Each statement within SurrealDB is run within its own transaction by default. This includes side effects such as defined events.
Manual transactions
If a set of changes need to be made together, then groups of statements can be run together as a single transaction. If all of the statements within a transaction succeed, and the transaction is successful, then all of the data modifications made during the transaction are committed and become a permanent part of the database. If a transaction encounters errors and must be cancelled or rolled back, then any data modification made within the transaction is rolled back, and will not become a permanent part of the database.
Starting a manual transaction
The BEGIN or BEGIN TRANSACTION statement starts a transaction in which multiple statements can be run together.
BEGIN [ TRANSACTION ];The following query shows example usage of this statement.
-- Create two accounts for bank customers
CREATE account:one SET balance = 135605.16;
CREATE account:two SET balance = 91031.31;
-- Start a manual database transaction
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- Update the balances of each customer involved in the wire transfer
UPDATE account:one SET balance += 300.00;
UPDATE account:two SET balance -= 300.00;
-- Finalise the transaction. This will apply the changes to the database. If there was an error
-- during any of the previous steps within the transaction, all changes would be rolled back and
-- the database would remain in its initial state.
COMMIT TRANSACTION;Committing a manual transaction
The COMMIT statement is used to commit a set of statements within a transaction, ensuring that all data modifications become a permanent part of the database.
COMMIT [ TRANSACTION ];The following query shows example usage of this statement.
-- Setup accounts
CREATE account:one SET balance = 135605.16;
CREATE account:two SET balance = 91031.31;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- Move money
UPDATE account:one SET balance += 300.00;
UPDATE account:two SET balance -= 300.00;
-- Finalise all changes
COMMIT TRANSACTION;Cancelling a manual transaction
The CANCEL statement can be used to cancel a set of statements within a transaction, reverting or rolling back any data modification made within the transaction as a whole.
CANCEL [ TRANSACTION ];The following query shows example usage of this statement.
-- Setup accounts
CREATE account:one SET balance = 135605.16;
CREATE account:two SET balance = 91031.31;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
-- Move money
UPDATE account:one SET balance += 300.00;
UPDATE account:two SET balance -= 300.00;
-- Rollback all changes
CANCEL TRANSACTION;THROW to conditionally cancel a transaction
While transactions are automatically rolled back if an error occurs in any of its statements, THROW can also be used to explicitly break out of a transaction at any point. THROW can be followed by any value which serves as the error message, usually a string.
CREATE account:one SET dollars = 100;
CREATE account:two SET dollars = 100;
LET $transfer_amount = 150;
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
UPDATE account:one SET dollars -= $transfer_amount;
UPDATE account:two SET dollars += $transfer_amount;
IF account:one.dollars < 0 {
THROW "Insufficient funds, would have $" + <string>account:one.dollars + " after transfer"
};
COMMIT TRANSACTION;
SELECT * FROM account;'An error occurred: Insufficient funds, would have $-50 after transfer'[
{
dollars: 50,
id: account:one
},
{
dollars: 150,
id: account:two
}
]