Archive for the ‘MySQL DBA’ tag
MySQL+PowerShell
It was interesting to note that the MySQL Connector/NET Developer Guide doesn’t have any instructions for connecting to the MySQL database from Microsoft Powershell. I thought it would be helpful to write a couple demonstrations scripts, especially when a quick search didn’t find a set of easy to follow samples.
The connection process to MySQL with Powershell is easiest with a non-query, so I created a db_connect
table into which I could write a row of data:
CREATE TABLE db_connect ( db_connect_id INT UNSIGNED PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT , version VARCHAR(10) , user VARCHAR(24) , db_name VARCHAR(10)); |
The following insert.ps1
PowerShell script connects to the MySQL database, and inserts one row into the db_connect
table:
# Connect to the libaray MySQL.Data.dll Add-Type -Path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\Connector NET 8.0\Assemblies\v4.5.2\MySql.Data.dll' # Create a MySQL Database connection variable that qualifies: # [Driver]@ConnectionString # ============================================================ # You can assign the connection string before using it or # while using it, which is what we do below by assigning # literal values for the following names: # - server=<ip_address> or 127.0.0.1 for localhost # - uid=<user_name> # - pwd=<password> # - database=<database_name> # ============================================================ $Connection = [MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlConnection]@{ConnectionString='server=127.0.0.1;uid=student;pwd=student;database=studentdb'} $Connection.Open() # Define a MySQL Command Object for a non-query. $sql = New-Object MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlCommand $sql.Connection = $Connection $sql.CommandText = 'INSERT INTO db_connect (version, user, db_name)(SELECT version(), user(), database())' $sql.ExecuteNonQuery() # Close the MySQL connection. $Connection.Close() |
The ConnectionString
above uses the standard local 127.0.0.1
IP address as the server location. You could just as easily use localhost
as the server location if you’re testing on your own machine.
You run the insert.ps1
PowerShell script from the Windows command shell:
powershell .\insert.ps1 |
After running the insert.ps1
PowerShell script, you can connect to the studentdb
database. Then, run the following query:
SELECT version AS "Version" , user AS "User" , db_name AS "Database" FROM db_connect; |
It displays:
+---------+-------------------+-----------+ | Version | User | Database | +---------+-------------------+-----------+ | 8.0.21 | student@localhost | studentdb | +---------+-------------------+-----------+ 1 row in set (0.01 sec) |
If you’re interested in writing a Connection Prompt dialog for PowerShell, the complete code is in this other blog post of mine. It also provides the instructions to put the code into a reusable PowerShell library. Also, if you’re interested in how to pass option flags and parameters I put that in this new blog post.
As always, I hope this helps those trying to use PowerShell as a scripting tool to insert, update, or delete data.
Put MySQL in PATH
After downloading and installing MySQL 8.0.24 yesterday, I opened a command shell. In the command shell, I could access the MySQL Shell (mysqlsh.exe
) but not the MySQL Client (mysql.exe
). Typing in the following:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>mysql |
It returned:
'mysql' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. |
The MySQL Client (mysql.exe) was installed because MySQL Workbench relies on it. However, the MySQL Microsoft Software Installer (MSI) does not put the mysql.exe
file’s directory in the common Windows %PATH%
environment variable. You can find the required %PATH%
directory variable by opening the File Manager and searching for the mysql.exe
file.
You should return several directories and programs but the directory you want is:
C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin |
You can test it by using the SET
command in the Microsoft Operating System, like this:
SET PATH=C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin;%PATH% |
You can now call the mysql.exe
program in your current shell session with the following syntax:
mysql -uroot -p |
You will be prompted for the password and then connected to the database as follows:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 19 Server version: 8.0.24 MySQL Community Server - GPL Copyright (c) 2000, 2021, Oracle and/or its affiliates. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement. mysql> |
Unfortunately, the SET
command only sets the %PATH%
environment variable in the current session. You can set the system %PATH%
environment variable globally by following these steps:
- In Search, search for and then select: System (Control Panel)
- In Settings dialog enter “Environment” in the search box and it will display:
- Chose “Edit the system environment variables” option. You will see the following “System Properties” dialog:
- Click the “Environment Variable” button to display the “Environment Variables” dialog. Click on the Path system variable before clicking the Edit button beneath.
- Click the “New” button and enter “
C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin
, and click the “OK” button. The next time you query the computer system’s%PATH%
environment variable, it will show you the list of path locations that the operating system looks at for command files. It’s actually stored as a semicolon-delimited list in Windows 10 (and, as a colon-delimited list in Linux or Unix).
The next time you open a command shell, the %PATH%
environment variable will find the mysql.exe
program. As always, I hope these instructions help the reader.
MySQL & macOS Silicon
It’s a problem for my students who purchased the new Apple hardware that uses Apple Silicon because they can’t install a Docker MySQL instance. However, there is Homebrew formula that works on macOS Big Sur and the new Apple silicon. It supports:
- Intel Silicon: macOS Big Sur, Catalina, and Mojave
- Apple Silicon: macOS Big Sur
The Homebrew Formula does have conflicts that you may need to avoid. It is a solution for those with the new Apple silicon.
As always, I hope this helps those looking for a solution.
MySQL Transaction Scope
The idea of ACID transactions are a basic feature of SQL’s individual Data Manipulation Language (DML) commands, like the INSERT
, UPDATE
, and DELETE
statements. Transactions across two or more tables are a natural extension of ACID compliance features provided by DML commands. However, they require a structured programming approach, like a store procedure or like API implemented in an imperative language.
Surprisingly, transaction management wasn’t covered well in Alan Beaulieu’s Learning SQL because he only provided pseudo code logic. While I thought troubleshoot some broken MySQL SQL/PSM logic would be a good learning experience for students, it wasn’t. So, I wrote this sample code to show how to achieve an all or nothing transaction across four tables.
The code for this example on transaction management lets you perform the important tasks necessary to effect transaction management:
- You must disable autocommit in the scope of the session.
- You must use an imperative programming language like SQL/PSM or Python, et cetera.
- You must identify an error thrown in a series of DML transactions, rollback all completed work, and exit the scope of the program unit.
This SQL defines the four tables:
/* Drop and create four tables. */ DROP TABLE IF EXISTS one, two, three, four; CREATE TABLE one ( id int primary key auto_increment, msg varchar(10)); CREATE TABLE two ( id int primary key auto_increment, msg varchar(10)); CREATE TABLE three ( id int primary key auto_increment, msg varchar(10)); CREATE TABLE four ( id int primary key auto_increment, msg varchar(10)); |
Unfortunately, there’s no way to simply transaction management from the MySQL Command-Line Interface (CLI) because you need to build the logic that manages success and failure. It requires that you create a procedure using MySQL’s SQL/PSM (Persistent Stored Module) or another imperative programming language. You might think why can’t you just write an anonymous block program, like you can do in other stored procedural languages. The answer is simple. You can’t write anonymous blocks in MySQL’s SQL/PSM because they adhere to ANSI SQL-2003 (or more accurately ISO/IEC 9075-4:2003).
The following code block does:
- Conditionally drops the locking() procedure.
- Sets the default semicolon (
;
) delimiter to a double-dollar ($$
), which lets you use the semicolon as statement and block terminators. - Declares a
locking()
procedure with the following:- Sets a parameter list with four IN-mode parameters.
- Declares an
EXIT
handler that undoes any writes before an error in a sequence of DDL commands, like theINSERT
,UPDATE
, orDELETE
statements. TheEXIT
handler then aborts completion of the rest of the procedure. (MySQL 13.6.7.2 Declare … Handler Statement) - Disables autocommit in the scope of the session.
- Starts a transaction context and inserts data into four tables as a transaction. The continue handler picks up processing when one of the
INSERT
statements fails with a 1406 error code. The 1406 error code represents an error that occurs because the data is too long for a column’s width. - When all elements of the procedure complete, you commit the work.
/* Conditionally drop procedure. */ DROP PROCEDURE IF EXISTS locking; /* Set delimiter to $$ to allow ; inside the procedure. */ DELIMITER $$ /* Create a transaction procedure. */ CREATE PROCEDURE locking(IN pv_one varchar(10) ,IN pv_two varchar(10) ,IN pv_three varchar(10) ,IN pv_four varchar(10)) BEGIN /* Declare an EXIT Handler when a string is too long for a column. Undo all prior writes with a ROLLBACK statement. */ DECLARE EXIT HANDLER FOR 1406 BEGIN ROLLBACK; END; /* Disable autocommit. */ SET AUTOCOMMIT=0; /* Start transaction scope. */ START TRANSACTION; /* A series of INSERT statement. */ INSERT INTO one (msg) VALUES (pv_one); INSERT INTO two (msg) VALUES (pv_two); INSERT INTO three (msg) VALUES (pv_three); INSERT INTO four (msg) VALUES (pv_four); /* Commit transaction set. */ COMMIT; END; $$ /* Reset delimiter to ; for SQL statements. */ DELIMITER ; |
The next block tests the locking()
procedure. The first and third calls are successful but the second one fails because the third parameter is too long for the msg
column in the three
table. The error triggers the EXIT
handler in the locking()
procedure.
/* Call locking procedure. */ CALL locking('Donald','Goofy','Mickey','Pluto'); CALL locking('Squirrel','Chipmunk','Monkey business','Raccoon'); CALL locking('Curly','Larry','Moe','Shemp'); |
The query block below:
/* Select from tables, which should be empty. */ SELECT * FROM one; SELECT * FROM two; SELECT * FROM three; SELECT * FROM four; |
Returns the following, which shows only the first and third test cases succeed:
+----+--------+ | id | msg | +----+--------+ | 1 | Donald | | 2 | Curly | +----+--------+ 2 rows in set (0.01 sec) +----+-------+ | id | msg | +----+-------+ | 1 | Goofy | | 2 | Larry | +----+-------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec) +----+--------+ | id | msg | +----+--------+ | 1 | Mickey | | 2 | Moe | +----+--------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec) +----+-------+ | id | msg | +----+-------+ | 1 | Pluto | | 2 | Shemp | +----+-------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec) |
As always, I hope this helps those trying to write transactions across multiple tables.
Oxygen XML Editor
Somebody asked me about how they could convert an XML file to a CSV file to upload into MySQL. They were asking the question based on an old Convert XML to CSV blog post from 2008. Amazing though that is, I had to explain the process no longer requires manual tasks, like calling Java files from the Apache XML Project. All they needed to do was use the Oxygen XML Editor, which is why I wrote this blog post.
For example, I had them use the same sample XML file from the old blog post (shown below) with one change. The encoding
value needs to change from latin1
(ISO-8859-1
) to unicode (UTF-8
). Then, they should put it into a local Windows directory (mine went into the C:\Data
directory).
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <character> <name> <role>Indiana Jones</role> <actor>Harrison Ford</actor> <part>protagonist</part> <film>Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark</film> <film>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</film> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> <film>Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull</film> </name> <name> <role>Wilhelmina Scott</role> <actor>Kate Capshaw</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</film> </name> <name> <role>Marion Ravenwood</role> <actor>Karen Allen</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark</film> <film>Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull</film> </name> <name> <role>Elsa Schneider</role> <actor>Alison Doody</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> </name> <name> <role>Short Round</role> <actor>Jonathan Ke Quan</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</film> </name> <name> <role>Sallah</role> <actor>Jonn Rhys-Davies</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark</film> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> </name> <name> <role>Professor Henry Jones</role> <actor>Sean Connery</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> </name> <name> <role>Henry "Mutt" Williams</role> <actor>Shia LaBeouf</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull</film> </name> <name> <role>Marcus Brody</role> <actor>Denholm Elliott</actor> <part>support</part> <film>Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark</film> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> </name> <name> <role>Amrish Puri</role> <actor>Mola Ram</actor> <part>antagonist</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</film> </name> <name> <role>Rene Belloq</role> <actor>Belloq</actor> <part>antagonist</part> <film>Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark</film> </name> <name> <role>Walter Donovan</role> <actor>Julian Glover</actor> <part>antagonist</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> </name> <name> <role>Colonel Vogel</role> <actor>Michael Bryne</actor> <part>antagonist</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade</film> </name> <name> <role>Irina Spalko</role> <actor>Cate Blanchett</actor> <part>antagonist</part> <film>Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull</film> </name> </character> |
Then, I had them copy the following XML Style Language Transformation (XSLT) file into the same C:\Data
directory with the encoding
value change from latin1 to unicode:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform"> <xsl:template match="/"> <!-- This loops through the branch when a sibling meets a condition. --> <xsl:for-each select="character/name[film='Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade']"> <!-- Sorts based on the value in the "role" element. --> <xsl:sort select="role" /> <!-- Eliminates anyone that has a "part" element value of "antagonist". --> <xsl:if test="part != 'antagonist'"> <!-- An apostrophe before and after with a line return. --> <xsl:text>'</xsl:text> <xsl:value-of select="role"/> <!-- An apostrophe followed by a comma --> <xsl:text>',</xsl:text> <xsl:text>'</xsl:text> <xsl:value-of select="actor"/> <xsl:text>',</xsl:text> <xsl:text>'</xsl:text> <xsl:value-of select="film"/> <!-- An apostrophe followed by a line return --> <xsl:text>' </xsl:text> </xsl:if> </xsl:for-each> </xsl:template> </xsl:stylesheet> |
Open or launch the Oxygen XML Editor and do these steps:
- Create a new Project called character.
- Create the
C:\Data\test.xml
andC:\Data\convert.xsl
files in aC:\Data
directory. - Open the C:\Data\test.xml and C:\Data\convert.xsl files inside the Oxygen XML Editor.
- Click on
convert.xsl
file tab before clicking on the Configure Transformation Scenario(s) button. The button looks like a red wrench with a small red arrow to the bottom right. - After launching the Configure Transformation Scenario(s) dialog, click the Edit button in the dialog box and launch the Edit Scenario dialog.
- Enter
file:/C:/Data/test.xml
(use the file chooser if don’t want to type it) in the XML URL field in the Edit Scenario dialog. - Click the OK button to close the Edit Scenario dialog and the Apply associated button to close the Configure Transformation Scenario(s) dialog.
- Click the Apply Transformation Scenario button, which is red arrow button. It will transform the XML document into a result pane at the bottom.
- Select All (or
Ctrl+A
) in the result panel and right click on that selected area to launch a context sensitive menu. In that menu, click the Save button to launch a file chooser that will let you save your results.
If you know how to write XSLT this is simple and if you don’t it might take a little time to find a working example on the Internet. Better yet, check out the w3schools for the XSLT documentation or tutorials point’s Learn XSLT website. You can see how to Upload the CSV file into MySQL on this older blog post.
In Linux, you can make this conversion using the Command-Line Interface (CLI) by using the xsltproc
program. Assume the XML file is test.xml
and the XSLT file is tocsv.xsl
, then you can generate the Comma-Separated Values file with this syntax:
xsltproc tocsv.xsl test.xml > text.csv |
As always, I hope this helps those looking for a simple solution.
MySQL macOS Docker
While you can download MySQL as a DMG package, a number of users would prefer to install it as a Docker instance. You won’t find the macOS downloads on the same web site as other downloads. You can use the following macOS download site.
After installing Docker on your macOS, you can pull a copy of the current MySQL Server with the following command:
docker pull mysql/mysql-server |
You should create a mysql
directory inside your ~/Documents
directory with this command:
mkdir ~/Documents/mysql |
Then, you should use the cd
command to change into the ~/Documents/mysql
directory and run this command:
pwd |
It should return the following directory:
/Users/<user_name>/Documents/mysql |
Use the /Users/<user_name>/Documents/mysql
as the
in this command:
docker run --name=mysql1 --volume=<path_to_folder>:/var/lib/mysql -p 33060:3306/tcp -d mysql/mysql-server |
The --name
option value is mysql1
and it becomes the container value. Docker mounts the column in the ~/Documents/mysql
folder. All data from the Docker container under the /var/lib/mysql
directory will persist in this directory. This directory will still contain the database when the container is shut down.
The docker run
command maps the localhost’s 33060 port to the 3306 port on the Docker container. You will use the 33060 port to connect to the Docker instance of MySQL. It raises a dialog box asking for permission to access the directory. You need to allow Docker to write to the ~/Documents/mysql
directory.
You can verify that the Docker container is running with the following command:
docker ps |
It should return:
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES 142b5c491cd8 mysql/mysql-server "/entrypoint.sh mysq…" 7 minutes ago Up 6 minutes (healthy) 33060-33061/tcp, 0.0.0.0:33060->3306/tcp mysql1 |
You can get the MySQL generated root password with this Docker command:
docker logs mysql1 2>&1 | grep GENERATED |
It returns something like the following:
[Entrypoint] GENERATED ROOT PASSWORD: vop#3GNYqK3nC@S@N3haf3nox5E |
Use the following Docker command to connect to the Docker container:
docker exec -it mysql1 /bin/bash |
It launches a Bash shell inside the Docker container:
bash-4.2# |
Start the mysql
Command-Line Interface (CLI):
mysql -uroot -p |
You are then prompted for a password:
Enter password: |
After successfully entering the password, you’ll see the following:
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 55 Server version: 8.0.22 Copyright (c) 2000, 2020, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement. mysql> |
Unless you want to remember that hugely complex root
password, you should consider changing it to something simple like, 'cangetin'
with the following command:
ALTER USER 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH MYSQL_NATIVE_PASSWORD BY 'cangetin'; |
Next, you should check for the installed databases with this command:
show databases; |
It will return:
+--------------------+ | Database | +--------------------+ | information_schema | | mysql | | performance_schema | | sys | +--------------------+ 4 rows in set (0.01 sec) |
Exiting mysql
, you can see the contents of the root
user’s directory with this list command:
ls -al |
It should return:
total 84 drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Jan 12 03:41 . drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Jan 12 03:41 .. -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Jan 12 03:41 .dockerenv lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Oct 12 22:06 bin -> usr/bin dr-xr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 11 2018 boot drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 340 Jan 12 03:41 dev drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Oct 19 05:47 docker-entrypoint-initdb.d -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7496 Oct 19 05:37 entrypoint.sh drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Jan 12 03:41 etc -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 86 Jan 12 03:41 healthcheck.cnf -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1073 Oct 19 05:37 healthcheck.sh drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 11 2018 home lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Oct 12 22:06 lib -> usr/lib lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Oct 12 22:06 lib64 -> usr/lib64 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 11 2018 media drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 11 2018 mnt -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jan 12 03:41 mysql-init-complete drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 11 2018 opt dr-xr-xr-x 127 root root 0 Jan 12 03:41 proc dr-xr-x--- 1 root root 4096 Jan 12 04:21 root drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Oct 19 05:47 run lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 8 Oct 12 22:06 sbin -> usr/sbin drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Apr 11 2018 srv dr-xr-xr-x 13 root root 0 Jan 12 03:41 sys drwxrwxrwt 1 root root 4096 Jan 12 03:41 tmp drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Oct 12 22:06 usr drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4096 Oct 12 22:06 var |
At this point, you have to make a choice about how you will access the MySQL database. You have a couple options:
- Create an individual
student
user that can access the MySQL-Server as a micro-service, which would only be a MySQL user connecting through MySQL workbench. At least, that’s the only connection option unless you likewise install themysql
client on your host macOS. Themysql
client lets you connect from the host operating system through the Command-Line Interface (CLI). - Create a local
student
user account inside the Docker container. It will have access to the container file system and mimic the behavior of a non-root
user on a server.
Let’s create both for this demonstration. Reconnect as the root
user and issue the following two commands:
CREATE USER 'student'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED WITH MYSQL_NATIVE_PASSWORD BY 'student'; CREATE USER 'student'@'%.%.%.%' IDENTIFIED WITH MYSQL_NATIVE_PASSWORD BY 'student'; |
The first version of the student
user lets you access the database from inside the Docker container. The second version of the student
user lets you access the database from MySQL Workbench deployed on your base macOS.
You can add a sakila
database and grant all privileges to the student
user with the following command as the root
user:
CREATE DATABASE sakila; GRANT ALL ON sakila.* TO 'student'@'localhost'; GRANT ALL ON sakila.* TO 'student'@'%.%.%.%'; |
You need to get the sakila
database from the Internet within the Docker container. Exit the mysql
client with the following command:
quit; |
As the root
user, install the wget
and tar
Linux utilities with this command:
yum install -y wget tar |
As the student
user, you can use the wget
command to grab a copy of the sakila
database and store the database locally. Use the cd
command to get to your ${HOME}
directory, like:
cd |
Use this syntax to get a copy of the sakila
database:
wget http://downloads.mysql.com/docs/sakila-db.tar.gz |
Use the ls
command to verify the download, then run the following set of Linux commands from the Linux CLI:
tar -xzf sakila-db.tar.gz cd sakila-db |
Run the following two commands from the sakila-db
directory:
mysql -ustudent -p < sakila-schema.sql mysql -ustudent -p < sakila-data.sql |
or, you can connect as the student
user to the MySQL client and run them there:
source sakila-schema.sql source sakila-data.sql |
You create a non-root
student user
for the Docker container from the macOS host opearting system. Which means you need to quit;
the mysql
client, and exit
the root
user’s session with the Docker container.
At the terminal in your macOS, issue the following Docker command to create a student
account in the mysql1
container:
docker exec mysql1 bash -c "useradd -u 501 -g mysql -G users \ > -d /home/student -s /bin/bash -c "Student" -n student" |
Now, you can connect as the student
user to the mysql1
container, with the following Docker command:
docker exec -it --user student mysql1 bash |
The first time you connect, you will be a the /
(root) directory. Use the following cd
command to go to the student
user’s home directory:
cd |
Then, type the following command to set the student
user’s home directory as the default. You need to use this command because vim
isn’t installed in the default Docker container, which would let you interactively edit files. It appends the necessary Bash shell command to the end of the .bashrc
file.
echo 'cd ${HOME}' >> .bashrc |
With this change, the student
user will always be available form its home directory next time you connect to the mysql1
container. You can use scp
to move files into the student
user’s home (/home/student
) directory. However, you can create a quick test.sql
file like this:
echo "select user();" > test.sql |
Connect to the mysql
CLI with as the student
user:
mysql -ustudent -p |
Call your test.sql
file from the Linux CLI, like:
mysql -ustudent -p < test.sql |
or, you can run the test.sql
program as follows form the MySQL command-line:
source test.sql |
It will return:
+-------------------+ | user() | +-------------------+ | student@localhost | +-------------------+ 1 row in set (0.00 sec) |
That’s the basic setup of the Docker MySQL Container on the macOS. You can do much more once you’ve configured it like this. For example, you can add vim
to your library repository as the root
user with the following command:
yum install -y vim |
It just takes a minute or a bit more. Adding vim
opens up so much flexibility for you inside the Docker container, it’s impossible for me to resist. 😉
MySQL sakila Database
While I thought my instructions were clear, it appears there should have been more in my examples for using the MySQL MSI. A key thing that happened is that students opted not to install:
Samples and Examples 8.0.22 |
Unfortunately, they may not have read the Preface of Alan Beaulieu’s Learning SQL, 3rd Edition where he explains how to manually download the files from the MySQL web site. Here are those, very clear, instructions (pg. XV
) with my additions in italics for the MySQL Shell:
First, you will need to launch the mysql
command-line client or the mysqlsh
command-line shell, and provide a password, and then perform the following steps:
- Go to https://dev.mysql.com/doc/index-other.html and download the files for the “
sakila
database” under the Example Database section. - Put the files in the local directory such as
C:\temp\sakila-db
(used for the next two steps, but overwrite with your directory path). - Type
source c:\temp\sakila-db\sakila-schema.sql
and press enter.
- Type
source c:\temp\sakila-db\sakila-data.sql
and press enter.
These instructions let you create the sakila database without rerunning the MSI to add a product. Naturally, you can avoid these steps by using the GUI approach provided in the MySQL MSI file.
As always, I hope this helps those looking for how to solve problems.
MySQL Self-Join
I’m switching to MySQL and leveraging Alan Beaulieu’s Learning SQL as a supporting reference for my Database Design and Development course. While reviewing Alan’s Chapter 5: Querying Multiple Tables, I found his coverage of using self-joins minimal.
In fact, he adds a prequel_film_id
column to the film
table in the sakila
database and then a single row to demonstrate a minimal self-join query. I wanted to show them how to view a series of rows interconnected by a self-join, like the following:
SELECT f.title AS film , fp.title AS prequel FROM film f LEFT JOIN film fp ON f.prequel_id = fp.film_id WHERE f.series_name = 'Harry Potter' ORDER BY f.series_number; |
It returns the following result set:
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | film | prequel | +----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | | Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince | | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | +----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ 7 rows in set (0.00 sec) |
Then, I thought about what questions the students might ask. For example, why doesn’t the query return the first film that doesn’t have a prequel. So, I took the self-join to the next level to display the first film having no prequel, like this:
SELECT f.title AS film , IFNULL( CASE WHEN NOT f.film_id = fp.film_id AND f.prequel_id = fp.film_id THEN fp.title END,'None') AS prequel FROM film f LEFT JOIN film fp ON f.prequel_id = fp.film_id WHERE f.series_name = 'Harry Potter' ORDER BY f.series_number; |
The CASE
operator in the SELECT
-list filters the result set by eliminating rows erroneously returned. Without the CASE
filter, the query would return the original Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film matched agains a NULL
and all of the other sequels. The CASE
operator effectively limits the result set for the LEFT JOIN
to only the following data:
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | film | prequel | +----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | NULL | +----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ |
The IFNULL()
built-in function lets you replace the NULL
value returned as the prequel’s title
value. The IFNULL()
function substitutes a 'None'
string literal for a NULL
value. The query returns the following result set:
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | film | prequel | +----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | None | | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets | | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | | Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince | | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 | Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 | +----------------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ 8 rows in set (0.01 sec) |
Alan’s modification of the sakila.film
table had the following two related design flaws:
- It didn’t provide a way to guarantee the ordering of films with prequels because relational databases don’t guarantee ordered result sets unless you use an
ORDER BY
clause, which typically requires a column to order. - It didn’t provide a way to isolate a series of films.
I modified the film
table differently by adding the series_name
, series_number
, and prequel_id
columns. The series_name
column lets you group results and the series_number
column lets you order by a preserved sequence that you store as part of the data The prequel_id
column lets you connect to the prequel film, much like the backward portion of a doubly linked list.
The new sakila.film
table is:
+----------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ | Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra | +----------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ | film_id | smallint unsigned | NO | PRI | NULL | auto_increment | | title | varchar(255) | NO | MUL | NULL | | | description | text | YES | | NULL | | | release_year | year | YES | | NULL | | | language_id | tinyint unsigned | NO | MUL | NULL | | | original_language_id | tinyint unsigned | YES | MUL | NULL | | | rental_duration | tinyint unsigned | NO | | 3 | | | rental_rate | decimal(4,2) | NO | | 4.99 | | | length | smallint unsigned | YES | | NULL | | | replacement_cost | decimal(5,2) | NO | | 19.99 | | | rating | enum('G','PG','PG-13','R','NC-17') | YES | | G | | | special_features | set('Trailers','Commentaries','Deleted Scenes','Behind the Scenes') | YES | | NULL | | | last_update | timestamp | NO | | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | DEFAULT_GENERATED on update CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | | series_name | varchar(20) | YES | | NULL | | | series_number | int unsigned | YES | | NULL | | | prequel | int unsigned | YES | | NULL | | +----------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------+------+-----+-------------------+-----------------------------------------------+ 16 rows in set (0.21 sec) |
After adding the three new columns, I inserted eight rows for the original Harry Potter films. You can use the following script in the MySQL client (mysql
) to add the columns and insert the data to test the preceding queries:
-- Use sakila database. USE sakila; -- Add a prequel_id column to the sakila.film table. ALTER TABLE film ADD (series_name varchar(20)), ADD (series_number int unsigned), ADD (prequel_id int unsigned); -- Set primary to foreign key local variable. SET @sv_film_id = 0; -- Insert Harry Potter films in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Sorcerer''s Stone' ,'A film about a young boy who on his eleventh birthday discovers, he is the orphaned boy of two powerful wizards and has unique magical powers.' , 2001 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 152 , 19.99 ,'PG' ,'Trailers' ,'2001-11-04' ,'Harry Potter' , 1 , NULL ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 2nd film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' ,'A film where Harry returning to Hogwarts, still famous and a hero, when strange things start to happen ... people are turning to stone and no-one knows what, or who, is doing it.' , 2002 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 160 , 19.99 ,'PG' ,'Trailers' ,'2002-11-15' ,'Harry Potter' , 2 , @sv_film_id ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 3rd film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' ,'A film where Harry, Ron, and Hermione return for their third year at Hogwarts and are forced to face escaped prisoner, Sirius Black.' , 2004 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 141 , 19.99 ,'PG' ,'Trailers' ,'2004-06-04' ,'Harry Potter' , 3 , @sv_film_id ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 4th film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' ,'A film where where Harry Potter''s name emerges from the Goblet of Fire, and he becomes a competitor in a grueling battle for glory among three wizarding schools - the Triwizard Tournament.' , 2005 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 157 , 19.99 ,'PG' ,'Trailers' ,'2005-11-18' ,'Harry Potter' , 4 , @sv_film_id ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 5th film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' ,'A film where Lord Voldemort has returned, but the Ministry of Magic is doing everything it can to keep the wizarding world from knowing the truth.' , 2007 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 138 , 19.99 ,'PG-13' ,'Trailers' ,'2007-07-12' ,'Harry Potter' , 5 , @sv_film_id ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 6th film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' ,'A film where Voldemort is tightening his grip on Hogwarts and it is no longer the safe haven it once was. Harry and Dumbledore work to find the key to unlock the Dark Lord''s defenses.' , 2009 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 153 , 19.99 ,'PG' ,'Trailers' ,'2009-07-15' ,'Harry Potter' , 6 , @sv_film_id ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 7th film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1' ,'A film where Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the Horcruxes - the keys to Voldemort''s immortality.' , 2010 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 146 , 19.99 ,'PG-13' ,'Trailers' ,'2010-11-19' ,'Harry Potter' , 7 , @sv_film_id ); -- Assign the last generated primary key value to the local variable. SET @sv_film_id := last_insert_id(); -- Insert 8th film in sakila.film table with classic values clause. INSERT INTO film ( title , description , release_year , language_id , original_language_id , rental_duration , rental_rate , length , replacement_cost , rating , special_features , last_update , series_name , series_number , prequel_id ) VALUES ('Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2' ,'A film where Harry, Ron and Hermione set out on their perilous mission to track down and destroy the Horcruxes - the keys to Voldemort''s immortality.' , 2011 , 1 , NULL , 3 , 0.99 , 130 , 19.99 ,'PG-13' ,'Trailers' ,'2011-07-15' ,'Harry Potter' , 8 , @sv_film_id ); |
You can put the following commands into a SQL script file to revert the sakila.film
table to its base configuration:
DELETE FROM film WHERE film_id > 1000; ALTER TABLE film DROP COLUMN series_name; ALTER TABLE film DROP COLUMN series_number; ALTER TABLE film DROP COLUMN prequel_id; ALTER TABLE film AUTO_INCREMENT = 1000; |
As always, I hope this helps those looking for how to solve a new problem.
MySQL Client in 8.0.21+
Having recently installed a fresh copy of MySQL 8.0.21 on Windows, I took careful note of parsing changes in the MySQL Shell. It was tedious that we lost multiple statement processing, which is supported in the MySQL Client and MySQL Workbench because it uses MySQL Client.
It was frustrating when I subsequently discovered that the MySQL Shell took away the ability to write log files by removing the TEE
and NOTEE
commands. I suspected that since MySQL Workbench was still using the MySQL Client that it should be in the code tree. In fact, the mysql.exe
client is in this directory:
C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin |
So, I immediately created a batch file to put the MySQL Client into my %PATH%
environment variable when needed. I used this time tested DOS command:
copy con mysqlclient.bat set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0\bin;. ^Z |
Now you can call the MySQL client with the following syntax if you have a student
user and studentdb
database:
mysql -ustudent -p -Dstudentdb |
This way, I can just call it in a PowerShell utility before running migration script files that should generate log files for review. It also leaves the MySQL Client out of general use.
MySQL Floating Types
I’m glad that testing new MySQL releases is so frequent for me. Each testing cycle let me catch warning messages about deprecated behaviors before they’re removed. This one announced the deprecation of digits for floating point data types, like double
. The following column definition for a table in my code tree triggered the warning message:
, amount DOUBLE(10,2) |
MySQL 8 (8.0.21) raised the following warning message:
Warning (code 1681): Specifying number of digits for floating point data types is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. |
Recognizing the deprecation, I redefined the column as:
, amount DOUBLE |
I’m glad the MySQL development team is focused on alerting us to deprecations through warning messages. Naturally, I fixed all of the tables proactively. If you want more detail you can read this MySQL web page on Problems with Floating Point Values.