Deliberate CouchDB Views

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I was able to get CouchDB map-reduce working yesterday. Even though it is working, I am not sure that I fully understand why it is working. I want to avoid programming by coincidence, so I am taking some time to step back and understand my tool of choice.

To recap, I want a list of every ingredient in all recipes, pointing to each recipe in which they are used:



I was able to accomplish this via CouchDB map-reduces. In temporary view form it looks like the following:



In design document form, this looks like:

{
   "_id": "_design/recipes",
   "_rev": "16-2289953674",
   "views": {
       "by_ingredients": {
           "map": "function (doc) {  for (var i in doc['preparations']) {  
              var ingredient = doc['preparations'][i]['ingredient']['name'];
              var value      = [doc['_id'], doc['title']];
              emit(ingredient, value);  }}",
           "reduce": "function(keys, values, rereduce) { return values; }"
       }
   },
   "language": "javascript"
}

But when I access the view via HTTP, I get this:

cstrom@jaynestown:~/repos/eee-code$ curl "http://localhost:5984/eee/_design/recipes/_view/by_ingredients"
{"rows":[
  {"key":null,"value":[[["2006-06-17-fish","Green Chutney Covered Fish"],
                        ["2006-06-17-shrimp","Curried Shrimp"],
                        ["2007-01-15-soup","Crockpot Lentil Andouille Soup"],
                        ...]]}

CouchDB params are well documented, and I probably just need to read that documentation a little closer. For instance, the reason I am getting the above is because of:

If a view contains both a map and reduce function, querying that view will by default return the result of the reduce function. The result of the map function only may be retrieved by passing reduce=false as a query parameter.

Indeed there are both a map and reduce, so I must be getting the reduce above (though not the one that I want). Passing reduce=false does get me the non-reduced results (the mapped results) that I was getting yesterday before adding the reduce:

cstrom@jaynestown:~/repos/eee-code$ curl "http://localhost:5984/eee/_design/recipes/_view/by_ingredients?reduce=false"
{"total_rows":72,"offset":0,"rows":[
{"id":"2008-07-21-spinach","key":"artichoke hearts","value":["2008-07-21-spinach","Spinach and Artichoke Pie"]},
{"id":"2008-07-19-oatmeal","key":"barley","value":["2008-07-19-oatmeal","Multi-grain Oatmeal"]},
{"id":"2006-10-08-dressing","key":"black pepper","value":["2006-10-08-dressing","Mustard Vinaigrette"]},
{"id":"2008-07-19-oatmeal","key":"brown sugar","value":["2008-07-19-oatmeal","Multi-grain Oatmeal"]},
{"id":"2002-01-13-hollandaise_sauce","key":"butter","value":["2002-01-13-hollandaise_sauce","Hollandaise Sauce"]},
{"id":"2006-07-26-fish","key":"butter","value":["2006-07-26-fish","Pan-Fried Fish with Potato Crust"]},
{"id":"2006-06-17-shrimp","key":"cardamom pod","value":["2006-06-17-shrimp","Curried Shrimp"]},
{"id":"2007-01-15-soup","key":"celery","value":["2007-01-15-soup","Crockpot Lentil Andouille Soup"]},
{"id":"2006-06-17-fish","key":"cilantro","value":["2006-06-17-fish","Green Chutney Covered Fish"]},
{"id":"2006-06-17-raita","key":"cilantro","value":["2006-06-17-raita","Yogurt Raita"]},
{"id":"2006-06-17-shrimp","key":"cinnamon","value":["2006-06-17-shrimp","Curried Shrimp"]},
{"id":"2008-07-19-oatmeal","key":"cinnamon","value":["2008-07-19-oatmeal","Multi-grain Oatmeal"]},
...

So what was that first result? That is not that reduced set that I want. I want the reduced set that I saw above in futon. Again, actually reading the documentation, I find:

Keep in mind that the the Futon Web-Client silently adds group=true to your views

In desperation last night I added the group=true option in order to get the results I desired, but did not fully understand. At the very least, I am not relying on undocumented behavior that is likely to change in a future CouchDB release. For that alone, I feel much better.

But what does group=true actually do? According to the documentation:

The group option controls whether the reduce function reduces to a set of distinct keys or to a single result row.

It would seem that group=false is the default. When I access it with group=true, I get my desired results (as I did last night):

cstrom@jaynestown:~/repos/eee-code$ curl "http://localhost:5984/eee/_design/recipes/_view/by_ingredients?group=true"
{"rows":[
{"key":"artichoke hearts","value":[["2008-07-21-spinach","Spinach and Artichoke Pie"]]},
{"key":"barley","value":[["2008-07-19-oatmeal","Multi-grain Oatmeal"]]},
{"key":"black pepper","value":[["2006-10-08-dressing","Mustard Vinaigrette"]]},
{"key":"brown sugar","value":[["2008-07-19-oatmeal","Multi-grain Oatmeal"]]},
{"key":"butter","value":[["2006-07-26-fish","Pan-Fried Fish with Potato Crust"],["2002-01-13-hollandaise_sauce","Hollandaise Sauce"]]},
{"key":"cardamom pod","value":[["2006-06-17-shrimp","Curried Shrimp"]]},
{"key":"celery","value":[["2007-01-15-soup","Crockpot Lentil Andouille Soup"]]},
{"key":"cilantro","value":[["2006-06-17-raita","Yogurt Raita"],["2006-06-17-fish","Green Chutney Covered Fish"]]},
{"key":"cinnamon","value":[["2008-07-19-oatmeal","Multi-grain Oatmeal"],["2006-06-17-shrimp","Curried Shrimp"]]},
...

I understand this well enough to proceed. I am still not sure why the default is not to group the results. Why would I want a single result row? It certainly does not provide useful results in the case where I reduce to a list of recipes. Perhaps it proves useful in the case when reducing to a count or when making use of the rereduce parameter to the map function. Maybe, but why make it the default?

Something to learn another day. For now, I am satisfied that I can build on my current understanding. It should prove more than adequate for the meal / blog work that is coming up this week.