Elara DB is an easy to use, lightweight NoSQL database that can also be used as a fast in-memory cache.

$ pip install elara

• Latest - v0.5.1

Go through the release notes for details on upgrades as breaking changes might happen between version upgrades while Elara is in beta.

Elara DB has official support for python 3.6, 3.7, 3.8 and 3.9.

Key Features :

• Offers three modes of execution - normal, cache and secure - secure mode generates a key file and encrypts the database for additional security.
• Manipulate data structures in-memory.
• Fast and flexible in-memory caching mechanism.
• Choose between manual commits after performing operations in-memory or automatically commit every change into the storage.
• Includes methods to export certain keys from the database or the entire storage.
• Incorporates checksums to verify database file integrity.

Table of Contents :

• Installation
• License
• Fundamentals
  • Basic usage
  • Cache usage
  • Serialization & Storage
• API reference
  • Strings
  • Lists
  • Dictionaries
  • Update Key
  • Export data
• Tests
• Dependencies
• Release notes
• Contributors

Installation

From pypi :

$ pip install elara

OR,

Clone the repository and install the dependencies :

$ pip install -r requirements.py
$ python -m unittest -v     # Run tests

License

Copyright (c) 2021, Saurabh Pujari
All rights reserved.

This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.

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Fundamentals

Basic usage :

You can choose between normally transacting data from the database or you can protect your database with a key.

import elara

# exe_secure() encrypts the db file
db = elara.exe_secure("new.db", True, "newdb.key")

db.set("name", "Elara")

print(db.get("name"))
# Elara

• exe_secure(db_file_path, commit=False, key_file_path="edb.key") - Loads the contents of the encrypted database (using the key file) into the program memory or generates a new key file (default - edb.key) if it doesn't exist in the given path and it encrypts/decrypts the database file.

Using exe_secure() without a key file or without the correct key file corresponding to the database will result in errors. Database files are verified with checksums to maintain integrity. Key files and DB files can be included inside the .gitignore to ensure they're not pushed into an upstream repository.

• commit - this argument defaults to False ie. you will have to manually call the commit() method to write the in-memory changes into the database. If set to True, changes will be written into the file after every operation.

import elara

db = elara.exe("new.db", "newdb.key") # commit=False  

db.set("num", 20)

print(db.get("num"))
# 20

db.commit() # Writes in-memory changes into the file

• exe(db_file_path, commit=False) - Loads the contents of the database into the program memory or generates a new database file if it doesn't exist in the given path. The database file is NOT protected and can be accessed without a key.

import elara as elara

db = elara.exe("new.db", True)

db.set("name", "Elara")

print(db.get("name"))
# Elara

All the following operations are methods that can be applied to the instance returned from exe() or exe_secure() (or exe_cache(), as shown in the Cache section). These operations manipulate/analyse data in-memory after the Data is loaded from the file. Set the commit argument to True else manually use the commit() method to sync in-memory data with the database file.

• get(key) - returns the corresponding value from the db or None
• set(key, value) - returns True or an Exception. The key has to be a String.
• rem(key) - deletes the key-value pair if it exists.
• remkeys(keys=[]) - deletes all the key-value pairs from the list of keys given, if the key exists.
• incr(key, val=1) - increments the value (has to be an int or a float) present at the given key with the val parameter (default 1, int or a float). For float operations it rounds the result to 3 decimal points.
• decr(key, val=1) - decrements the value (has to be an int or a float) present at the given key with the val parameter (default 1, int or a float). For float operations it rounds the result to 3 decimal points.
• clear() - clears the database data currently stored in-memory.
• exists(key) - returns True if the key exists.
• commit() - write in-memory changes into the database file.
• getset(key, value) - Sets the new value and returns the old value for that key or returns False.
• getkeys() - returns the list of keys in the database with. The list is ordered with the most recently accessed keys starting from index 0.
• numkeys() - returns the number of keys in the database.
• retkey() - returns the Key used to encrypt/decrypt the db file; returns None if the file is unprotected.
• retmem() - returns all the in-memory db contents.
• retdb() - returns all the db file contents.

import elara

db = elara.exe("new.db")

db.set("num1", 20)

# ("num1", 20) is written into the file db
db.commit()

db.set("num2", 30)

print(db.retmem())
# {'num1': 20, 'num2': 30}

print(db.retdb())
# {'num1': 20}

Note - retmem() and retdb() will return the same value if commit is set to True or if the commit() method is used before calling retdb()

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Cache:

Elara can also be used as a fast in-memory cache.

• exe_cache(path, cache_param=None, commit=False) - This function creates an instance with the settings defined in cache_param. Here commit defaults to False to allow for in-memory manipulation.
  • cache_param - This argument is a dictionary that can define of 3 optional parameters.
    • max_age - This is the default amount of time in seconds that any key stored (eg. using set()) into the cache will last for before being evicted. Defaults to None which indicates it will stay in memory for as long as the instance is running.
    • max_size - This is the maximum number of keys that will be stored in the cache. For every key addition request after the max_size limit has been reached, an automatic cull() is called to evict some keys based on cull_freq. Defaults to positive infinity as limited by the device.
    • cull_freq - This is the default amount of keys, in percentage, that will be evicted based on the LRU eviction strategy when the cache reaches its max_size. 0 <= cull_freq <=100. Defaults to 20 ie. 20% of all keys will be deleted based on the LRU eviction strategy.

The LRU eviction searches for, and deletes, expired keys lazily after every function call.

Note - In exe_cache, the path parameter is a required argument in case you need to commit your cache contents into the database.

• set(key, value, max_age=None) - The set() function takes another argument, max_age, that is set to None by default ie. the key-value pair will follow the default max_age set in cache_param OR they stay never get evicted if cache_param is not defined. The max_age param in set() allows for more granular control over cache item expiry. max_age should be an integer greater than 0. max_age = "i" indicates the item will not be removed from memory (overrides default max_age or max_age defined in cache_param)

Similarly, lnew(key, max_age=None), hnew(key, max_age=None) (read the API reference) and getset(key, value, max_age=None), all accept the optional max_age argument.

import elara
import time

cache_param = {
    "max_age": 900,
    "max_size": 4,
    "cull_freq": 25
}

cache = elara.exe_cache("new.db", cache_param)

cache.set("key1", "This one will be evicted in 900 seconds")
cache.set("key2", "This one will not be evicted", "i") # 'i' signifies it will never be evicted 
cache.set("key3", "This one will be evicted in 50 seconds", 50)

print(cache.getkeys())
# ["key3", "key2", "key1"]

time.sleep(50)

print(cache.getkeys())
# ["key2", "key1"]

cache.set("key3", 5)
cache.set("key4", 10)

print(cache.getkeys())
# ["key4", "key3", "key2", "key1"]

cache.set("key1", 7, "i")    # overwrite "key1" to never expire

print(cache.getkeys())
# ["key1", "key4", "key3", "key2"]

print(cache.get("key1"))
# 7

cache.set("key5", 20)   # Automatic culling when max_size is reached

print(cache.getkeys())
# ["key5", "key1", "key4", "key3"]

Elara also allows for manual culling of cached items :

• cull(percentage) - percentage (0 <= percentage <= 100) defines the percentage of Key-Value pairs to be deleted, with the Least recently accessed keys being deleted first. Elara maintains a simple LRU cache to track key access.

import elara

"""
Without the cache_param argument, all defauls will be set

Passing any one of the values is also valid as mentioned above 
cache = elara.exe_cache("new.db", {"max_size": 100}))

"""

cache = elara.exe_cache("new.db")

cache.set("num1", 10)
cache.set("num2", 20)
cache.set("num3", 30)
cache.set("num4", 40)

if cache.exists("num1"):
    print(cache.get("num1"))
    # 10 
    
print(cache.retmem())
# {'num1': 10, 'num2': 20, 'num3': 30, 'num4': 40}

# most recently accessed keys come first
print(cache.getkeys())
# ['num1', 'num4', 'num3', 'num2']

# delete 25% of the stale keys (follows LRU)
cache.cull(25) 

# most recently accessed keys come first
print(cache.getkeys())
# ['num1', 'num4', 'num3']

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Serialization and Storage:

Elara supports basic python datatypes (int, str, dict, list etc.). However, objects (simple and complex) can be stored and retrieved using get, set and other functions that apply to them as long as they are in-memory and not persisted in the file, as that would lead to serialization errors.

import elara

cache = elara.exe("new.db") # commit = False by default

class MyObj():
    def __init__(self, num):
        self.num = num

obj = MyObj(19)

cache.set("obj", obj)

print(cache.get("obj").num)
# 19 

• To persist a simple object as a dictionary, use the __dict__ attribute.

• Elara uses checksums and a file version flag to verify database file integrity.

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API reference

Strings :

• mget(keys) - takes a list of keys as an argument and returns a list with all the corresponding values IF they exist; returns an empty list otherwise.
• mset(dict) - takes a dictionary of key-value pairs as an argument and calls the set(key, value) method for each pair. Keys have to be a String.
• setnx(key, value) - Sets the key-value if the key does not exist and returns True; returns False otherwise.
• msetnx(dict) - takes a dictionary of key-value pairs as an argument and calls the setnx(key, value) method for each pair. Keys have to be a string.
• slen(key) - returns the length of the string value if the key exists; returns -1 otherwise.
• append(key, data) - Append the data (String) to an existing string value; returns False if it fails.

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Lists :

• lnew(key) - Initialises an empty list for the given key and returns True or an Exception; key has to be a string.
• lpush(key, value) - Appends the given value to the list and returns True; returns False if the key does not exist.
• lpop(key) - Pops and returns the last element of the list if it exists; returns False otherwise. Index of the element can be passed to delete a specific element using lpop(key, pos). pos defaults to -1 (last element of the list).
• lrem(key, value) - remove a value from the list. Returns True on success and False otherwise.
• llen(key) - returns length of the list if the key exists; returns -1 otherwise.
• lindex(key, index) - takes the index as an argument and returns the value if the key and list exist; returns False otherwise.
• lrange(key, start, end) - takes start and end index as arguments and returns the list within the given range. Value at end not included. Returns empty list if start/end are invalid.
• lextend(key, new_list) - Extend the list with new_list if the key exists. Returns True or False if the key does not exist.
• lexists(key, value) - returns True if the value is present in the list; returns False otherwise.
• lappend(key, pos, value) - appends value to the existing data at index pos using the + operator. Returns True or False.

import elara

db = elara.exe('new.db', True)

db.lnew('newlist')
db.lpush('newlist', 3)
db.lpush('newlist', 4)
db.lpush('newlist', 5)

print(db.lpop('newlist'))
# 5

print(db.lindex('newlist', 0))
# 3

new_list = [6, 7, 8, 9]
db.lextend('newlist', new_list)
print(db.get('newlist'))
# [3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9]

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Hashtable/Dictionary :

• hnew(key) - Initialises an empty dictionary for the given key and returns True or an Exception; key has to be a string.
• hadd(key, dict_key, value) - Assigns a value to a dictionary key and returns True; returns False if the dictionary doesn't exist.
• haddt(key, tuple) - Add a new key-value tuple into the dictionary. Returns True if the dictionary exists; returns False otherwise.
• hget(key, dict_key) - Returns the value from the dictionary; returns False if the dictionary doesn't exist.
• hpop(key, dict_key) - Deletes the given key-value pair from the dictionary and returns the deleted value; returns False if the dictionary doesn't exist.
• hkeys(key) - returns all the Keys present in the dictionary.
• hvals(key) - returns all the values present in the dictionary.
• hmerge(key, dict) - updates (dict.update()) the dictionary pointed by the key with the new dictionary dict passed as an argument.

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Update key and Secure DB :

• updatekey(key_path) - This method works for instances produced by exe_secure(). It updates the key in the key file path and re-encyrpts the database with the new key. If the file doesn't exist, the method generates a new file with a key and uses that to encrypt the database file.

import elara 

# exe_secure() encrypts the db file
db = elara.exe_secure("new.db", True, "newdb.key")
db.set("name", "Elara")

print(db.get("name"))
# Elara

db.updatekey('newkeypath.key')

# Regular program flow doesn't get affected by key update
print(db.get("name"))   
# Elara

However, the next time you run the program, you have to pass the new updated key (newkeypath.key in this case) to avoid errors.

• securedb(key_path) - Calls updatekey(key_path) for instances which are already protected with a key. For an unprotected instance of exe(), it generates a new key in the given key_path and encrypts the database file. This db file can henceforth only be used with the exe_secure() function.

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Export data :

• exportdb(export_path, sort=True) - Copies the entire content of the database file into the specified export file path using json.dump(). To prevent sorting of Keys, use exportdb(export_path, False)

• exportmem(export_path, sort=True) - Copies the current database contents stored in-memory into the specified export file path using json.dump(). To prevent sorting of Keys, use exportmem(export_path, False).

• exportkeys(export_path, keys = [], sort=True) - Takes a list of keys as an argument and exports those specific keys from the in-memory data to the given export file path.

import elara

db = elara.exe('new.db', False)
db.set("one", 100)
db.set("two", 200)
db.commit()
db.set("three", 300)

db.exportdb('exportdb.txt')

db.exportmem('exportmem.txt')
db.exportkeys('exportkeys.txt', keys = ['one', 'three'])

"""
# exportdb.txt
{
    "one": 100,
    "two": 200
}

# exportmem.txt
{
    "one": 100,
    "three": 300,
    "two": 200
    
}

# exportkeys.txt
{
    "one": 100,
    "three": 300
}
"""

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Tests

Run this command inside the base directory to execute all tests inside the test folder:

$ python -m unittest -v

Dependencies

• cryptography
• msgpack

Release notes

• Latest - v0.5.x
  • v0.5.1 - No breaking changes
  • v0.5.0

v0.5.x comes with an internal re-architecture that allows for much better caching and granular control on item expiry. No breaking changes from v0.4.x.

v0.4.x moves away from the json-based (dump, load) storage approach used in earlier versions, instead storing it as bytes and has support for checksums and database file version flags for added security.

v0.3.x uses utf-8 encoding while storing data.

v0.2.x and earlier used a mix of ascii and base64 encoding.

To safeguard data, its better to export all existing data from any existing database file before upgrading Elara. (use exportdb(export_path)).

View Elara's release history.

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Contributors :

Original author and maintainer - Saurabh Pujari
Logo design - Jonah Eapen

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