Hi, CQL3 does now support dynamic columns. For tags or metadata values you could use a Collection:
http://www.datastax.com/dev/blog/cql3_collections For wide rows there's the enhanced primary keys, which I personally prefer over the composite columns of yore: http://www.datastax.com/dev/blog/cql3-for-cassandra-experts http://thelastpickle.com/2013/01/11/primary-keys-in-cql/ -- Francisco Andrades Grassi www.bigjocker.com @bigjocker On Jun 6, 2013, at 8:32 AM, Joe Greenawalt <joe.greenaw...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, > I'm having some problems figuring out how to append a dynamic column on a > column family using the datastax java driver 1.0 and CQL3 on Cassandra 1.2.5. > Below is what i'm trying: > > cqlsh:simplex> create table user (firstname text primary key, lastname text); > cqlsh:simplex> insert into user (firstname, lastname) values ('joe','shmoe'); > cqlsh:simplex> select * from user; > > firstname | lastname > -----------+---------- > joe | shmoe > > cqlsh:simplex> insert into user (firstname, lastname, middlename) values > ('joe','shmoe','lester'); > Bad Request: Unknown identifier middlename > cqlsh:simplex> insert into user (firstname, lastname, middlename) values > ('john','shmoe','lester'); > Bad Request: Unknown identifier middlename > > I'm assuming you can do this based on previous based thrift based clients > like pycassa, and also by reading this: > The Cassandra data model is a dynamic schema, column-oriented data model. > This means that, unlike a relational database, you do not need to model all > of the columns required by your application up front, as each row is not > required to have the same set of columns. Columns and their metadata can be > added by your application as they are needed without incurring downtime to > your application. > > here: http://www.datastax.com/docs/1.2/ddl/index > > Is it a limitation of CQL3 and its connection vs. thrift? > Or more likely i'm just doing something wrong? > > Thanks, > Joe
