transaction API Reference

Interfaces

interface transaction.interfaces.ITransactionManager

An object that manages a sequence of transactions.

Applications use transaction managers to establish transaction boundaries.

A transaction manager supports the “context manager” protocol: Its __enter__ begins a new transaction; its __exit__ commits the current transaction if no exception has occured; otherwise, it aborts it.

explicit

Explicit mode indicator.

This is true if the transaction manager is in explicit mode. In explicit mode, transactions must be begun explicitly, by calling begin and ended explicitly by calling commit or abort.

New in version 2.1.0.

begin()

Explicitly begin and return a new transaction.

If an existing transaction is in progress and the transaction manager not in explicit mode, the previous transaction will be aborted. If an existing transaction is in progress and the transaction manager is in explicit mode, an AlreadyInTransaction exception will be raised..

The newTransaction method of registered synchronizers is called, passing the new transaction object.

Note that when not in explicit mode, transactions may be started implicitly without calling begin. In that case, newTransaction isn’t called because the transaction manager doesn’t know when to call it. The transaction is likely to have begun long before the transaction manager is involved. (Conceivably the commit and abort methods could call begin, but they don’t.)

get()

Get the current transaction.

In explicit mode, if a transaction hasn’t begun, a NoTransaction exception will be raised.

commit()

Commit the current transaction.

In explicit mode, if a transaction hasn’t begun, a NoTransaction exception will be raised.

abort()

Abort the current transaction.

In explicit mode, if a transaction hasn’t begun, a NoTransaction exception will be raised.

doom()

Doom the current transaction.

In explicit mode, if a transaction hasn’t begun, a NoTransaction exception will be raised.

isDoomed()

Returns True if the current transaction is doomed, otherwise False.

In explicit mode, if a transaction hasn’t begun, a NoTransaction exception will be raised.

savepoint(optimistic=False)

Create a savepoint from the current transaction.

If the optimistic argument is true, then data managers that don’t support savepoints can be used, but an error will be raised if the savepoint is rolled back.

An ISavepoint object is returned.

In explicit mode, if a transaction hasn’t begun, a NoTransaction exception will be raised.

registerSynch(synch)

Register an ISynchronizer.

Synchronizers are notified about some major events in a transaction’s life. See ISynchronizer for details.

If a synchronizer registers while there is an active transaction, its newTransaction method will be called with the active transaction.

unregisterSynch(synch)

Unregister an ISynchronizer.

Synchronizers are notified about some major events in a transaction’s life. See ISynchronizer for details.

clearSynchs()

Unregister all registered ISynchronizer objects.

This exists to support test cleanup/initialization

registeredSynchs()

Determine if any ISynchronizers are registered.

Return true if any are registered, and return False otherwise.

This exists to support test cleanup/initialization

attempts(number=3)

Generate up to number (transactional) context managers.

This method is typically used as follows:

for attempt in transaction_manager.attempts():
    with attempt:
        *with block*

The with attempt: starts a new transaction for the execution of the with block. If the execution succeeds, the (then current) transaction is commited and the for loop terminates. If the execution raised an exception, then the transaction is aborted. If the exception was some kind of retriable error and the maximal number of attempts is not yet reached, then a next iteration of the for loop starts. In all other cases, the for loop terminates with the exception.

run(func=None, tries=3)

Call func() in its own transaction; retry in case of some kind of retriable error.

The call is tried up to tries times.

The call is performed in a new transaction. After the call, the (then current) transaction is committed (no exception) or aborted (exception).

run supports the alternative signature run(tries=3). If func is not given or passed as None, then the call to run returns a function taking func as argument and then calling run(func, tries).

interface transaction.interfaces.ITransaction

Object representing a running transaction.

user

A user name associated with the transaction.

The format of the user name is defined by the application. The value is text (unicode). Storages record the user value, as meta-data, when a transaction commits.

A storage may impose a limit on the size of the value; behavior is undefined if such a limit is exceeded (for example, a storage may raise an exception, or truncate the value).

description

A textual description of the transaction.

The value is text (unicode). Method note is the intended way to set the value. Storages record the description, as meta-data, when a transaction commits.

A storage may impose a limit on the size of the description; behavior is undefined if such a limit is exceeded (for example, a storage may raise an exception, or truncate the value).

extension

A dictionary containing application-defined metadata.

commit()

Finalize the transaction.

This executes the two-phase commit algorithm for all IDataManager objects associated with the transaction.

abort()

Abort the transaction.

This is called from the application. This can only be called before the two-phase commit protocol has been started.

doom()

Doom the transaction.

Dooms the current transaction. This will cause DoomedTransaction to be raised on any attempt to commit the transaction.

Otherwise the transaction will behave as if it was active.

savepoint(optimistic=False)

Create a savepoint.

If the optimistic argument is true, then data managers that don’t support savepoints can be used, but an error will be raised if the savepoint is rolled back.

An ISavepoint object is returned.

join(datamanager)

Add a data manager to the transaction.

datamanager must provide the IDataManager interface.

note(text)

Add text (unicode) to the transaction description.

This modifies the description attribute; see its docs for more detail. First surrounding whitespace is stripped from text. If description is currently an empty string, then the stripped text becomes its value, else two newlines and the stripped text are appended to description.

setExtendedInfo(name, value)

Add extension data to the transaction.

Parameters

• name (text) – is the text (unicode) name of the extension property to set

• value – must be picklable and json serializable

Multiple calls may be made to set multiple extension properties, provided the names are distinct.

Storages record the extension data, as meta-data, when a transaction commits.

A storage may impose a limit on the size of extension data; behavior is undefined if such a limit is exceeded (for example, a storage may raise an exception, or remove <name, value> pairs).

addBeforeCommitHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

Register a hook to call before the transaction is committed.

The specified hook function will be called after the transaction’s commit method has been called, but before the commit process has been started.

Parameters

• args (sequence) – Additional positional arguments to be passed to the hook. The default is to pass no positional arguments.

• kws (dict) – Keyword arguments to pass to the hook. The default is to pass no keyword arguments.

Multiple hooks can be registered and will be called in the order they were registered (first registered, first called). This method can also be called from a hook: an executing hook can register more hooks. Applications should take care to avoid creating infinite loops by recursively registering hooks.

Hooks are called only for a top-level commit. A savepoint creation does not call any hooks. If the transaction is aborted, hooks are not called, and are discarded. Calling a hook “consumes” its registration too: hook registrations do not persist across transactions. If it’s desired to call the same hook on every transaction commit, then addBeforeCommitHook must be called with that hook during every transaction; in such a case consider registering a synchronizer object via ITransactionManager.registerSynch instead.

getBeforeCommitHooks()

Return iterable producing the registered addBeforeCommitHook hooks.

A triple (hook, args, kws) is produced for each registered hook. The hooks are produced in the order in which they would be invoked by a top-level transaction commit.

addAfterCommitHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

Register a hook to call after a transaction commit attempt.

The specified hook function will be called after the transaction commit succeeds or aborts. The first argument passed to the hook is a Boolean value, True if the commit succeeded, or False if the commit aborted.

args and kws are interpreted as for addBeforeCommitHook (with the exception that there is always one positional argument, the commit status).

As with addBeforeCommitHook, multiple hooks can be registered, savepoint creation doesn’t call any hooks, and calling a hook consumes its registration.

getAfterCommitHooks()

Return iterable producing the registered addAfterCommitHook hooks.

As with getBeforeCommitHooks, a triple (hook, args, kws) is produced for each registered hook. The hooks are produced in the order in which they would be invoked by a top-level transaction commit.

addBeforeAbortHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

Register a hook to call before the transaction is aborted.

The specified hook function will be called after the transaction’s abort method has been called, but before the abort process has been started.

args and kws are interpreted as for addBeforeCommitHook. As with addBeforeCommitHook, multiple hooks can be registered, savepoint creation doesn’t call any hooks, and calling a hook consumes its registration.

Abort hooks are called only for a top-level abort. If the transaction is committed, abort hooks are not called. This is true even if the commit fails. In this case, however, the transaction is in the COMMITFAILED state and is virtually unusable; therefore, a top-level abort will typically follow.

getBeforeAbortHooks()

Return iterable producing the registered addBeforeAbortHook hooks.

As with getBeforeCommitHooks, a triple (hook, args, kws) is produced for each registered hook. The hooks are produced in the order in which they would be invoked by a top-level transaction abort.

addAfterAbortHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

Register a hook to call after a transaction abort.

The specified hook function will be called after the transaction abort.

args and kws are interpreted as for addBeforeCommitHook. As with addBeforeCommitHook, multiple hooks can be registered, savepoint creation doesn’t call any hooks, and calling a hook consumes its registration.

As with addBeforeAbortHook, these hooks are called only for a top-level abort. See that method for more.

getAfterAbortHooks()

Return iterable producing the registered addAfterAbortHook hooks.

As with getBeforeCommitHooks, a triple (hook, args, kws) is produced for each registered hook. The hooks are produced in the order in which they would be invoked by a top-level transaction abort.

set_data(ob, data)

Hold data on behalf of an object

For objects such as data managers or their subobjects that work with multiple transactions, it’s convenient to store transaction-specific data on the transaction itself. The transaction knows nothing about the data, but simply holds it on behalf of the object.

The object passed should be the object that needs the data, as opposed to a simple object like a string. (Internally, the id of the object is used as the key.)

data(ob)

Retrieve data held on behalf of an object.

See set_data.

isRetryableError(error)

Determine if the error is retryable.

Returns true if any joined IRetryDataManager considers the error transient or if the error is an instance of TransientError. Such errors may occur due to concurrency issues in the underlying storage engine.

interface transaction.interfaces.IDataManager

Objects that manage transactional storage.

These objects may manage data for other objects, or they may manage non-object storages, such as relational databases. For example, a ZODB.Connection.Connection.

Note that when some data is modified, that data’s data manager should join a transaction so that data can be committed when the user commits the transaction.

These objects implement the two-phase commit protocol in order to allow multiple data managers to safely participate in a single transaction. The methods tpc_begin, commit, tpc_vote, and then either tpc_finish or tpc_abort are normally called in that order when committing a transaction.

transaction_manager

The transaction manager (TM) used by this data manager.

This is a public attribute, intended for read-only use. The value is an instance of ITransactionManager, typically set by the data manager’s constructor.

abort(transaction)

Abort a transaction and forget all changes.

Abort must be called outside of a two-phase commit.

Abort is called by the transaction manager to abort transactions that are not yet in a two-phase commit. It may also be called when rolling back a savepoint made before the data manager joined the transaction.

In any case, after abort is called, the data manager is no longer participating in the transaction. If there are new changes, the data manager must rejoin the transaction.

tpc_begin(transaction)

Begin commit of a transaction, starting the two-phase commit.

transaction is the ITransaction instance associated with the transaction being committed.

commit(transaction)

Commit modifications to registered objects.

Save changes to be made persistent if the transaction commits (if tpc_finish is called later). If tpc_abort is called later, changes must not persist.

This includes conflict detection and handling. If no conflicts or errors occur, the data manager should be prepared to make the changes persist when tpc_finish is called.

tpc_vote(transaction)

Verify that a data manager can commit the transaction.

This is the last chance for a data manager to vote ‘no’. A data manager votes ‘no’ by raising an exception.

transaction is the ITransaction instance associated with the transaction being committed.

tpc_finish(transaction)

Indicate confirmation that the transaction is done.

Make all changes to objects modified by this transaction persist.

transaction is the ITransaction instance associated with the transaction being committed.

This should never fail. If this raises an exception, the database is not expected to maintain consistency; it’s a serious error.

tpc_abort(transaction)

Abort a transaction.

This is called by a transaction manager to end a two-phase commit on the data manager. Abandon all changes to objects modified by this transaction.

transaction is the ITransaction instance associated with the transaction being committed.

This should never fail.

sortKey()

Return a key to use for ordering registered IDataManagers.

In order to guarantee a total ordering, keys must be strings.

Transactions use a global sort order to prevent deadlock when committing transactions involving multiple data managers. The data managers must define a sortKey method that provides a global ordering across all registered data managers.

interface transaction.interfaces.ISavepointDataManager

Extends: transaction.interfaces.IDataManager

savepoint()

Return a data-manager savepoint (IDataManagerSavepoint).

interface transaction.interfaces.IRetryDataManager

Extends: transaction.interfaces.IDataManager

should_retry(exception)

Return whether a given exception instance should be retried.

A data manager can provide this method to indicate that a a transaction that raised the given error should be retried. This method may be called by an ITransactionManager when considering whether to retry a failed transaction.

interface transaction.interfaces.IDataManagerSavepoint

Savepoint for data-manager changes for use in transaction savepoints.

Datamanager savepoints are used by, and only by, transaction savepoints.

Note that data manager savepoints don’t have any notion of, or responsibility for, validity. It isn’t the responsibility of data-manager savepoints to prevent multiple rollbacks or rollbacks after transaction termination. Preventing invalid savepoint rollback is the responsibility of transaction rollbacks. Application code should never use data-manager savepoints.

rollback()

Rollback any work done since the savepoint.

interface transaction.interfaces.ISavepoint

A transaction savepoint.

rollback()

Rollback any work done since the savepoint.

InvalidSavepointRollbackError is raised if the savepoint isn’t valid.

valid

Boolean indicating whether the savepoint is valid

interface transaction.interfaces.ISynchronizer

Objects that participate in the transaction-boundary notification API.

beforeCompletion(transaction)

Hook that is called by the transaction at the start of a commit.

afterCompletion(transaction)

Hook that is called by the transaction after completing a commit.

newTransaction(transaction)

Hook that is called at the start of a transaction.

This hook is called when, and only when, a transaction manager’s begin method is called explicitly.

Exceptions

class transaction.interfaces.TransactionError

Bases: Exception

An error occurred due to normal transaction processing.

class transaction.interfaces.TransactionFailedError

Bases: transaction.interfaces.TransactionError

Cannot perform an operation on a transaction that previously failed.

An attempt was made to commit a transaction, or to join a transaction, but this transaction previously raised an exception during an attempt to commit it. The transaction must be explicitly aborted by invoking ITransaction.abort. (If the transaction manager is not operating in explicit mode, then ITransactionManager.begin can also be used to perform an implicit abort.)

class transaction.interfaces.DoomedTransaction

Bases: transaction.interfaces.TransactionError

A commit was attempted on a transaction that was doomed.

class transaction.interfaces.TransientError

Bases: transaction.interfaces.TransactionError

An error has occured when performing a transaction.

It’s possible that retrying the transaction will succeed.

class transaction.interfaces.InvalidSavepointRollbackError

Bases: Exception

Attempt to rollback an invalid savepoint.

A savepoint may be invalid because:

• The surrounding transaction has committed or aborted.

• An earlier savepoint in the same transaction has been rolled back.

class transaction.interfaces.NoTransaction

Bases: transaction.interfaces.TransactionError

No transaction has been defined

An application called an operation on a transaction manager that affects an exciting transaction, but no transaction was begun. The transaction manager was in explicit mode, so a new transaction was not explicitly created.

New in version 2.1.0.

class transaction.interfaces.AlreadyInTransaction

Bases: transaction.interfaces.TransactionError

Attempt to create a new transaction without ending a preceding one

An application called begin on a transaction manager in explicit mode, without committing or aborting the previous transaction.

New in version 2.1.0.

API Objects

transaction module: Exported transaction functions.

transaction.manager = <transaction._manager.ThreadTransactionManager object>

The default transaction manager (a ThreadTransactionManager). All other functions in this module refer to this object.

transaction.get()

See ITransactionManager.get

transaction.begin()

See ITransactionManager.begin

transaction.commit()

See ITransactionManager.commit

transaction.abort()

See ITransactionManager.abort

transaction.doom()

See ITransactionManager.doom

transaction.isDoomed()

See ITransactionManager.isDoomed

transaction.savepoint(optimistic=False)

See ITransactionManager.savepoint

transaction.attempts(number=3)

See ITransactionManager.attempts

class transaction.Transaction(synchronizers=None, manager=None)

Bases: object

Default implementation of ITransaction.

isDoomed()

See ITransaction.

doom()

See ITransaction.

join(resource)

See ITransaction.

savepoint(optimistic=False)

See ITransaction.

commit()

See ITransaction.

getBeforeCommitHooks()

See ITransaction.

addBeforeCommitHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

See ITransaction.

getAfterCommitHooks()

See ITransaction.

addAfterCommitHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

See ITransaction.

getBeforeAbortHooks()

See ITransaction.

addBeforeAbortHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

See ITransaction.

getAfterAbortHooks()

See ITransaction.

addAfterAbortHook(hook, args=(), kws=None)

See ITransaction.

abort()

See ITransaction.

note(text)

See ITransaction.

setUser(user_name, path='/')

See ITransaction.

setExtendedInfo(name, value)

See ITransaction.

class transaction.TransactionManager(explicit=False)

Bases: object

Single-thread implementation of ITransactionManager.

__enter__()

Alias for get()

__exit__(t, v, tb)

On error, aborts the current transaction. Otherwise, commits.

begin()

See ITransactionManager.

get()

See ITransactionManager.

registerSynch(synch)

See ITransactionManager.

unregisterSynch(synch)

See ITransactionManager.

clearSynchs()

See ITransactionManager.

registeredSynchs()

See ITransactionManager.

isDoomed()

See ITransactionManager.

doom()

See ITransactionManager.

commit()

See ITransactionManager.

abort()

See ITransactionManager.

savepoint(optimistic=False)

See ITransactionManager.

class transaction.ThreadTransactionManager

Bases: _thread._local

Thread-local transaction manager.

A thread-local transaction manager can be used as a global variable, but has a separate copy for each thread.

Advanced applications can use the manager attribute to get a wrapped TransactionManager to allow cross-thread calls for graceful shutdown of data managers.

class transaction.Savepoint(transaction, optimistic, *resources)

Bases: object

Implementation of ISavepoint, a transaction savepoint.

Transaction savepoints coordinate savepoints for data managers participating in a transaction.

rollback()

See ISavepoint.