19.1 Key Concepts

This section explains the concepts introduced as part of using MySQL as a document store.

Document

A Document is a set of key and value pairs, as represented by a JSON object. A Document is represented internally using the MySQL binary JSON object, through the JSON MySQL datatype. The values of fields can contain other documents, arrays, and lists of documents.

{
    "GNP": .6,
    "IndepYear": 1967,
    "Name": "Sealand",
    "_id": "SEA",
    "demographics": {
        "LifeExpectancy": 79,
        "Population": 27
    },
    "geography": {
        "Continent": "Europe",
        "Region": "British Islands",
        "SurfaceArea": 193
    },
    "government": {
        "GovernmentForm": "Monarchy",
        "HeadOfState": "Michael Bates"
    }
}

Collection

A Collection is a container that may be used to store Documents in a MySQL database.

CRUD Operations

Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations are the four basic operations that can be performed on a database Collection or Table. In terms of MySQL this means:

  • Create a new entry (insertion or addition)

  • Read entries (queries)

  • Update entries

  • Delete entries

X Plugin

The MySQL Server plugin which enables communication using X Protocol. Supports clients that implement X DevAPI and enables you to use MySQL as a document store.

X Protocol

A protocol to communicate with a MySQL Server running X Plugin. X Protocol supports both CRUD and SQL operations, authentication via SASL, allows streaming (pipelining) of commands and is extensible on the protocol and the message layer.