Querying an erlang ETS table that uses a tuple key - erlang

Question

I have an ETS table where the key consist of a record like {shell,TIME,NAME,ID} and I want to allow a user to search for entries using a combination of any of those.
IE: where
TIME < LOW_VALUE and TIME > HIGH_VALUE
or
TIME < 40 and NAME == "SAM"
or
ID == 123
I understand how to use fun2ms, but not well enough to know whether there's some clean one-liner way of doing this. My current solution is matching a search request to the 6 possible combinations of search types, and it just feels dirty compared to all my other erlang code that makes extensive use of pattern matching.
Can you guys help me with making use of fun2ms or ETS tables in a more intelligent way? I'm very sure this query can be done with one line. Here is an example of one of the 6 functions I use to show you what I have:
getShells_by_Time(Tstart, Tend) ->
Results = ets:select(schedule_row1,ets:fun2ms(
fun(A = #activity{shell = ActivityShell,activity_data = S1Data})
when (ActivityShell#activity_shell.tsched < Tend)
andalso (ActivityShell#activity_shell.tsched > Tstart) ->
ActivityShell
end)),
EDIT:
So This is what I'm trying to do so far:
I have a record that I want to default to:
-record(s1shell_query,{tsched = {_ScLow,_ScHigh}, id = _ID, type = _Type}).
which means the user can change any of the record terms for the things they want to match. The problem is that you can't have unbound variables defaulted in a record.
My match spec function looks like this:
{ScLow,ScHigh} = ShellQuery#s3shell_query.tsched,
ets:select(Table, ets:fun2ms(
fun(#stage3Activity{shell = #activity_shell{tsched = Tsched, id = ID, type = Type}})
when Tsched < ScLow, Tsched>ScHigh,ID == ID, Type == Type ->
#activity_shell{tsched = Tsched,id = ID,type = Type}
end)).
So I'm stuck trying to figure out how I can ignore matching things the user didn't put into the shell query record.

Answer 1

You can use custom match specs guards for searching instead of the ets:fun2ms/1, for example:
-module(match_spec_guards).
-export([new/0, populate/0, search/1]).
-record(row, {
key :: {shell, Time :: integer(), Name :: string(), ID :: term()},
value :: term()
}).
new() ->
ets:new(?MODULE, [set, named_table, {keypos, #row.key}]).
populate() ->
[ets:insert(?MODULE, #row{key = {shell, I, integer_to_list(I), I * 1000}, value = I * 1000})
|| I <- lists:seq(1,1000)].
search(Filters) ->
Guards = [filter_to_guard(Filter) || Filter <- Filters],
MatchHead = {row, {shell, '$1', '$2', '$3'}, '_'},
Result = ['$_'],
ets:select(?MODULE, [{MatchHead, Guards, Result}]).
filter_to_guard({time_higher_than, X}) -> {'<', X, '$1'};
filter_to_guard({time_lower_than, X}) -> {'>', X, '$1'};
filter_to_guard({name_is, X}) -> {'==', '$2', X};
filter_to_guard({id_is, X}) -> {'==', '$3', X}.
You can use it like:
Erlang/OTP 22 [erts-10.7.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:4:4] [ds:4:4:10] [async-threads:1]
Eshell V10.7.1 (abort with ^G)
1> c(match_spec_guards).
{ok,match_spec_guards}
2> match_spec_guards:new().
match_spec_guards
3> match_spec_guards:populate().
[true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,
true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,
true,true,true,true,true,true|...]
4> match_spec_guards:search([{time_higher_than, 10}, {time_lower_than, 20}]).
[{row,{shell,15,"15",15000},15000},
{row,{shell,16,"16",16000},16000},
{row,{shell,17,"17",17000},17000},
{row,{shell,12,"12",12000},12000},
{row,{shell,13,"13",13000},13000},
{row,{shell,11,"11",11000},11000},
{row,{shell,19,"19",19000},19000},
{row,{shell,14,"14",14000},14000},
{row,{shell,18,"18",18000},18000}]
5> match_spec_guards:search([{id_is, 15000}]).
[{row,{shell,15,"15",15000},15000}]
6> match_spec_guards:search([{name_is, "15000"}]).
[]
7> match_spec_guards:search([{name_is, "15"}]).
[{row,{shell,15,"15",15000},15000}]
You have more information about the match specs syntaxis in ets:select/2
I'd recommend using
MatchHead = #row{key = {shell, '$1', '$2', '$3'}, value = '_'},
even if you need to tweak the record definition to allow the '$x' and '_' atoms.
Also, please consider compiling the match spec and/or using continuations if you are using big tables.
EDIT
By abusing the complete order between erlang terms and the useful '_' defaults in the search record, you're able to obtain what you need:
-module(match_spec_guards).
-export([new/0, populate/0, search/1]).
-record(row, {
key :: {shell, Time :: integer(), Name :: string(), ID :: term()},
value :: term()
}).
-record(s1shell_query, {
tsched_low = 0,
tsched_high = undefined,
id = '_',
name = '_'
}).
new() ->
ets:new(?MODULE, [set, named_table, {keypos, #row.key}]).
populate() ->
[ets:insert(?MODULE, #row{key = {shell, I, integer_to_list(I), I * 1000}, value = I * 1000})
|| I <- lists:seq(1,1000)].
search(#s1shell_query{tsched_low = Low, tsched_high = High} = Query) ->
MatchHead = #row{key = {shell, '$1', Query#s1shell_query.name, Query#s1shell_query.id}, value = '_'},
Guards = [{'>', High, '$1'}, {'=<', Low, '$1'}],
ets:select(?MODULE, [{MatchHead, Guards, ['$_']}]).
The id and name will be taken from the record if it's defined (and use '_' if it's not), and the guards will perform the filtering naturally if they are defined, and using the complete order for the higher limit if they are not (atoms are always higher than numbers, regardless of the atom and the number).
An example of the usage follows:
Erlang/OTP 22 [erts-10.7.1] [source] [64-bit] [smp:4:4] [ds:4:4:10] [async-threads:1]
Eshell V10.7.1 (abort with ^G)
1> c(match_spec_guards).
{ok,match_spec_guards}
2> match_spec_guards:new().
match_spec_guards
3> match_spec_guards:populate().
[true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,
true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,true,
true,true,true,true,true,true|...]
4> rr(match_spec_guards).
[row,s1shell_query]
7> match_spec_guards:search(#s1shell_query{id = 14000}).
[#row{key = {shell,14,"14",14000},value = 14000}]
8> match_spec_guards:search(#s1shell_query{name = "14"}).
[#row{key = {shell,14,"14",14000},value = 14000}]
9> match_spec_guards:search(#s1shell_query{tsched_high = 20}).
[#row{key = {shell,1,"1",1000},value = 1000},
#row{key = {shell,15,"15",15000},value = 15000},
#row{key = {shell,6,"6",6000},value = 6000},
#row{key = {shell,16,"16",16000},value = 16000},
#row{key = {shell,8,"8",8000},value = 8000},
#row{key = {shell,2,"2",2000},value = 2000},
#row{key = {shell,9,"9",9000},value = 9000},
#row{key = {shell,17,"17",17000},value = 17000},
#row{key = {shell,12,"12",12000},value = 12000},
#row{key = {shell,7,"7",7000},value = 7000},
#row{key = {shell,13,"13",13000},value = 13000},
#row{key = {shell,10,"10",10000},value = 10000},
#row{key = {shell,3,"3",3000},value = 3000},
#row{key = {shell,11,"11",11000},value = 11000},
#row{key = {shell,19,"19",19000},value = 19000},
#row{key = {shell,14,"14",14000},value = 14000},
#row{key = {shell,5,"5",5000},value = 5000},
#row{key = {shell,4,"4",4000},value = 4000},
#row{key = {shell,18,"18",18000},value = 18000}]
10> match_spec_guards:search(#s1shell_query{tsched_low = 998}).
[#row{key = {shell,998,"998",998000},value = 998000},
#row{key = {shell,999,"999",999000},value = 999000},
#row{key = {shell,1000,"1000",1000000},value = 1000000}]