questdb / questdb/questdb

Unsupported type (bytea) in BINARY inserts

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Postgres Wire
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Description

Describe the bug
When inserting binary data, QuestDB throws unsupported type error for the bytea type.

To Reproduce

Inserting b string using psycopg2 via Python:

import psycopg2
import datetime

connection = psycopg2.connect(
  user="admin",
  password="quest",
  host="127.0.0.1",
  port="8812",
  database="qdb")

cursor = connection.cursor()

try:
  cursor = connection.cursor()
  cursor.execute("CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS binary_table (ts TIMESTAMP, name STRING, binary_data BINARY) timestamp(ts);")
  connection.commit()
  
  dt = datetime.datetime.utcnow()
  timestamp = dt.strftime('%Y-%M-%dT%H:%M:%S.%s')
  
  cursor.execute("INSERT INTO binary_table VALUES (%s,%s,%s))", (timestamp, 'Hello', b'b string'))
  connection.commit()

  print (cursor.rowcount, "Successfully inserted") 

except(Exception, psycopg2.Error) as error:
    print("Error connecting to QuestDB", error)
    connection = None

finally:
    if(connection != None):
        cursor.close()
        connection.close()
        print("Connection closed")

Error:

Error connecting to QuestDB unsupported type
LINE 1: ...T11:02:26.1625475746','Hello','\\x6220737472696e67'::bytea))
                                                                ^

When using the psychopg2 wrapper for binary data, this will also fail:

  bin_data = open('test.png', 'rb').read()
  cursor.execute("INSERT INTO binary_table VALUES (%s,%s,%s))", (timestamp, 'Hello', psycopg2.Binary(bin_data)))

err:

Error connecting to QuestDB unsupported type
LINE 1: ...b500e0ff0115c59a6b736d62550000000049454e44ae426082'::bytea))
                                                                ^

Environment (please complete the following information):

  • OS: macOS 11.04
  • Version: 6.0.3

Additional context

Note that prepared statements instead of inserting hex strings directly fails using Node.js pg package:

const { Client } = require("pg");
const fs = require("fs");

const buffer = fs.readFileSync("./test.png");

const start = async () => {
  try {
    const client = new Client({
      database: "qdb",
      host: "127.0.0.1",
      password: "quest",
      port: 8812,
      user: "admin",
    });
    await client.connect();
    const createTable = await client.query(
      "CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS binary_table_2 (name STRING, value BINARY);"
    );
    console.log(createTable);
    // Providing a 'name' field allows for prepared statements / bind variables
    const query = {
      name: "insert-values",
      text: "INSERT INTO binary_table_2 VALUES($1, $2);",
      values: ["node binary insert", buffer],
    };
    const preparedStatement = await client.query(query);
    await client.query("COMMIT");
    await client.end();
  } catch (e) {
    console.log(e);
  }
};

start();

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No repository files or tests are named. Reproduce the BINARY insert with psycopg2 and Node.js pg, then trace the PostgreSQL-compatible insert handling for the bytea cast and prepared bind value. Done means both client examples insert binary data successfully without an unsupported type error.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, postgresql, python
Domain
databases
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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