Table.Scan method in the AWS SDK for .NET

The Scan method performs a full table scan. It provides two overloads. The only parameter required by the Scan method is the scan filter, which you can provide using the following overload.

Example

Scan(ScanFilter filter);

For example, assume that you maintain a table of forum threads tracking information such as thread subject (primary), the related message, forum Id to which the thread belongs, Tags, and other information. Assume that the subject is the primary key.

Example

Thread(Subject, Message, ForumId, Tags, LastPostedDateTime, .... )

This is a simplified version of forums and threads that you see on AWS forums (see Discussion forums). The following C# code example queries all threads in a specific forum (ForumId = 101) that are tagged "sortkey". Because the ForumId is not a primary key, the example scans the table. The ScanFilter includes two conditions. The query returns all the threads that satisfy both of the conditions.

Example

string tableName = "Thread";
Table ThreadTable = Table.LoadTable(client, tableName);

ScanFilter scanFilter = new ScanFilter();
scanFilter.AddCondition("ForumId", ScanOperator.Equal, 101);
scanFilter.AddCondition("Tags", ScanOperator.Contains, "sortkey");

Search search = ThreadTable.Scan(scanFilter);

Specifying optional parameters

You also can specify optional parameters to Scan, such as a specific list of attributes to retrieve or whether to perform a strongly consistent read. To specify optional parameters, you must create a ScanOperationConfig object that includes both the required and optional parameters and use the following overload.

Example

Scan(ScanOperationConfig config);

The following C# code example runs the same preceding query (find forum threads in which the ForumId is 101 and the Tag attribute contains the "sortkey" keyword). Assume that you want to add an optional parameter to retrieve only a specific attribute list. In this case, you must create a ScanOperationConfig object by providing all the parameters, required and optional parameters, as shown in the following code example.

Example

string tableName = "Thread";
Table ThreadTable = Table.LoadTable(client, tableName);

ScanFilter scanFilter = new ScanFilter();
scanFilter.AddCondition("ForumId", ScanOperator.Equal, forumId);
scanFilter.AddCondition("Tags", ScanOperator.Contains, "sortkey");

ScanOperationConfig config = new ScanOperationConfig()
{
  AttributesToGet = new List<string> { "Subject", "Message" } ,
  Filter = scanFilter
};

Search search = ThreadTable.Scan(config);

Example: Scan using the Table.Scan method

The Scan operation performs a full table scan making it a potentially expensive operation. You should use queries instead. However, there are times when you might need to run a scan against a table. For example, you might have a data entry error in the product pricing, and you must scan the table as shown in the following C# code example. The example scans the ProductCatalog table to find products for which the price value is less than 0. The example illustrates the use of the two Table.Scan overloads.

• Table.Scan that takes the ScanFilter object as a parameter.

  You can pass the ScanFilter parameter when passing in only the required parameters.

• Table.Scan that takes the ScanOperationConfig object as a parameter.

  You must use the ScanOperationConfig parameter if you want to pass any optional parameters to the Scan method.

Example

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Amazon.DynamoDBv2;
using Amazon.DynamoDBv2.DocumentModel;

namespace com.amazonaws.codesamples
{
    class MidLevelScanOnly
    {
        private static AmazonDynamoDBClient client = new AmazonDynamoDBClient();

        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            Table productCatalogTable = Table.LoadTable(client, "ProductCatalog");
            // Scan example.
            FindProductsWithNegativePrice(productCatalogTable);
            FindProductsWithNegativePriceWithConfig(productCatalogTable);

            Console.WriteLine("To continue, press Enter");
            Console.ReadLine();
        }

        private static void FindProductsWithNegativePrice(Table productCatalogTable)
        {
            // Assume there is a price error. So we scan to find items priced < 0.
            ScanFilter scanFilter = new ScanFilter();
            scanFilter.AddCondition("Price", ScanOperator.LessThan, 0);

            Search search = productCatalogTable.Scan(scanFilter);

            List<Document> documentList = new List<Document>();
            do
            {
                documentList = search.GetNextSet();
                Console.WriteLine("\nFindProductsWithNegativePrice: printing ............");
                foreach (var document in documentList)
                    PrintDocument(document);
            } while (!search.IsDone);
        }

        private static void FindProductsWithNegativePriceWithConfig(Table productCatalogTable)
        {
            // Assume there is a price error. So we scan to find items priced < 0.
            ScanFilter scanFilter = new ScanFilter();
            scanFilter.AddCondition("Price", ScanOperator.LessThan, 0);

            ScanOperationConfig config = new ScanOperationConfig()
            {
                Filter = scanFilter,
                Select = SelectValues.SpecificAttributes,
                AttributesToGet = new List<string> { "Title", "Id" }
            };

            Search search = productCatalogTable.Scan(config);

            List<Document> documentList = new List<Document>();
            do
            {
                documentList = search.GetNextSet();
                Console.WriteLine("\nFindProductsWithNegativePriceWithConfig: printing ............");
                foreach (var document in documentList)
                    PrintDocument(document);
            } while (!search.IsDone);
        }

        private static void PrintDocument(Document document)
        {
            //   count++;
            Console.WriteLine();
            foreach (var attribute in document.GetAttributeNames())
            {
                string stringValue = null;
                var value = document[attribute];
                if (value is Primitive)
                    stringValue = value.AsPrimitive().Value.ToString();
                else if (value is PrimitiveList)
                    stringValue = string.Join(",", (from primitive
                                    in value.AsPrimitiveList().Entries
                                                    select primitive.Value).ToArray());
                Console.WriteLine("{0} - {1}", attribute, stringValue);
            }
        }
    }
}