Creating a user-defined type (UDT)

User-Defined Types (UDTs) can be used to attach multiple data fields to a column.

In Cassandra 2.1 and later, user-defined types (UDTs) can attach multiple data fields, each named and typed, to a single column. The fields used to create a UDT may be any valid data type, including collections and other existing UDTs. Once created, UDTs may be used to define a column in a table.

Procedure

  • Use the cycling keyspace.
    cqlsh> USE cycling;
  • Create a user-defined type named basic_info.
    cqlsh> CREATE TYPE cycling.basic_info (
      birthday timestamp,
      nationality text,
      weight text,
      height text
    );
  • Create a table for storing cyclist data in columns of type basic_info. Use the frozen keyword in the definition of the user-defined type column. In Cassandra 3.6 and later, the frozen keyword is not required for UDTs that contain only non-collection fields.
    When using the frozen keyword, you cannot update parts of a user-defined type value. The entire value must be overwritten. Cassandra treats the value of a frozen, user-defined type like a blob.
    cqlsh> CREATE TABLE cycling.cyclist_stats ( id uuid PRIMARY KEY, lastname text, basics FROZEN<basic_info>);  
  • A user-defined type can be nested in another column type. This example nests a UDT in a list.
    CREATE TYPE cycling.race (race_title text, race_date timestamp, race_time text);
    CREATE TABLE cycling.cyclist_races ( id UUID PRIMARY KEY, lastname text, firstname text, races list<FROZEN <race>> );