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Object Synchronization

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Playing with Object Synchronization feature

What's new in this version

Initial Release

Synchronization

Object Synchronization project

This is just a simple project to play a bit with IRIS Object Synchronization feature (also available in last versions in Caché and Ensemble). On the journey you can also see a sample of an Installer class that would allow you, from scratch, to define and create Namespaces + Databases, REST services, import a class model and populate it with sample data.

WARNING: As usual… be aware this is playing code, not robust enough for any production use.

Data Model

The data itself is very simple, just 8 classes:

Class Type Description
SampleApps.Synch.Data.Address Data Serial class
SampleApps.Synch.Data.Customer Data Customers master table
SampleApps.Synch.Data.Employee Data Employees master table
SampleApps.Synch.Data.Item Data Items master table
SampleApps.Synch.Data.Order Data Orders registered
SampleApps.Synch.Data.SynchConflict Data Stores conflicts during synchronizations
SampleApps.Synch.API.common Logic Basic functions to register, update, delete and query info
SampleApps.Synch.API.v1.RestLegacy Logic REST API based on %CSP.REST
SampleApps.Synch.Config.Installer Demo Admin Installer class to prepare demo environment
SampleApps.Synch.Util Demo Admin Utilities to Restart the demo, prepare SynchSets, launch synchronizations

Install and Get Ready with the Demo environment

Once we’ve downloaded the source code, we choose a folder in our server to put it, let’s say: c:/Temp/SampleApps.

Then, we open an IRIS session in a terminal, for example in MYOWNNAMESPACE, and run this code:

 do $system.OBJ.Load("c:/Temp/SampleApps/Synch/Config/Installer.cls","ck")
 set args("InstallingFromNS")="MYOWNNAMESPACE"
 set args("NamespaceMaster")="MYMASTERNODE"
 set args("NamespaceClient")="MYCLIENTNODE"
 do ##class(SampleApps.Synch.Config.Installer).setup(.args)

After execution, the demo environment will have been created for you and there will be(1):

  • 2 new Namesapces: MYMASTERNODE and MYCLIENTNODE
  • based also in 2 new databases: MYMASTERNODEDB and MYCLIENTNODEDB
  • Both DB will be identical with already populated sample data
  • 1 REST service for both new namespaces to have access to the APIs

And your environment will be ready for you to test.

(1) For the rest of the document, we will assume that the namespaces are MASTER and CLIENT.

REST Services

Just a bunch of REST services to make use and test this functionality. You can find them in SampleApps.Synch.API.v1.RestLegacyclass:

The common URL for both REST APIs are:

URL Namespace
/synchmaster/rest/v1 MASTER
/synchclient/rest/v1 CLIENT

And the rest services themselves:

Service Path HTTP Method Body sample
Inserts a new randomly generated order /randomorder POST
Get the order with ID = orderID /order/:orderID GET
Update the order with ID = orderID and the info attached in body as JSON object /order/:orderID PUT {“orderNum”:1004,“employee”:1,“customer”:5,“dateOrder”:“2000-07-11 06:14:11”,“item”:23,“quantity”:401,“price”:446}
Delete the order with ID = orderID /order/:orderID DELETE
List top 10 orders /orders GET
List orders up to: topMax /orders/:topMax GET
List top 10 items /items GET
List items up to: topMax /items/:topMax GET
List top 10 customers /customers GET
List customers up to: topMax /customers/:topMax GET
List top 10 employees /employees GET
List employees up to :TopMax /employees/:topMax GET
Prepare a Synchronization Set /admin/prepsynch POST {“syncID”:1000,“dir”:“c:/Temp”,“excludeNS”:“CLIENT”}
Synchronize data from a Synchronization Set referenced in JSON format in body message /admin/synchronize POST {“syncID”:1000,“dir”:“c:/Temp”,“srcNS”:“MASTER”}
List top 10 synchronization conflicts /admin/conflicts GET
List up to: topMax synchronization conflicts /admin/conflicts/:topMax GET

How synchronization feature works

You have a full explanation about this feature in InterSystems online documentation.

Some tips:

  • if we want a solution to make use of this feature, we have to analize and decide in design time, as the classes which objects we want to synchronize will have to be defined accordingly.
  • take into account that synchronization is asynchronous and bidirectional, that means, we decide when we do it, and it will require to build a SynchSet to bring data changes from MASTER to CLIENT and to build another SynchSet to bring data changes from CLIENT to MASTER.
  • Metadata associated with synchronizations is stored in %SYNC.SyncTimetable.
  • Data related to transactions of objects that we have decided to syncrhonize is stored internally in ^OBJ.JournalT(you don’t need to touch it).
  • When we create a synchronization set (see %SYNC.SyncSet), all the synchset objects data is stored internally in ^OBJ.SYNC.<ssid>, where ssid is a unique identifier we have chosen.

How to test

Since the beginning, MASTER and CLIENT already have data and are identical. One easy and quick way to test will be adding some data to MASTER, prepare a synch set in MASTER to synchronize with CLIENT, and, finally, synchronize in CLIENT. Here it goes an example:

Example:
You can use whatever REST client, or directly from a terminal using methods in Sample.Synch.Utilclass. Below you have the curl commands (just in case you want to make use of REST services from command line). Of course you’ll have to change the commands to your authorization/IP/ports/DirPath needs

curl -X POST -H 'Authorization: Basic c3VwZXJ1c2VyOnN5cw==' -i http://localhost:52773/synchmaster/rest/v1/randomorder -
curl -X POST -H 'Authorization: Basic c3VwZXJ1c2VyOnN5cw==' -i http://localhost:52773/synchmaster/rest/v1/admin/prepsynch --data '{"syncID":3000,"dir":"c:/Temp","excludeNS":"CLIENT"}'
curl -X POST -H 'Authorization: Basic c3VwZXJ1c2VyOnN5cw==' -i http://localhost:52773/synchclient/rest/v1/admin/synchronize --data '{"syncID":3000,"dir":"c:/Temp","srcNS":"MASTER"}'

And there you go!… you just have synchronized data between 2 servers (well, 2 namespaces in this case). If you want to generate some conflicts, just modify the same object in both databases before synchronization. When trying to synchronize, it will detect that there was a modification in both sites over the same object and it will arise an event… who will win?? I’ll let you find out by yourself (Tip: look at Order class… :wink: )

End

I hope this code can help you in any way. And remember: What you code matters!

Enjoy!
Jose-Tomas Salvador

Docker

Container build and start runs ALL installation steps.
It is immedeatly ready for use as decsribed

Prerequisites

Make sure you have git and Docker desktop installed.

Installation

Clone/git pull the repo into any local directory

$ git clone https://github.com/rcemper/PR_Synchronization.git
$ docker compose up -d && docker compose logs -f

Quick REST access to MASTER:
http://localhost:42773/synchmaster/rest/v1/customers

Quick REST access to CLIENT:
http://localhost:42773/synchclient/rest/v1/employees

To open IRIS Terminal do:

$ docker-compose exec iris iris session iris 
USER>

or using WebTerminal
http://localhost:42773/terminal/

To access IRIS System Management Portal
http://localhost:42773/csp/sys/UtilHome.csp

Made with
Version
1.0.016 Aug, 2019
Category
Technology Example
Works with
CachéInterSystems IRIS
First published
16 Aug, 2019