Repeated MySQL queries from Python return the same data

Viewed 1319

I need to repeatedly query a MySQL DB from Python, as the data is rapidly changing. Each time the data is read, it is transferred into a list.

I had assumed that simply putting the query in a loop would fetch the data from the database on each iteration. It seems not.

import mysql.connector
from mysql.connector import Error
from time import sleep

# Create empty list to store values from database.
listSize = 100
myList = []

for i in range(listSize):
    myList.append([[0,0,0]])

# Connect to MySQL Server
mydb = mysql.connector.connect(host='localhost',
                               database='db',
                               user='user',
                               password='pass')

# Main loop
while True:

    # SQL query
    sql = "SELECT * FROM table"

    # Read the database, store as a dictionary
    mycursor = mydb.cursor(dictionary=True)
    mycursor.execute(sql)

    # Store data in rows
    myresult = mycursor.fetchall()

    # Transfer data into list
    for row in myresult:
        myList[int(row["rowID"])] = (row["a"], row["b"], row["c"])

        print(myList[int(row["rowID"])])

    print("---")
    sleep (0.1)

I have tried using fetchall, fetchmany, and fetchone.

3 Answers

You need to commit the connection after each query. This commits the current transaction and ensures that the next (implicit) transaction will pick up changes made while the previous transaction was active.

# Main loop
while True:

    # SQL query
    sql = "SELECT * FROM table"

    # Read the database, store as a dictionary
    mycursor = mydb.cursor(dictionary=True)
    mycursor.execute(sql)

    # Store data in rows
    myresult = mycursor.fetchall()

    # Transfer data into list
    for row in myresult:
        myList[int(row["rowID"])] = (row["a"], row["b"], row["c"])

        print(myList[int(row["rowID"])])

    # Commit !
    mydb.commit()
    print("---")
    sleep (0.1)

The concept here is isolation levels. From the docs (emphasis mine):

REPEATABLE READ

This is the default isolation level for InnoDB. Consistent reads within the same transaction read the snapshot established by the first read.

I'd make a few changes. First, declare the cursor before the while loop. I would also do a buffered cursor. And finally, close the cursor and DB after the file is done. Hope this helps.

import mysql.connector
from mysql.connector import Error
from time import sleep

# Create empty list to store values from database.
listSize = 100
myList = []

for i in range(listSize):
    myList.append([[0,0,0]])

# Connect to MySQL Server
mydb = mysql.connector.connect(host='localhost',
                               database='db',
                               user='user',
                               password='pass')
mycursor = mydb.cursor(buffered=True, dictionary=True)

# Main loop
while True:

    # SQL query
    sql = "SELECT * FROM table"

    # Read the database, store as a dictionary
    mycursor.execute(sql)

    # Store data in rows
    myresult = mycursor.fetchall()

    # Transfer data into list
    for row in myresult:
        myList[int(row["rowID"])] = (row["a"], row["b"], row["c"])

        print(myList[int(row["rowID"])])

    print("---")
    sleep (0.1)
mycursor.close()
mydb.close()

For SqlAlchemy you need to close the session to get last changes:

try:
    results = session.query(TableName).all()

    return results

except Exception as e:
    print(e)
    return e

finally:
    session.close()  # optional, depends on use case
Related