streamsx.topology.schema

Schemas for streams.

Overview

On a structured stream a tuple is a sequence of attributes, and an attribute is a named value of a specific type.

The supported types are defined by IBM Streams Streams Processing Language (SPL).

Module contents

Functions

is_common Is schema an common schema :param schema: Scheme to test.

Classes

CommonSchema Common stream schemas for interoperability within Streams applications.
StreamSchema Defines a schema for a structured stream.
class streamsx.topology.schema.CommonSchema

Common stream schemas for interoperability within Streams applications.

Streams application can publish streams that are subscribed to by other applications. Use of common schemas allow streams connections regardless of the application implementation language.

Python applications publish streams using publish() and subscribe using subscribe().

  • Python - Stream constains Python objects.
  • Json - Stream contains JSON objects.
  • String - Stream contains strings.
  • Binary - Stream contains binary tuples.
  • XML - Stream contains XML documents.
Binary = <streamsx.topology.schema.StreamSchema object>

Stream where each tuple is a binary object (sequence of bytes).

Warning

Binary is not yet supported for Python applications.

Json = <streamsx.topology.schema.StreamSchema object>

Stream where each tuple is logically a JSON object.

Json can be used as a natural interchange format between Streams applications implemented in different programming languages. All languages supported by Streams support publishing and subscribing to JSON streams.

A Python callable receives each tuple as a dict as though it was created from json.loads(json_formatted_str) where json_formatted_str is the JSON formatted representation of tuple.

Python objects that are to be converted to JSON objects must be supported by JSONEncoder. If the object is not a dict then it will be converted to a JSON object with a single key payload containing the value.

Python = <streamsx.topology.schema.StreamSchema object>

Stream where each tuple is a Python object. Each object must be picklable to allow execution in a distributed environment where streams can connect processes running on the same or different resources.

Python streams can only be used by Python applications.

String = <streamsx.topology.schema.StreamSchema object>

Stream where each tuple is a string.

String can be used as a natural interchange format between Streams applications implemented in different programming languages. All languages supported by Streams support publishing and subscribing to string streams.

A Python callable receives each tuple as a str object.

Python objects are converted to strings using str(obj).

XML = <streamsx.topology.schema.StreamSchema object>

Stream where each tuple is an XML document.

Warning

XML is not yet supported for Python applications.

class streamsx.topology.schema.StreamSchema(schema)

Defines a schema for a structured stream.

On a structured stream a tuple is a sequence of attributes, and an attribute is a named value of a specific type.

The supported types are defined by IBM Streams Streams Processing Language and include such types as int8, int16, rstring and list<float32>.

A schema is defined with the syntax tuple<type name [,...]>, for example:

tuple<rstring id, timestamp ts, float64 value>

represents a schema with three attributes suitable for a sensor reading.

The complete list of supported types are:

Type Description Python representation Conversion from Python
boolean True or False bool bool(value)
int8 8-bit signed integer int int(value) truncated to 8 bits
int16 16-bit signed integer int int(value) truncated to 16 bits
int32 32-bit signed integer int int(value) truncated to 32 bits
int64 64-bit signed integer int int(value)
uint8 8-bit unsigned integer int
uint16 16-bit unsigned integer int
uint32 32-bit unsigned integer int
uint64 64-bit unsigned integer int
float32 32-bit binary floating point float float(value) truncated to 32 bits
float64 64-bit binary floating point float float(value)
decimal32 32-bit decimal floating point decimal.Decimal decimal.Decimal(value) normalized to IEEE 754 decimal32
decimal64 64-bit decimal floating point decimal.Decimal decimal.Decimal(value) normalized to IEEE 754 decimal64
decimal128 128-bit decimal floating point decimal.Decimal decimal.Decimal(value) normalized to IEEE 754 decimal128
complex32 complex with float32 values complex complex(value) with real and imaginary values truncated to 32 bits
complex64 complex with float64 values complex complex(value)
timestamp Nanosecond timestamp Timestamp
rstring UTF-8 string str (unicode 2.7) str(value)
rstring[N] Bounded UTF-8 string str (unicode 2.7) str(value)
ustring UTF-16 string str (unicode 2.7) str(value)
blob Sequence of bytes memoryview
list<T> List with elements of type T list
list<T>[N] Bounded list list
set<T> Set with elements of type T set
set<T>[N] Bounded set set
map<K,V> Map with typed keys and values dict
map<K,V>[N] Bounded map, limted to N pairs dict
enum{id [,...]} Enumeration Not supported Not supported
xml XML value Not supported Not supported
tuple<type name [, ...]> Nested tuple Not supported Not supported

Python representation is how an attribute value in a structured schema is passed into a Python function.

Conversion from Python indicates how a value from Python is converted to an attribute value in a structured schema. For example a value v assigned to float64 attribute is converted as though float(v) is called first, thus v may be a float, int or any type that has a __float__ method.

When a type is not supported in Python it can only be used in a schema used for streams produced and consumed by invocation of SPL operators.

A StreamSchema can be created by passing a string of the form tuple<...> or by passing the name of an SPL type from an SPL toolkit, for example com.ibm.streamsx.transportation.vehicle::VehicleLocation.

Attribute names must start with an ASCII letter or underscore, followed by ASCII letters, digits, or underscores.

When a tuple on a structured stream is passed into a Python callable it is converted to a dict, tuple or named tuple object containing all attributes of the stream tuple. See style(), as_dict() and as_tuple() for details.

When a Python object is submitted to a structured stream, for example as the return from the function invoked in a map() with the schema parameter set, it must be:

  • A Python dict. Attributes are set by name using value in the dict for the name. If a value does not exist (the name does not exist as a key) or is set to None then the attribute has its default value, zero, false, empty list or string etc.
  • A Python tuple or named tuple. Attributes are set by position, with the first attribute being the value at index 0 in the Python tuple. If a value does not exist (the tuple has less values than the structured schema) or is set to None then the attribute has its default value, zero, false, empty list or string etc.
Parameters:schema (str) – Schema definition. Either a schema definition or the name of an SPL type.
as_dict()

Create a structured schema that will pass stream tuples into callables as dict instances. This allows a return to the default calling style for a structured schema.

If this instance represents a common schema then it will be returned without modification. Stream tuples with common schemas are always passed according to their definition.

Returns:Schema passing stream tuples as dict if allowed.
Return type:StreamSchema

New in version 1.8.

as_tuple(named=None)

Create a structured schema that will pass stream tuples into callables as tuple instances.

If this instance represents a common schema then it will be returned without modification. Stream tuples with common schemas are always passed according to their definition.

Passing as tuple

When named evaluates to False then each stream tuple will be passed as a tuple. For example with a structured schema of tuple<rstring id, float64 value> a value is passed as ('TempSensor', 27.4) and access to the first attribute is t[0] and the second as t[1] where t represents the passed value..

Passing as named tuple

When named is True or a str then each stream tuple will be passed as a named tuple. For example with a structured schema of tuple<rstring id, float64 value> a value is passed as ('TempSensor', 27.4) and access to the first attribute is t.id (or t[0]) and the second as t.value (t[1]) where t represents the passed value.

Warning

If an schema’s attribute name is not a valid Python identifier or starts with an underscore then it will be renamed as positional name _n. For example, with the schema tuple<int32 a, int32 def, int32 _id> the field names are a, _1, _2.

The value of named is used as the name of the named tuple class with StreamTuple used when named is True.

It is not guaranteed that the class of the namedtuple is the same for all callables processing tuples with the same structured schema, only that the tuple is a named tuple with the correct field names.

Parameters:named – Pass stream tuples as a named tuple. If not set then stream tuples are passed as instances of tuple.
Returns:Schema passing stream tuples as tuple if allowed.
Return type:StreamSchema

New in version 1.8.

New in version 1.9: Addition of named parameter.

extend(schema)

Extend a structured schema by another.

For example extending tuple<rstring id, timestamp ts, float64 value> with tuple<float32 score> results in tuple<rstring id, timestamp ts, float64 value, float32 score>.

Parameters:schema (StreamSchema) – Schema to extend this schema by.
Returns:New schema that is an extension of this schema.
Return type:StreamSchema
schema()

Private method. May be removed at any time.

spl_json()

Private method. May be removed at any time.

style

Style stream tuples will be passed into a callable.

For the common schemas the style is fixed:

  • CommonSchema.Python - object - Stream tuples are arbitrary objects.
  • CommonSchema.String - str - Stream tuples are unicode strings. (unicode on Python 2.7).
  • CommonSchema.Json - dict - Stream tuples are a dict that represents the JSON object.

For a structured schema the supported styles are:

  • dict - Stream tuples are passed as a dict with the key being the attribute name and and the value the attribute value. This is the default.

    • E.g. with a schema of tuple<rstring id, float32 value> a value is passed as {'id':'TempSensor', 'value':20.3}.
  • tuple - Stream tuples are passed as a tuple with the value being the attributes value in order. A schema is set to pass stream tuples as tuples using as_tuple().

    • E.g. with a schema of tuple<rstring id, float32 value> a value is passed as ('TempSensor', 20.3).
  • namedtuple - Stream tuples are passed as a named tuple (see collections.namedtuple) with the value being the attributes value in order. Field names correspond to the attribute names of the schema. A schema is set to pass stream tuples as named tuples using as_tuple() setting the named parameter.

Returns:Class of tuples that will be passed into callables.
Return type:type

New in version 1.8.

New in version 1.9: Support for namedtuple.

streamsx.topology.schema.is_common(schema)

Is schema an common schema :param schema: Scheme to test.

Returns:True if schema is a common schema, otherwise False.
Return type:bool