Considering pretty much all database ORMs are blocking, what is the recommended pattern for accessin...

# ktor

[Matej Drobnič]

Considering pretty much all database ORMs are blocking, what is the recommended pattern for accessing database from ktor? Do we have to wrap everything in withContext(<http://Dispatchers.IO|Dispatchers.IO>)? That would look pretty messy.

[Roger Home-Martinsen]

https://kotlinlang.org/docs/reference/coroutines/coroutine-context-and-dispatchers.html

[Matej Drobnič]

I know about that, I was just wondering if there is a cleaner solution out there rather than wrapping every single database call into withContext

[Robert Jaros]

R2DBC is non blocking.

[Matej Drobnič]

but it is not ORM, it only executes raw SQL calls

[Robert Jaros]

yes, but still it's a good alternative to consider

[Roger Home-Martinsen]

OK, I do not think it is messy at all. It think it is just very clear. If you are utilizing the functions you know that these are “main-safe”.

[Matej Drobnič]

well, it is very explicit. Considering database calls are big chunk of backend code, it adds a lot of cruft to the code.

[Matej Drobnič]

val user  = withContext(<http://Dispatchers.IO|Dispatchers.IO>) {
    database.getUser()
}

// doSomething with the user

withContext(<http://Dispatchers.IO|Dispatchers.IO>) {
    database.saveUser(updatedUser)
}

[Matej Drobnič]

Best thing I can see is creating my own proxy database layer that wraps all database calls into nice suspending calls. But that would make adding new database calls more complicated since call would have to be added to the proxy layer first.

[Roger Home-Martinsen]

OK, I would add all this into a service with suspend functions and wrapping all functions there.

[Matej Drobnič]

yes, but still it's a good alternative to consider

I'm not sure how it can be an alternative. ORM and database connector are two completely different things.

[Matej Drobnič]

yeah that was my idea. Just wanted to pick some brains to see if I was missing anything.

[Matej Drobnič]

thanks

[thanksforallthefish]

https://spring.io/projects/spring-data-r2dbc ? still, afaik you have to write your sql, so not a full-fledge orm, but it simplifies the mapping

[Robert Jaros]

@Matej Drobnič r2dbc with spring data libraries and coroutines extensions is definitely more than a database connector :-)