Insert Items to DynamoDB Tables using Node.js

Emmanouil GkatziourasJuly 4th, 2016Last Updated: June 28th, 2016

0 57 1 minute read

On a previous article we learned how to create DynamoDB Tables using Node.js.

Next step is to insert items to the DynamoDB Tables previously created.

Keep in mind that for the insert action the most basic step is to specify the the primary key. For the table users the primary key is the attribute email. You can add as many attributes as you want however the cumulative size should not surpass 400 KB.

var AWS = require("aws-sdk");

	var dynamodb = new AWS.DynamoDB();
	var params = {
			TableName:"Users",
		    Item:{
		    	email : { S:"jon@doe.com"},
		        fullname: { S:"Jon Doe"}
		    }
		};
	
	dynamodb.putItem(params,callback);

DynamoDB also supports Batch writes. In this case the main benefit lies on less I/O, however nothing changes regarding consumed capacity. In our case we will add a batch of login attempts.

var AWS = require("aws-sdk");

var insetBatchLogins = function(callback) {
	
	var dynamodb = new AWS.DynamoDB();
	var batchRequest = {
			RequestItems: {
				"Logins": [
				           {
				        	   PutRequest: { 
				        		   Item: {
				        			   "email": { S: "jon@doe.com" },
				        			   "timestamp": { N: "1467041009976" }
				        			   }
				           }},
				           {
				        	   PutRequest: { 
				        		   Item: {
				        			   "email": { S: "jon@doe.com" },
				        			   "timestamp": { N: "1467041019976" }
				        			   }
				           }}]
		    }
		};

	dynamodb.batchWriteItem(batchRequest,callback);
};

In case of an insert with a global/local secondary index all you have to do is to specify the corresponding attributes for the index. Take into consideration that you can have empty index related attributes or even duplicates.

var dynamodb = new AWS.DynamoDB();
	
	var params = {
			TableName:"Supervisors",
		    Item:{
		    	name: { S:"Random SuperVisor"},
		    	company: { S:"Random Company"},
		    	factory: { S:"Jon Doe"}
		    }
		};
	
	dynamodb.putItem(params,callback);

You can find the sourcecode on github.

Reference:

Insert Items to DynamoDB Tables using Node.js from our WCG partner Emmanouil Gkatziouras at the gkatzioura blog.