Amazon DynamoDB · RetrieveMultiple

A customer and its orders in one request

The single-table design's reason to exist: a customer and its orders in one request, in two scenarios: the whole item collection, and a page of it.

Set up for this page

The scenarios build on the sample application: SampleContext.cs (the dbContext every sample is given); SampleOutput.cs (Step and Show, which print); SampleContext.Application.cs (dbContext.Service, the application's ARX service); SampleModel.cs (the DynamoDB layout and the schema catalog); SampleContext.Direct.cs (dbContext.Direct); DynamoDirectHelper.cs (the checks behind dbContext.Direct).

dbContext.Direct is the samples' own checking code on the plain driver, not part of ARX: leave it out of your application.

Before scenario 1 the sample runs this, so the service and the rows the scenarios use are there:

Set up
var customer = new ArxEntity("customer");
customer["customer_id"] = "C-D431";
customer["name"] = "Adventure Works Cycles";
var batch = new List<ArxEntity> { customer };
for (int i = 1; i <= 4; i++)
{
    var order = new ArxEntity("sales_order");
    order["customer_id"] = "C-D431";
    order["order_number"] = $"SO-D43{i}";
    order["status"] = "OPEN";
    order["ordered_on"] = $"2026-10-2{i}";
    order["total"] = 100m * i;
    batch.Add(order);
}
await service.CreateMultipleAsync(batch);

1 The whole collection

The customer's partition: four orders and the profile, each its own entity.

Already in scope: service (ArxDynamoDbService)

C#
var key = new ArxEntity("customer");
key["customer_id"] = "C-D431";

var items = await service.QueryPartitionAsync(key);

var profile = items.Entities.Single(x => x.EntityName == "customer");
var orders = items.Entities.Where(x => x.EntityName == "sales_order").ToList();
Console.WriteLine($"{profile["name"]}: {orders.Count} orders, {orders.Sum(x => (decimal)x["total"]!)} in all");

Check it in the database

PartiQL

A PartiQL statement: run it in NoSQL Workbench, or with aws dynamodb execute-statement --statement, after the code has run.

SELECT "SK", "entity_type" FROM "crm" WHERE "PK" = 'CUSTOMER#C-D431'

Expect: 5 items: ORDER#SO-D431 to ORDER#SO-D434 (sales_order) and PROFILE (customer).

2 A page of it

Two items at a time, with the cookie.

Already in scope: service (ArxDynamoDbService)

C#
var key = new ArxEntity("customer");
key["customer_id"] = "C-D431";

var pages = 0;
string? cookie = null;

do
{
    var page = await service.QueryPartitionAsync(key, new ArxPagingInfo { Count = 2, PagingCookie = cookie });
    pages++;
    cookie = page.PagingCookie;
}
while (cookie != null);

Console.WriteLine($"read in {pages} pages");

Check it in the database

PartiQL

A PartiQL statement: run it in NoSQL Workbench, or with aws dynamodb execute-statement --statement, after the code has run.

SELECT "SK" FROM "crm" WHERE "PK" = 'CUSTOMER#C-D431'

Expect: 5 items.

Good to know

QueryPartitionAsync reads every item of the partition a key gives, whatever its entity, and returns each as the entity its entity_type names, in sort key order: here the orders (ORDER#…) and then the profile (PROFILE). A relational database would join two tables; DynamoDB stores them together so it needn't.

Run the complete sample

The code above comes from one program, built in a fresh project and run against the database. To run it yourself, here is every file and step.

The program, its files and how to run it

Run it locally

  1. .NET SDK: .NET SDK 10.0.100 or later 10.0.x (target net10.0).
  2. Create the project:
    Terminal
    dotnet new console -n ArxSample -f net10.0
    cd ArxSample
  3. Install the packages:
    Terminal
    dotnet add package ARX.SDK.DynamoDb --version 1.0.0-rc.1
  4. Database: a Amazon DynamoDB, or DynamoDB Local for development (tested with DynamoDB Local 2.5.2) database with the sample schema.
  5. Configuration: set ARX_SAMPLES_DYNAMODB to its connection string. Nothing is hard-coded.
  6. Source code: add the files of the sample application this sample uses (SampleContext.cs, SampleOutput.cs, SampleContext.Application.cs, SampleModel.cs, SampleContext.Direct.cs, DynamoDirectHelper.cs), then replace Program.cs and add the other file below, with the file names shown.
  7. Run it:
    Terminal
    dotnet run
  8. Expected output: below.

The files

Program.cs

Runs the sample. Generated for this page; it reads the connection string from the environment and first remakes the sample database from sample-schema.json.

using ArxSamples.DynamoDb;
using ArxSamples.DynamoDb.Operations.RetrieveMultiple.RealCases;

// The connection string comes from the environment, never from the code (see "Configure the connection").
var connectionString = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ARX_SAMPLES_DYNAMODB")
    ?? throw new InvalidOperationException("Set the ARX_SAMPLES_DYNAMODB environment variable to your Amazon DynamoDB connection string.");

var dbContext = new SampleContext(connectionString);

// Every run starts from the sample data: this deletes and makes again what sample-schema.json lists
// (save the file in the project folder, see Get started).
await dbContext.Direct.ResetAsync();

await new RealCase1_ACustomerAndItsOrders().RunAsync(dbContext);
RealCase1_ACustomerAndItsOrders.cs

The sample, as it is in the repository.

using ARX.SDK.DynamoDb.Services;
using ARX.SDK.Query;
using ARX.SDK.Services;

using static ArxSamples.DynamoDb.SampleOutput;

namespace ArxSamples.DynamoDb.Operations.RetrieveMultiple.RealCases;

/// <summary>
/// The single-table design's reason to exist: a customer and its orders in one request, in two scenarios: the whole
/// item collection, and a page of it.
/// </summary>
/// <remarks>
/// <c>QueryPartitionAsync</c> reads every item of the partition a key gives, whatever its entity, and returns each as the
/// entity its <c>entity_type</c> names, in sort key order: here the orders (<c>ORDER#…</c>) and then the profile
/// (<c>PROFILE</c>). A relational database would join two tables; DynamoDB stores them together so it needn't.
/// </remarks>
public sealed class RealCase1_ACustomerAndItsOrders : ISample
{
    public string Name => "retrieve-multiple-real-1-a-customer-and-its-orders";

    public string Title => "A customer and its orders in one request";

    public async Task RunAsync(SampleContext dbContext)
    {
        var customer = new ArxEntity("customer");
        customer["customer_id"] = "C-D431";
        customer["name"] = "Adventure Works Cycles";
        var batch = new List<ArxEntity> { customer };

        for (int i = 1; i <= 4; i++)
        {
            var order = new ArxEntity("sales_order");
            order["customer_id"] = "C-D431";
            order["order_number"] = $"SO-D43{i}";
            order["status"] = "OPEN";
            order["ordered_on"] = $"2026-10-2{i}";
            order["total"] = 100m * i;
            batch.Add(order);
        }

        await dbContext.Service.CreateMultipleAsync(batch);

        await Scenario1_TheWholeCollectionAsync(dbContext.Service);

        await Scenario2_APageOfItAsync(dbContext.Service);
    }

    /// <summary>1. The customer's partition: four orders and the profile, each its own entity.</summary>
    private static async Task Scenario1_TheWholeCollectionAsync(ArxDynamoDbService service)
    {
        Step("1. The whole collection");

        var key = new ArxEntity("customer");
        key["customer_id"] = "C-D431";

        var items = await service.QueryPartitionAsync(key);

        var profile = items.Entities.Single(x => x.EntityName == "customer");
        var orders = items.Entities.Where(x => x.EntityName == "sales_order").ToList();
        Show($"{profile["name"]}: {orders.Count} orders, {orders.Sum(x => (decimal)x["total"]!)} in all");

        /* ===========================================================
         * [DIRECT QUERY CHECK]
         * -----------------------------------------------------------
         * SELECT "SK", "entity_type" FROM "crm" WHERE "PK" = 'CUSTOMER#C-D431'
         * -- Expect: 5 items: ORDER#SO-D431 to ORDER#SO-D434 (sales_order) and PROFILE (customer).
         * ===========================================================
         */
    }

    /// <summary>2. Two items at a time, with the cookie.</summary>
    private static async Task Scenario2_APageOfItAsync(ArxDynamoDbService service)
    {
        Step("2. A page of it");

        var key = new ArxEntity("customer");
        key["customer_id"] = "C-D431";

        var pages = 0;
        string? cookie = null;

        do
        {
            var page = await service.QueryPartitionAsync(key, new ArxPagingInfo { Count = 2, PagingCookie = cookie });
            pages++;
            cookie = page.PagingCookie;
        }
        while (cookie != null);

        Show($"read in {pages} pages");

        /* ===========================================================
         * [DIRECT QUERY CHECK]
         * -----------------------------------------------------------
         * SELECT "SK" FROM "crm" WHERE "PK" = 'CUSTOMER#C-D431'
         * -- Expect: 5 items.
         * ===========================================================
         */
    }
}

Expected output

What dotnet run printed when the sample was verified, on a freshly created sample schema. Ids differ when the tables already hold rows.

Output
  > 1. The whole collection
      Adventure Works Cycles: 4 orders, 1000 in all
  > 2. A page of it
      read in 3 pages