Fixpoint

Continued from:

• Schema (source);
• Frontend: 1, 2, 3 (source).

Common database operations

As an internal convention, a "get_X_id" function will return the database ID for the row in table "X" named by its bulkier external reference, or None if not found. Similarly, "insert_or_get_X_id" will insert a row if needed and in either case return the ID. Some of these have only a single caller, but I find that collecting the various similar queries in one place and wrapping them into tidy functions helps readability.

The mapping of Python to SQLite types is fairly straightforward, except that buffer is needed to specify a BLOB.

The "parameter substitution" feature is used throughout, avoiding improper mixing of code and data that could manifest as SQL injection or thrashing the compiled statement cache.

def get_address_id(a):
	r = db.execute('SELECT address_id FROM address WHERE address=?', (buffer(a),)).fetchone()
	return None if r is None else r[0]

def insert_or_get_address_id(a):
	i = get_address_id(a)
	if i is not None:
		return i
	return db.execute('INSERT INTO address (address) VALUES (?)', (buffer(a),)).lastrowid

def get_tx_id(hash):
	r = db.execute('SELECT tx_id FROM tx WHERE hash=?', (buffer(hash),)).fetchone()
	return None if r is None else r[0]

def insert_or_get_tx_id(hash, blkhash, height, n, size):
	try:
		return db.execute('INSERT INTO tx (hash, block_hash, block_height, n, size) VALUES (?,?,?,?,?)',
				(buffer(hash), buffer(blkhash), height, n, size)).lastrowid
	except IntegrityError:
		# XXX check equality?
		return get_tx_id(hash)

I now think we should indeed catch that condition (differing transactions with identical hash), especially given the possibility of TXID collisions. Perhaps I left it out from excessive worry about scan performance. Or just laziness.

The mixture of check-first and try-first styles seen above also doesn't sit well. The possibility of TOCTTOUs,⁽ⁱ⁾ depending on the details of transaction isolation level, would seem to make a strong case for try-first. It's a minor point though; the worst case here would be an uncaught IntegrityError halting the program gracefully.

def insert_output(tx_id, n, addr_id, val):
	try:
		db.execute('INSERT INTO output (tx_id, n, address_id, value) VALUES (?,?,?,?)',
				(tx_id, n, addr_id, val))
	except IntegrityError:
		r = db.execute('SELECT address_id, value FROM output WHERE tx_id=? AND n=?',
				(tx_id, n)).fetchone()
		if r != (addr_id, val):
			raise Conflict('output differs from previous content', tx_id, n, (addr_id, val), r)

def insert_input(tx_id, n, prevout_id):
	try:
		input_id = db.execute('INSERT INTO input (tx_id, n) VALUES (?,?)', (tx_id, n)).lastrowid
	except IntegrityError:
		input_id = db.execute('SELECT input_id FROM input WHERE tx_id=? AND n=?',
				(tx_id, n)).fetchone()[0]
	db.execute('UPDATE output SET spent=? WHERE output_id=?', (input_id, prevout_id))

def get_output_id(tx_id, n):
	r = db.execute('SELECT output_id FROM output WHERE tx_id=? AND n=?', (tx_id, n)).fetchone()
	return None if r is None else r[0]

def get_tag_id(name):
	r = db.execute('SELECT tag_id FROM tag WHERE name=?', (name,)).fetchone()
	return None if r is None else r[0]

def insert_or_get_tag_id(name):
	i = get_tag_id(name)
	if i is not None:
		return i
	return db.execute('INSERT INTO tag (name) VALUES (?)', (name,)).lastrowid

Next up, we'll finally get to implementing the commands themselves. To be continued.

1. The "time of check to time of use" race condition. You know, like sitting down when some trickster's meanwhile moved the chair. [^]