Getting Started With Azure Cosmos DB - Table API

In this article, we will walk through Azure Cosmos DB for Table API. Here is the flow of this write-up.

  • Concepts 
  • Implementation – Creating the Azure Cosmos DB for Table API.
  • Implementation – Query the Data.

Concepts

  • Azure Cosmos DB is designed to be scalable and performance proof.
  • Previously designed schemas for relational databases are pretty familiar to you.
  • If you are designing for NoSQL/Key value store, in that case, Azure Table service is the best option to choose.
  • The NoSQL data store can enable your solution to scale much faster and that too in lower case.
  • Basically, the solution uses a relational database.
  • Each row of the table represents an entity, every entity has a pair of keys to uniquely identify the row and the timestamp column used to track when the entity was last updated.
  • The best part is that it looks like a table in a relational database with a different key.
  • Schema-less nature of the table service means that a property needs to have the same data type on each entity.
  • To store complex data types, you must use a serialized format such as JSON or XML.
  • As you will see in the demo,  partition key and row key are fundamental to good design. Like every entity stored in the table it must have a unique combination of Partition Key and Row Key.
  • Basically, these values are indexed to create a clustered index that enables much faster look ups.
  • The table is made up of one or more partitions. Partition Key and Row Key is suitable to optimize your solution.
  • The account name, table name, and Partition Key together identify the partition within the same storage service where your table service store the entity.

Implementation – Create the Azure Cosmos DB for table API.

  • Open Azure portal and click on + sign at the left top corner of your screen.

    Azure Cosmos DB
  • Click on Azure Cosmos DB.
  • Fill in the following required details like ID / Name.
  • Choose the API (SQL (Document DB), MongoDB, Gremlin (graph), Table(Key-value)).
  • Let's say we will take Table (key -value pair).
  • Choose subscription and existing resource group or create new as per your requirement.
  • Choose location means which data center you want to store the data in.

    Azure Cosmos DB

  • Click on "Create" button.
  • Once it is deployed, go to - Quick Start and create a default table / click on "Create People Table". You can create your own table also.
  • Once you click on Create ‘People Table' , your default table is created.

    Azure Cosmos DB

  • Click on Data Explorer (Preview) tab at the left side, as shown below.

    Azure Cosmos DB
  • You will see the Entities, Stored Procedures, Triggers etc, as same as your normal SQL Database.
  • Then, click on Entities - Add Entities - Add Table Entities.
  • Give Partition Key and Row key and also add one more Property “City” as shown below.

    Azure Cosmos DB
  • Click on "Add Entity".
  • This will create a record below.
  • Likewise, add one more Entity.

Implementation – Create the Azure Cosmos DB

Azure Cosmos DB

  • Now, we will query the data on the above result set.
  • Click on query builder, select Field Type Operator and type the value as shown in the below picture. Then, click on "Run" button.

    Azure Cosmos DB
  • You will see the following result set.

    Azure Cosmos DB

This is how you can make Table API using Azure Cosmos DB.

Happy Learning.


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