ClickHouseColumnWriter

ClickHouseColumnWriter is a class dedicated for writing arbitrary large amount of rows to a table. It writes tables in a columnar layout. It means that the table consists of several columns and each column contains a list of values (cells) of a particular type. All columns of the table must contain the same number of cells.

To create a writer call the method ClickHouseConnection.CreateColumnWriter (or ClickHouseConnection.CreateColumnWriterAsync).

using var connection = ClickHouseConnection(connectionStr);
connection.Open();

using var writer = connection.CreateColumnWriter("INSERT INTO some_table VALUES");

Please, note that the INSERT query for the writer must end with VALUES keyword, but without actual list of values.

Some methods of ClickHouseColumnWriter are similar to methods of ClickHouseDataReader: GetName, GetOrdinal, GetFieldType, ConfigureColumn and other methods for manipulating column metadata.

Here is the method for writing tables:

void WriteTable(IReadOnlyList<object?> columns, int rowCount)

A column could be of any type which implements one of interfaces:

• IReadOnlyList<T>;
• IList<T>;
• IEnumerable<T>;
• IAsyncEnumerable<T> (supported only by WriteTableAsync);
• IEnumerable.

The number of columns must be equal to the number of columns in the initial INSERT query. Columns may have different number of rows, but not less than rowCount. Columns must be passed in the order defined by the query.

There is an overload of WriteTable which distinguishes columns by their names:

void WriteTable(IReadOnlyDictionary<string, object?> columns, int rowCount)

Examples

Assume there is a table some_table.

using var connection = new ClickHouseConnection(connectionStr);
connection.Open();
var cmd = connection.CreateCommand("CREATE TABLE some_table(id Int32, str Nullable(String), dt DateTime, val Decimal64(4)) ENGINE = Memory");
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

Write ordered columns

var id = new List<Guid>();
var str = new List<string?>();
var dt = new List<DateTime>();
var val = new List<decimal>();

/*
 * Fill lists id, str, dt and val with actual values
 */
 
await using var connection = new ClickHouseConnection(connectionStr);
await connection.OpenAsync();

await using var writer = connection.CreateColumnWriter("INSERT INTO some_table VALUES");

var columns = new object[writer.FieldCount];
columns[writer.GetOrdinal("id")] = id;
columns[writer.GetOrdinal("str")] = str;
columns[writer.GetOrdinal("dt")] = dt;
columns[writer.GetOrdinal("val")] = val;

var rowCount = id.Count;
await writer.WriteTableAsync(columns, rowCount, CancellationToken.None);

Write named columns

var id = new List<Guid>();
var dt = new List<DateTime>();
var val = new List<decimal>();

/*
 * Fill lists id, dt and val with actual values
 */
 
await using var connection = new ClickHouseConnection(connectionStr);
await connection.OpenAsync();

await using var writer = connection.CreateColumnWriter("INSERT INTO some_table(id, dt, val) VALUES");

var columns = new Dictionary<string, object?>
{
	["id"] = id,
	["dt"] = dt,
	["val"] = val
};

var rowCount = id.Count;
await writer.WriteTableAsync(columns, rowCount, CancellationToken.None);