Release: AWS SDK for .NET 1.5.1

In this release, .NET SDK is adding support for Amazon DynamoDB Binary types. This will allow you to store arbitrary binary data in a Amazon DynamoDB item.

The sample below shows how to store binary data into Amazon DynamoDB using the base API.

				   
Dictionary<string, AttributeValue> item = new Dictionary<string,AttributeValue>();
item["Id"] = new AttributeValue { N = "3" };
item["Email"] = new AttributeValue { S = "example@sample.com" };
item["Binary"] = new AttributeValue { B = new MemoryStream(new byte[] { 42, 91, 12 }) };
item["BinarySet"] = new AttributeValue {
	BS = new List<MemoryStream> {
		new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Once upon a midnight dreary,")),
		new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("while I pondered weak and weary")), } };
PutItemRequest request = new PutItemRequest {
	TableName = "SampleTable",
	Item = item };
client.PutItem(request);
				   

Binary support has also been added to the higher-level Amazon DynamoDB namespaces, Amazon.DynamoDB.DocumentModel and Amazon.DynamoDB.DataModel. The next sample shows how to store binary data into Amazon DynamoDB using the Table and Document objects.

var table = Table.LoadTable(client, "SampleBinaryTable");

Document document = new Document();
document["Id"] = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Tom Sawyer");
document["Sequence"] = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("1");
document["Data"] = new List<MemoryStream> {
	new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Mississippi River")),
	new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("St. Petersburg")) };
table.PutItem(document);
				   

These last two examples show how byte[]/MemoryStream types can be used in a persisted class without the need for converters.

[DynamoDBTable("SampleBinaryTable")]
public class BinaryPerson
{
	[DynamoDBHashKey]
	public byte[] Id { get; set; }

	[DynamoDBRangeKey]
	public MemoryStream Sequence { get; set; }

	public List<MemoryStream> Data { get; set; }
}
				   

DynamoDBContext context = new DynamoDBContext(client);
BinaryPerson person = new BinaryPerson
{
	Id = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Huckleberry Finn"),
	Sequence = new MemoryStream(new byte[] { 50 } ),
	Data = new List<MemoryStream> {
		new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("Mississippi River")),
		new MemoryStream(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("St. Petersburg")) }
};
context.Save(person);
				   

Note: this addition necessitates a number of breaking changes. They are as follows:

• Changes to type Amazon.DynamoDB.DocumentModel.Primitive
  • New constructors are added that can accept MemoryStream or byte[] as values
  • Value property has been changed from type string to type object
  • SaveAsNumeric property has been replaced with Type property
  • Added methods to convert Primitive to/from MemoryStream and byte[]
• Changes to type Amazon.DynamoDB.DocumentModel.PrimitiveList
  • Removed constructor that takes bool saveAsNumeric and replaced with constructor that takes DynamoDBEntryType type
  • SaveAsNumeric property has been replaced with Type property
  • Added methods to convert PrimitiveList to/from List<MemoryStream> and List<byte[]>
• Changes to type Amazon.DynamoDB.DocumentModel.Table
  • Added properties HashKeyType and RangeKeyType, which identify the key schema for the table
  • Properties HashKeyIsNumeric and RangeKeyIsNumeric have been marked as obsolete