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## Multi-function operations

Multi-function operations allow running operations as a set of separate steps, which gives you better control over execution. They work by splitting some of the reads and writes into several function calls.

You can use multi-function operations to execute text queries and prepared statements, and through the dynamic or the static interface.

#### Protocol primer

To make a good use of multi-function operations, you should have a basic understanding of the underlying protocol.

The protocol uses messages to communicate. These are delimited by headers containing the message length. All operations are initiated by the client, by sending a single request message, to which the server responds with a set of response messages.

The diagram below shows the message exchange between client and server for text queries and statement executions. Each arrow represents a message.

There are two separate cases:

- If your query retrieved at least one column (even if no rows were generated), we're in case 1. The server sends:
  - An initial packet informing that the query executed correctly, and that we're in case 1.
  - Some matadata packets describing the columns that the query retrieved. These become available to the user and are necessary to parse the rows.
  - The actual rows.
  - An OK packet, which marks the end of the resultset and contains information like `last_insert_id` and `affected_rows`.
- If your query didn't retrieve any column, we're in case 2. The server will just send an OK packet, with the same information as in case 1.

`connection::execute` handles the full message exchange. In contrast, `connection::start_execution` will not read the rows, if any.

Some takeaways:

- The distinction between single-function and multi-function operations exists only in the client. The wire messages exchanged by both are the same.
- There is no way to tell how many rows a resultset has upfront. You need to read row by row until you find the OK packet marking the end of the resultset.
- When the server processes the request message, it sends all the response messages immediately. These responses will be waiting in the client to be read. If you don't read all of them, subsequent operations will mistakenly read them as their response, causing packet mismatches. Be careful and don't let this happen!

#### Using multi-function operations through the dynamic interface

`execution_state` is the main class for the dynamic interface in multi-function operations. An execution state holds information required to progress the execution operation, like metadata (required to parse the rows) and protocol state. Contrary to `results`, it doesn't contain the rows.

Given the following table definition:

    const char* table_definition = R"%(
        CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE posts (
            id INT PRIMARY KEY AUTO_INCREMENT,
            title VARCHAR (256) NOT NULL,
            body TEXT NOT NULL
        )
    )%";

You can start a multi-function operation using `connection::start_execution`:

    // st will hold information about the operation being executed.
    // It must be passed to any successive operations for this execution
    execution_state st;

    // Sends the query and reads response and meta, but not the rows
    conn.start_execution("SELECT title, body FROM posts", st);

We now must read all the generated rows by calling `connection::read_some_rows`, which will return a batch of an unspecified size:

    // st.complete() returns true once the OK packet is received
    while (!st.complete())
    {
        // row_batch will be valid until conn performs the next network operation
        rows_view row_batch = conn.read_some_rows(st);

        for (row_view post : row_batch)
        {
            // Process post as required
            std::cout << "Title:" << post.at(0) << std::endl;
        }
    }

Some remarks:

- If there are rows to be read, `read_some_rows` will return at least one, but may return more.
- `execution_state::complete` returns `true` after we've read the final OK packet for this operation.
- The final `row_batch` may or may not be empty, depending on the number of rows and their size.
- Calling `read_some_rows` after reading the final OK packet returns an empty batch.

`read_some_rows` returns a `rows_view` object pointing into the connection's internal buffer. This view is valid until the connection performs any other operation involving a network transfer.

Note that there is no need to distinguish between case 1 and case 2 in the diagram above in our code, as reading rows for a complete operation is well defined.

#### Using multi-function operations through the static interface

The mechanics are similar to what's been exposed above. The static interface uses `static_execution_state` to carry state. As with `static_results`, we must define and pass a type describing our rows:

    // We can use a plain struct with ints and strings to describe our rows.
    // This must be placed at the namespace level
    struct post
    {
        int id;
        std::string title;
        std::string body;
    };

    // We use BOOST_DESCRIBE_STRUCT to add reflection capabilities to post.
    // We must list all the fields that should be populated by Boost.MySQL
    BOOST_DESCRIBE_STRUCT(post, (), (id, title, body))

We can now start our operation using the same `connection::start_execution`:

    // st will hold information about the operation being executed.
    // It must be passed to any successive operations for this execution
    static_execution_state<post> st;

    // Sends the query and reads response and meta, but not the rows.
    // If there is any schema mismatch between the declared row type and
    // what the server returned, start_execution will detect it and fail
    conn.start_execution("SELECT id, title, body FROM posts", st);

We now must read all the generated rows by calling `connection::read_some_rows`:

    // storage will be filled with the read rows. You can use any other contiguous range.
    std::array<post, 20> posts;

    // st.complete() returns true once the OK packet is received
    while (!st.complete())
    {
        std::size_t read_rows = conn.read_some_rows(st, boost::span<post>(posts));
        for (const post& p : boost::span<post>(posts.data(), read_rows))
        {
            // Process post as required
            std::cout << "Title " << p.title << std::endl;
        }
    }

Some remarks:

- `static_execution_state` doesn't store rows anyhow. It uses the row types passed as template parameters to validate the metadata returned by the server, and ensure it is compatible with the C++ data structures that will be used with `read_some_rows`.
- We must pass `read_some_rows` a `boost::span` of the appropriate row type. We've used `std::array` to place rows on the stack, but you can use any other contiguous range.
- `read_some_rows` returns the number of read rows. At maximum, this will be the size of the span, but there may be less, depending on row and network buffer sizes.
- If there are rows to be read, `read_some_rows` will return at least one, but may return more.
- `execution_state::complete` returns `true` after we've read the final OK packet for this operation.
- The final read may or may not return rows, depending on the number of rows and their size.
- Calling `read_some_rows` after reading the final OK packet always reads zero rows.

#### Accessing metadata and OK packet data

You can access metadata at any point, using `execution_state::meta` or `static_execution_state::meta`. This function returns a collection of `metadata` objects. For more information, plase refer to this section.

You can access OK packet data using functions like `last_insert_id` and `affected_rows` in both `execution_state` and `static_execution_state`. As this information is contained in the OK packet, it can only be accessed once the `complete` function returns `true`.

#### Using multi-function operations with stored procedures and multi-queries

When using operations that return more than one resultset (e.g. when calling stored procedures), the protocol is slightly more complex:

The message exchange is as follows:

- A single execution request is sent to the server.
- The server sends a first resultset, as in the single resultset case. The OK packet contains a flag indicating that another resultset follows.
- Another resultset is sent, with the same structure as the previous one. The process is repeated until an OK packet indicates that no more resultsets follow.

For example, given the following stored procedure:

    CREATE PROCEDURE get_company(IN pin_company_id CHAR(10))
    BEGIN
        START TRANSACTION READ ONLY;
        SELECT id, name, tax_id FROM company WHERE id = pin_company_id;
        SELECT first_name, last_name, salary FROM employee WHERE company_id = pin_company_id;
        COMMIT;
    END

We can write:

Dynamic interface | Static interface
--- | ---

    // Get the company ID to retrieve, possibly from the user
    std::string company_id = get_company_id();

    // Call the procedure
    execution_state st;
    statement stmt = conn.prepare_statement("CALL get_employees(?)");
    conn.start_execution(stmt.bind(company_id), st);

    // The above code will generate 3 resultsets
    // Read the 1st one, which contains the matched companies
    while (st.should_read_rows())
    {
        rows_view company_batch = conn.read_some_rows(st);

        // Use the retrieved companies as required
        for (row_view company : company_batch)
        {
            std::cout << "Company: " << company.at(1).as_string() << "\n";
        }
    }

    // Move on to the 2nd one, containing the employees for these companies
    conn.read_resultset_head(st);
    while (st.should_read_rows())
    {
        rows_view employee_batch = conn.read_some_rows(st);

        // Use the retrieved employees as required
        for (row_view employee : employee_batch)
        {
            std::cout << "Employee " << employee.at(0).as_string() << " " << employee.at(1).as_string()
                      << "\n";
        }
    }

    // The last one is an empty resultset containing information about the
    // CALL statement itself. We're not interested in this
    conn.read_resultset_head(st);
    assert(st.complete());

    // Get the company ID to retrieve, possibly from the user
    std::string company_id = get_company_id();

    // Our procedure generates three resultsets. We must pass each row type
    // to static_execution_state as template parameters
    using empty = std::tuple<>;
    static_execution_state<company, employee, empty> st;

    // Call the procedure
    statement stmt = conn.prepare_statement("CALL get_employees(?)");
    conn.start_execution(stmt.bind(company_id), st);

    // Read the 1st one, which contains the matched companies
    std::array<company, 5> companies;
    while (st.should_read_rows())
    {
        std::size_t read_rows = conn.read_some_rows(st, boost::span<company>(companies));

        // Use the retrieved companies as required
        for (const company& c : boost::span<company>(companies.data(), read_rows))
        {
            std::cout << "Company: " << c.name << "\n";
        }
    }

    // Move on to the 2nd one, containing the employees for these companies
    conn.read_resultset_head(st);
    std::array<employee, 20> employees;
    while (st.should_read_rows())
    {
        std::size_t read_rows = conn.read_some_rows(st, boost::span<employee>(employees));

        // Use the retrieved companies as required
        for (const employee& emp : boost::span<employee>(employees.data(), read_rows))
        {
            std::cout << "Employee " << emp.first_name << " " << emp.last_name << "\n";
        }
    }

    // The last one is an empty resultset containing information about the
    // CALL statement itself. We're not interested in this
    conn.read_resultset_head(st);
    assert(st.complete());

Note that we're using `should_read_rows` instead of `complete` as our loop termination condition. `complete()` returns true when all the resultsets have been read, while `should_read_rows()` will return false once an individual result has been fully read.

When using the static interface with multi-function operations, not all schema mismatches can be found by the `start_execution` function, since not all the information is available at this point. Errors may be reported by `read_some_rows` and `read_resultset_head`, too. Overall, the same checks are performed as when using `connection::execute`, but at different points in time.

#### Multi-resultset in the general case

`execution_state` and `static_execution_state` can be seen as state machines with four states. Each state describes which reading function should be invoked next:

- `should_start_op`: the initial state, after you default-construct an `execution_state`. You should call `connection::start_execution` or `connection::async_start_execution` to start the operation.
- `should_read_rows`: the next operation should be `connection::read_some_rows`, to read the generated rows.
- `should_read_head`: the next operation should be `connection::read_resultset_head`, to read the next resultset metadata. Only operations that generate multiple resultsets go into this state.
- `complete`: no more operations are required.

For multi-function operations, you may also access OK packet data ever time a resultset has completely been read, i.e. when `should_read_head` returns `true`.

This example shows this general case. It uses multi-queries to run an arbitrary SQL script file.

#### More on read_some_rows

To properly understand `read_some_rows`, we need to know that every `connection` owns an internal buffer, where packets sent by the server are stored. It is a single, flat buffer, and you can configure its initial size when creating a `connection`, passing a `buffer_params` object as the first argument to `connection`'s constructor. The read buffer may be grown under certain circumstances to accommodate large messages.

`read_some_rows` gets the maximum number of rows that fit in the internal buffer (without growing it) performing a single `read_some` operation on the stream (or using cached data). If there are rows to read, `read_some_rows` guarantees to read at least one. This means that, if doing what we described yields no rows (e.g. because of a large row that doesn't fit into the buffer), `read_some_rows` will grow the buffer or perform more reads until at least one row has been read. If you're using the static interface, the number of read rows is limited by the size of span you passed, too.

If you want to get the most of `read_some_rows`, customize the initial buffer size to maximize the number of rows that each batch retrieves.