve keys from well know X500 identity names.
JDBC session¶
Apps may also interact directly with the underlying Node’s database by using a standard JDBC connection (session) as described by the Java SQL Connection API
Use the ServiceHub
jdbcSession
function to obtain a JDBC connection as illustrated in the following example:
JDBC session’s can be used in Flows and Service Plugins (see “Writing flows”)
The following example illustrates the creation of a custom corda service using a jdbcSession:
object CustomVaultQuery {
@CordaService
class Service(val services: ServiceHub) : SingletonSerializeAsToken() {
private companion object {
val log = loggerFor<Service>()
}
fun rebalanceCurrencyReserves(): List<Amount<Currency>> {
val nativeQuery = """
select
cashschema.ccy_code,
sum(cashschema.pennies)
from
vault_states vaultschema
join
contract_cash_states cashschema
where
vaultschema.output_index=cashschema.output_index
and vaultschema.transaction_id=cashschema.transaction_id
and vaultschema.state_status=0
group by
cashschema.ccy_code
order by
sum(cashschema.pennies) desc
"""
log.info("SQL to execute: $nativeQuery")
val session = services.jdbcSession()
val prepStatement = session.prepareStatement(nativeQuery)
val rs = prepStatement.executeQuery()
var topUpLimits: MutableList<Amount<Currency>> = mutableListOf()
while (rs.next()) {
val currencyStr = rs.getString(1)
val amount = rs.getLong(2)
log.info("$currencyStr : $amount")
topUpLimits.add(Amount(amount, Currency.getInstance(currencyStr)))
}
return topUpLimits
}
}
}
which is then referenced within a custom flow:
@Suspendable
@Throws(CashException::class)
override fun call(): List<SignedTransaction> {
progressTracker.currentStep = AWAITING_REQUEST
val topupRequest = otherPartySession.receive<TopupRequest>().unwrap {
it
}
val customVaultQueryService = serviceHub.cordaService(CustomVaultQuery.Service::class.java)
val reserveLimits = customVaultQueryService.rebalanceCurrencyReserves()
val txns: List<SignedTransaction> = reserveLimits.map { amount ->
// request asset issue
logger.info("Requesting currency issue $amount")
val txn = issueCashTo(amount, topupRequest.issueToParty, topupRequest.issuerPartyRef)
progressTracker.currentStep = SENDING_TOP_UP_ISSUE_REQUEST
return@map txn.stx
}
otherPartySession.send(txns)
return txns
}