How to implement transactions in Meteor Method calls - meteor

Question

Suppose I have 2 collections "PlanSubscriptions" and "ClientActivations". I am serially doing a insert on both the collections.
Later one depends on previous one, if any of the transaction fails then the entire operation must rollback.
How can I achieve that in Meteor 1.4?

Answer 1

Since MongoDB doesn't support atomicity, you will have to manage it with Method Chaining.
You can write a method, say, transaction where you will call PlanSubscriptions.insert(data, callback). Then in the callback function you will call ClientActivations.insert(data, callback1) if the first insertion is success and in callback1 return truthy if second insertion is succes, otherwise falsy. If the first insertion returns error you don't need to do anything, but if the second insertion returns error then remove the id got from the insertion in first collection.
I can suggest following structure:
'transaction'(){
PlanSubscriptions.insert(data, (error, result)=>{
if(result){
// result contains the _id
let id_plan = result;
ClientActivations.insert(data, (error, result)=>{
if(result){
// result contains the _id
return true;
}
else if(error){
PlanSubscriptions.remove(id_plan);
return false;
}
})
}
else if(error){
return false;
}
})
}

Answer 2

There is no way to do that in Meteor, since mongodb is not an ACID-compliant database. It has a single-document update atomicity, but not a multiple-document one, which is your case with the two collections.
From the mongo documentation:
When a single write operation modifies multiple documents, the modification of each document is atomic, but the operation as a whole is not atomic and other operations may interleave.
A way to isolate the visibility of your multi-document updates is available, but it's probably not what you need.
Using the $isolated operator, a write operation that affects multiple documents can prevent other processes from interleaving once the write operation modifies the first document. This ensures that no client sees the changes until the write operation completes or errors out.
An isolated write operation does not provide “all-or-nothing” atomicity. That is, an error during the write operation does not roll back all its changes that preceded the error.
However, there are a couple of libraries which try to tackle the problem at the app-level. I recommend taking a look at fawn
In your case, where you have exactly two dependent collections, it's possible to take advantage of the two phase commits technique. Read more about it here: two-phase-commits

Answer 3

Well I figured it out myself.
I added a package babrahams:transactions
At server side Meteor Method call, I called tx Object that is globally exposed by the package. The overall Server Side Meteor.method({}) looks like below.
import { Meteor } from 'meteor/meteor';
import {PlanSubscriptions} from '/imports/api/plansubscriptions/plansubscriptions.js';
import {ClientActivations} from '/imports/api/clientactivation/clientactivations.js';
Meteor.methods({
'createClientSubscription' (subscriptionData, clientActivationData) {
var txid;
try {
txid = tx.start("Adding Subscription to our database");
PlanSubscriptions.insert(subscriptionData, {tx: true})
ClientActivations.insert(activation, {tx: true});
tx.commit();
return true;
} catch(e){
tx.undo(txid);
}
return false;
}
});
With every insert I had added {tx : true}, this concluded it to be a apart of transaction.
Server Console Output:
I20170523-18:43:23.544(5.5)? Started "Adding Subscription to our database" with
transaction_id: vdJQvFgtyZuWcinyF
I20170523-18:43:23.547(5.5)? Pushed insert command to stack: vdJQvFgtyZuWcinyF
I20170523-18:43:23.549(5.5)? Pushed insert command to stack: vdJQvFgtyZuWcinyF
I20170523-18:43:23.551(5.5)? Beginning commit with transaction_id: vdJQvFgtyZuWcinyF
I20170523-18:43:23.655(5.5)? Executed insert
I20170523-18:43:23.666(5.5)? Executed insert
I20170523-18:43:23.698(5.5)? Commit reset transaction manager to clean state
For more Information you can goto link : https://github.com/JackAdams/meteor-transactions
NOTE: I am using Meteor 1.4.4.2

Answer 4

Just sharing this link for future readers:
https://forums.meteor.com/t/solved-transactions-with-mongodb-meteor-methods/48677
import { MongoInternals } from 'meteor/mongo';
// utility async function to wrap async raw mongo operations with a transaction
const runTransactionAsync = async asyncRawMongoOperations => {
// setup a transaction
const { client } = MongoInternals.defaultRemoteCollectionDriver().mongo;
const session = await client.startSession();
await session.startTransaction();
try {
// running the async operations
let result = await asyncRawMongoOperations(session);
await session.commitTransaction();
// transaction committed - return value to the client
return result;
} catch (err) {
await session.abortTransaction();
console.error(err.message);
// transaction aborted - report error to the client
throw new Meteor.Error('Database Transaction Failed', err.message);
} finally {
session.endSession();
}
};
import { runTransactionAsync } from '/imports/utils'; // or where you defined it
Meteor.methods({
async doSomething(arg) {
// remember to check method input first
// define the operations we want to run in transaction
const asyncRawMongoOperations = async session => {
// it's critical to receive the session parameter here
// and pass it to every raw operation as shown below
const item = await collection1.rawCollection().findOne(arg, { session: session });
const response = await collection2.rawCollection().insertOne(item, { session: session });
// if Mongo or you throw an error here runTransactionAsync(..) will catch it
// and wrap it with a Meteor.Error(..) so it will arrive to the client safely
return 'whatever you want'; // will be the result in the client
};
let result = await runTransactionAsync(asyncRawMongoOperations);
return result;
}
});