==========
Savepoints
==========

Savepoints provide a way to save to disk intermediate work done during a
transaction allowing:

- partial transaction (subtransaction) rollback (abort)

- state of saved objects to be freed, freeing on-line memory for other
  uses

Savepoints make it possible to write atomic subroutines that don't make
top-level transaction commitments.


Applications
------------

To demonstrate how savepoints work with transactions, we'll show an example.

    >>> import ZODB.tests.util
    >>> db = ZODB.tests.util.DB()
    >>> connection = db.open()
    >>> root = connection.root()
    >>> root['name'] = 'bob'

As with other data managers, we can commit changes:

    >>> import transaction
    >>> transaction.commit()
    >>> root['name']
    'bob'

and abort changes:

    >>> root['name'] = 'sally'
    >>> root['name']
    'sally'
    >>> transaction.abort()
    >>> root['name']
    'bob'

Now, let's look at an application that manages funds for people.  It allows
deposits and debits to be entered for multiple people.  It accepts a sequence
of entries and generates a sequence of status messages.  For each entry, it
applies the change and then validates the user's account.  If the user's
account is invalid, we roll back the change for that entry.  The success or
failure of an entry is indicated in the output status.  First we'll initialize
some accounts:

    >>> root['bob-balance'] = 0.0
    >>> root['bob-credit'] = 0.0
    >>> root['sally-balance'] = 0.0
    >>> root['sally-credit'] = 100.0
    >>> transaction.commit()

Now, we'll define a validation function to validate an account:

    >>> def validate_account(name):
    ...     if root[name+'-balance'] + root[name+'-credit'] < 0:
    ...         raise ValueError('Overdrawn', name)

And a function to apply entries.  If the function fails in some unexpected
way, it rolls back all of its changes and prints the error:

    >>> def apply_entries(entries):
    ...     savepoint = transaction.savepoint()
    ...     try:
    ...         for name, amount in entries:
    ...             entry_savepoint = transaction.savepoint()
    ...             try:
    ...                 root[name+'-balance'] += amount
    ...                 validate_account(name)
    ...             except ValueError, error:
    ...                 entry_savepoint.rollback()
    ...                 print 'Error', str(error)
    ...             else:
    ...                 print 'Updated', name
    ...     except Exception, error:
    ...         savepoint.rollback()
    ...         print 'Unexpected exception', error

Now let's try applying some entries:

    >>> apply_entries([
    ...     ('bob',   10.0),
    ...     ('sally', 10.0),
    ...     ('bob',   20.0),
    ...     ('sally', 10.0),
    ...     ('bob',   -100.0),
    ...     ('sally', -100.0),
    ...     ])
    Updated bob
    Updated sally
    Updated bob
    Updated sally
    Error ('Overdrawn', 'bob')
    Updated sally

    >>> root['bob-balance']
    30.0

    >>> root['sally-balance']
    -80.0

If we provide entries that cause an unexpected error:

    >>> apply_entries([
    ...     ('bob',   10.0),
    ...     ('sally', 10.0),
    ...     ('bob',   '20.0'),
    ...     ('sally', 10.0),
    ...     ])
    Updated bob
    Updated sally
    Unexpected exception unsupported operand type(s) for +=: 'float' and 'str'

Because the apply_entries used a savepoint for the entire function, it was
able to rollback the partial changes without rolling back changes made in the
previous call to ``apply_entries``:

    >>> root['bob-balance']
    30.0

    >>> root['sally-balance']
    -80.0

If we now abort the outer transactions, the earlier changes will go
away:

    >>> transaction.abort()

    >>> root['bob-balance']
    0.0

    >>> root['sally-balance']
    0.0


Savepoint invalidation
----------------------

A savepoint can be used any number of times:

    >>> root['bob-balance'] = 100.0
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    100.0
    >>> savepoint = transaction.savepoint()

    >>> root['bob-balance'] = 200.0
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    200.0
    >>> savepoint.rollback()
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    100.0

    >>> savepoint.rollback()  # redundant, but should be harmless
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    100.0

    >>> root['bob-balance'] = 300.0
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    300.0
    >>> savepoint.rollback()
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    100.0

However, using a savepoint invalidates any savepoints that come after it:

    >>> root['bob-balance'] = 200.0
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    200.0
    >>> savepoint1 = transaction.savepoint()

    >>> root['bob-balance'] = 300.0
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    300.0
    >>> savepoint2 = transaction.savepoint()

    >>> savepoint.rollback()
    >>> root['bob-balance']
    100.0

    >>> savepoint2.rollback()
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
    InvalidSavepointRollbackError

    >>> savepoint1.rollback()
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    ...
    InvalidSavepointRollbackError

    >>> transaction.abort()