Inconsistent query timeouts when using FOREACH loops to insert vertices

1

Hi, new to this community (and databases in general).

I am using TigerGraph as part of a project aiming to store and use traceability data in graph databases. The data is given in JSON format and describes a certain event as well as its links to other events. We represent this as a “main” vertice for the event and several other vertices linked to the events, representing things such as groups they are a part of. The amount of vertices linked to an event can vary and two event vertices can be linked to the same “other” vertices. In order to insert the linked vertices we use FOREACH loops like the following:

 FOREACH i IN range[0, groupJson.size()-1] DO
  /* 
  [
      {
        "identifier": "id",
        "name": "name"
      } 
  ]*/
    groupIdentifier = groupJson.getJsonObject(i).getString("identifier");
    groupName = groupJson.getJsonObject(i).getString("name");
    INSERT INTO eventGroup VALUES (groupIdentifier, groupName);
    INSERT INTO PART_OF VALUES (eventIdentifier,groupIdentifier);
  END;
  
  FOREACH j IN range[0, sourceJson.size()-1] DO
  /*
  [
      {
        "identifier": "id",
        "name": "name",
        "link": "link"
      } 
  ]*/
    sourceIdentifier = sourceJson.getJsonObject(j).getString("identifier");
    sourceName = sourceJson.getJsonObject(j).getString("name");
    sourceLink = sourceJson.getJsonObject(j).getString("link");
    INSERT INTO source VALUES (sourceIdentifier, sourceName, sourceLink);
    INSERT INTO SOURCE VALUES (eventIdentifier event, sourceIdentifier source);
  END;

Both sourceJson and groupJson are received as strings which are parsed to JSON arrays.

This works fine most of the time and the query as a whole can usually be executed very fast. The problem is that occasionally the loops seem to get stuck and iterate forever eventually causing a timeout. The cause of this is unknown and does not seem to be consistent. The same set of parameters may work fine one execution but time out at another. We have also confirmed that the timeouts only happen if both FOREACH loops are used. If one is removed timeouts never occur and everything else works as it should. Does anyone know what is going on?

2

How big can these get?
As in, how big can sourceJson.size() and groupJson.size() get?

3

There is no formal size limit but the largest size we’ve ever had is 13 for sources. Of the events we’ve used so far none was part of more than 5 groups.

EDIT We did try implementing a hard cap of 20 iterations on both loops but the error still popped up.

4

Well that’s just weird.
I guess as a workaround you can split the procedures so there is one loop in each, but otherwise it sounds like a bug.

Any chance you could send us the entire code, plus sample data and schema? Then I’ll open a ticket and see if we can replicate the issue.

5

Oh, and we’ll need to know what you are running on e.g. tgcloud free edition or something else?

6

This is a bit embarrassing but I was able to figure out the cause while assembling sample data. Turns out a very small minority of data samples we had been using had gotten some of their fields to be blank. If this happened to a source or group then it would cause the query to break and timeout. When I had my program emergency fill out any fields it found to be empty it works 100% of the time.

Apologies for wasting your time.

EDIT: For posterity

{
'eventIdentifier': 'identifierfortheevent', 
'jSchema': 'NONE SPECIFIED', 
'eventVersion': '0.0', 
'timestamp': '2021-03-29T16:45:08.682', 
'author': 'tester@testing.team.com', 
'verdict': 'TEST SUCCESSFUL', 
'groups': '[{"identifier":"testidentifierone" ,"name":"test-group.1"},{"identifier":"testidentifiertwo" ,"name":"test-group-2"},{"identifier":"testidentifierthree" ,"name":"test-group-3"}]', 
'sources': '[{"identifier":"" ,"name":"sourceone","link":"https://source.one.com"},{"identifier":"" ,"name":"sourcetwo","link":"https://source.two.com"},{"identifier":"x0400000014C84108" ,"name":"sourcethree","link":"https://source.three.com"},{"identifier":"24123394" ,"name":"sourcefour","link":"https://source.four.com"},{"identifier":"22771634" ,"name":"sourcefive","link":"https://source.five.com"},{"identifier":"24128568" ,"name":"sourcesix","link":"https://source.six.com"},{"identifier":"e58514a13f0254b11ddaa7fbc6a1332cb3e43a9408ab88313b93901dd781773f" ,"name":"sourceseven","link":"https://source.seven.com"},{"identifier":"24126869" ,"name":"sourceight","link":"https://source.eight.com"},{"identifier":"24123309" ,"name":"sourcenine","link":"https://source.nine.com"},{"identifier":"22771641" ,"name":"sourceten","link":"https://source.ten.com"},{"identifier":"24128564" ,"name":"sourceeleven","link":"https://source.eleven.com"},{"identifier":"b4bfff95b74fbd3e217c8465c221b51e0a3f9b5e3b2848583c54a0d0ce43c23b" ,"name":"sourcetwelve","link":"https://source.twelve.com"},{"identifier":"24126884" ,"name":"sourcethirteen","link":"https://source.thirteen.com"}]', 
'link': 'http://www.publisher.testing.link.com', 
'publisherSources': '[{"identifier":"publisherSourceIdentifier","link":"http://www.publisher.source.testing.link.com"}]'

}

CREATE QUERY AddEvent(STRING eventIdentifier, STRING jSchema, STRING eventVersion,     STRING timestamp, STRING author, STRING verdict, STRING groups, STRING sources, STRING link, STRING publisherSources) FOR GRAPH EventTraceability {
  
  
  JSONARRAY groupJson;
  JSONARRAY sourceJson;
  JSONARRAY publisherSourceJson;
  STRING groupName;
  STRING groupIdentifier;
  STRING sourceIdentifier;
  STRING sourceName;
  STRING sourceLink;
  STRING publisherIdentifier;
  groupJson = parse_json_array(groups);
  sourceJson = parse_json_array(sources);
  publisherSourceJson = parse_json_array(publisherSources);
  
  INSERT INTO event VALUES (eventIdentifier, jSchema, eventVersion, timestamp, author, verdict);
    
  FOREACH i IN range[0, groupJson.size()-1] DO
  /* 
  [
      {
        "identifier": "id",
        "name": "name"
      } 
  ]*/
    groupIdentifier = groupJson.getJsonObject(i).getString("identifier");
    groupName = groupJson.getJsonObject(i).getString("name");
    INSERT INTO eventGroup VALUES (groupIdentifier, groupName);
    INSERT INTO PART_OF VALUES (eventIdentifier,groupIdentifier);
  END;
  
  FOREACH j IN range[0, sourceJson.size()-1] DO
  /*
  [
      {
        "identifier": "id",
        "name": "name",
        "link": "link"
      } 
  ]*/
    sourceIdentifier = sourceJson.getJsonObject(j).getString("identifier");
    sourceName = sourceJson.getJsonObject(j).getString("name");
    sourceLink = sourceJson.getJsonObject(j).getString("link");
    INSERT INTO source VALUES (sourceIdentifier, sourceName, sourceLink);
    INSERT INTO SOURCE VALUES (eventIdentifier event, sourceIdentifier source);
  END;
  
  INSERT INTO publisher VALUES (sourceLink);
  INSERT INTO PUBLISHER VALUES (eventIdentifier event, sourceLink);
  
  
  /*
  [
      {
        "identifier": "id",
        "link": "link"
      } 
  ]*/
  publisherIdentifier = publisherSourceJson.getJsonObject(0).getString("identifier");
  INSERT INTO source (PRIMARY_ID, link) VALUES (publisherIdentifier, publisherSourceJson.getJsonObject(0).getString("link"));
  INSERT INTO SOURCE VALUES (link publisher, publisherSourceJson.getJsonObject(0).getString("identifier"));
}

CREATE GRAPH EventTraceability()
CREATE SCHEMA_CHANGE JOB schema_change_job_TevS4H FOR GRAPH EventTraceability { 
  ADD VERTEX event(PRIMARY_ID identifier STRING, schema STRING, eventVersion STRING, timestamp STRING, author STRING, verdict STRING) WITH STATS="OUTDEGREE_BY_EDGETYPE", PRIMARY_ID_AS_ATTRIBUTE="true";
  ADD VERTEX publisher(PRIMARY_ID link STRING) WITH STATS="OUTDEGREE_BY_EDGETYPE", PRIMARY_ID_AS_ATTRIBUTE="true";
  ADD VERTEX source(PRIMARY_ID identifier STRING, name STRING, link STRING) WITH STATS="OUTDEGREE_BY_EDGETYPE";
  ADD VERTEX eventGroup(PRIMARY_ID identifier STRING, name STRING) WITH STATS="OUTDEGREE_BY_EDGETYPE", PRIMARY_ID_AS_ATTRIBUTE="true";
  ADD DIRECTED EDGE PUBLISHER(FROM event, TO publisher) WITH REVERSE_EDGE="reverse_PUBLISHER";
  ADD DIRECTED EDGE SOURCE(FROM publisher, TO source|FROM event, TO source) WITH REVERSE_EDGE="reverse_SOURCE";
  ADD DIRECTED EDGE PART_OF(FROM event, TO eventGroup) WITH REVERSE_EDGE="reverse_PART_OF";
  ADD DIRECTED EDGE CAUSED_BY(FROM event, TO event) WITH REVERSE_EDGE="reverse_CAUSED_BY";
}

Query does not work if the above data is used as-is. If the two empty identifiers are given values then it will work correctly.

7

I’ll take that as a win, to be honest :). I wasn’t looking forward to debugging that one.

Glad you found the problem. I hope TigerGraph keeps on working for you. Feel free to ask questions here or on discord or whatever.

8

Will do. TigerGraph is certainly an interesting platform to work with.