ArangoDB Manual

This is an introduction to ArangoDB's Http interface for indexes in general. There are special sections for various index types.

HTTP Interface for Indexes

Indexes

Index: Indexes are used to allow fast access to documents. For each collection there is always the primary index which is a hash index for the document identifier.

Index Handle: An index handle uniquely identifies an index in the database. It is a string and consists of a collection identifier and a index identifier separated by /.

Geo Index: A geo index is used to find places on the surface of the earth fast.

Hash Index: A hash index is used to find documents based on examples.

Skiplist Index: A skiplist is used to find ranges of documents.

Priority Queue: A priority queue based on an attribute of the documents.

The basic operations (create, read, update, delete) for documents are mapped to the standard HTTP methods (POST, GET, PUT, DELETE).

Address of an Index

All indexes in ArangoDB have an unique handle. This index handle identifies an index and is managed by ArangoDB. All indexes are found under the URI

http://server:port/_api/index/index-handle

For example: Assume that the index handle is 7254820/63563528 then the URL of that index is:

http://localhost:8529/_api/index/7254820/63563528

Working with Indexes using HTTP

GET /_api/index (reads an index)

GET /_api/index/index-handle

The result is an objects describing the index. It has at least the following attributes:

id: The identifier of the collection.

type: The type of the collection.

All other attributes are type-dependent.

Examples

> curl -X GET --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index/117843216/0

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 200,
  "fields": [
    "_id"
  ],
  "id": "117843216/0",
  "type": "primary",
  "error": false
}

POST /_api/index (creates an index)

POST /_api/index?collection=collection-identifier

Creates a new index in the collection collection-identifier. Expects an object containing the index details.

See Accessing Cap Constraints via Http, Accessing Geo Indexes via Http, Accessing Hash Indexes via Http, and Accessing Skip-List Indexes via Http for details. By default, non-unique indexes will be created. To change this, use the unique attribute in the index details and set its value to true.

If the index does not already exists and could be created, then a HTTP 201 is returned. If the index already exists, then a HTTP 200 is returned.

If the collection-identifier is unknown, then a HTTP 404 is returned. It is possible to specify a name instead of an identifier.

Examples

Creating an unique constraint:

> curl --data @- -X POST --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index?collection=102901008
{ "type" : "hash", "unique" : true, "fields" : [ "a", "b" ] }

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 201,
  "fields": [
    "a",
    "b"
  ],
  "id": "102901008/168054969",
  "type": "hash",
  "isNewlyCreated": true,
  "unique": true,
  "error": false
}

Creating a hash index:

> curl --data @- -X POST --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index?collection=105981200
{ "type" : "hash", "unique" : false, "fields" : [ "a", "b" ] }

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 201,
  "fields": [
    "a",
    "b"
  ],
  "id": "105981200/171069625",
  "type": "hash",
  "isNewlyCreated": true,
  "unique": false,
  "error": false
}

Creating a skip-list:

> curl --data @- -X POST --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index?collection=109061392
{ "type" : "skiplist", "unique" : false, "fields" : [ "a", "b" ] }

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 201,
  "fields": [
    "a",
    "b"
  ],
  "id": "109061392/173166777",
  "type": "skiplist",
  "isNewlyCreated": true,
  "unique": false,
  "error": false
}

Creating a unique skip-list:

> curl --data @- -X POST --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index?collection=112141584
{ "type" : "skiplist", "unique" : true, "fields" : [ "a", "b" ] }

HTTP/1.1 201 Created
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 201,
  "fields": [
    "a",
    "b"
  ],
  "id": "112141584/175722681",
  "type": "skiplist",
  "isNewlyCreated": true,
  "unique": true,
  "error": false
}

DELETE /_api/index (deletes an index)

DELETE /_api/index/index-handle

Deletes an index with index-handle.

Examples

> curl -X DELETE --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index/180506809/181424313

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 200,
  "id": "180506809/181424313",
  "error": false
}

GET /_api/index (reads all indexes of a collection)

GET /_api/index?collection=collection-identifier

Returns an object with an attribute indexes containing a list of all index descriptions for the given collection. The same information is also available in the identifiers as hash map with the index handle as keys.

Examples

Return information about all indexes:

> curl -X GET --dump - http://localhost:8529/_api/index?collection=115221776

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: application/json

{
  "code": 200,
  "indexes": [
    {
      "fields": [
        "_id"
      ],
      "id": "115221776/0",
      "type": "primary"
    }
  ],
  "error": false,
  "identifiers": {
    "115221776/0": {
      "fields": [
        "_id"
      ],
      "id": "115221776/0",
      "type": "primary"
    }
  }
}

HTTP Interface for Indexes

Indexes

Address of an Index

Working with Indexes using HTTP