ADBC API Standard#

This document summarizes the general featureset.

  • For C/C++ details, see adbc.h.

  • For Go details, see the source.

  • For Java details, see the source.

Databases#

Databases hold state shared by multiple connections. Generally, this means common configuration and caches. For in-memory databases, it provides a place to hold ownership of the in-memory database.

  • C/C++: AdbcDatabase

  • Go: Driver

  • Java: org.apache.arrow.adbc.core.AdbcDatabase

Connections#

A connection is a single, logical connection to a database.

  • C/C++: AdbcConnection

  • Go: Connection

  • Java: org.apache.arrow.adbc.core.AdbcConnection

Autocommit#

By default, connections are expected to operate in autocommit mode; that is, queries take effect immediately upon execution. This can be disabled in favor of manual commit/rollback calls, but not all implementations will support this.

Statements#

Statements hold state related to query execution. They represent both one-off queries and prepared statements. They can be reused, though doing so will invalidate prior result sets from that statement. (See Concurrency and Thread Safety.)

  • C/C++: AdbcStatement

  • Go: Statement

  • Java: org.apache.arrow.adbc.core.AdbcStatement

Bulk Ingestion#

ADBC provides explicit facilities to ingest batches of Arrow data into a database table. For databases which support it, this can avoid overheads from the typical bind-insert loop. Also, this (mostly) frees the user from knowing the right SQL syntax for their database.

  • C/C++: ADBC_INGEST_OPTION_TARGET_TABLE and related options.

  • Go: OptionKeyIngestTargetTable

  • Java: org.apache.arrow.adbc.core.AdbcConnection#bulkIngest(String, org.apache.arrow.adbc.core.BulkIngestMode)

Partitioned Result Sets#

ADBC lets a driver explicitly expose partitioned and/or distributed result sets to clients. (This is similar to functionality in Flight RPC/Flight SQL.) Clients may take advantage of this to distribute computations on a result set across multiple threads, processes, or machines.