Introduction to SQL Server Graph DB

Introduction to
SQL Server Graph DB
Salt Lake City SQL Server User Group
Greg McMurray – November 2018

GREG MCMURRAY
• Experience in Aerospace, Branding & Marketing,
Energy, Healthcare, Software
• Currently Senior Software Engineer at WECC
• Co-Founder of Aritus Computer Services, L.L.C.
• President of SharePoint / Office 365
and Dynamics 365 User Groups
• Find me online:
- @goyuix
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/goyuix
- https://stackoverflow.com/cv/goyuix
( top 2% of users )

WECC
• OUR MISSION:
“To effectively and efficiently reduce risks to the reliability and security of
the Western Interconnection’s Bulk Power System”
• Approved Regional Entity by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
• Creation, Monitoring, and Enforcement of Reliability Standards
• Develop datasets, reports, and tools in addition to reliability and
performance assessments, to provide independent perspective
• We cover 14 states, 2 provinces, and part of Baja Mexico

WHAT IS A GRAPH DATABASE?
• Nodes & Edges
– Nodes represent an entity
– Edges represent relationships
– Unidirectional: From & To
• Nodes & Edges can have properties
• Each database contains a single graph
– All Nodes & Edges are part of the same graph
– Even if they don’t “connect”
– Can be in any schema

WHAT ARE GRAPHS GOOD AT?
• Unlike Batman - Relationships
– Query to find out how entities are related
– Search for relationship similarities between entities
– Discover centrality or influence scores among related entities
• Not ideal for questions like
– Search for all entities with a specific attribute
– Aggregate data from entities
– Things relational DBs are already great at
•

DEMO – CREATE A GRAPH
CREATE TABLE Meetup
(ID INTEGER PRIMARY KEY, Title VARCHAR(100))
AS NODE;
CREATE TABLE Technology (Tag VARCHAR(100))
AS EDGE;

DEMO – POPULATE SOME DATA
INSERT INTO Meetup VALUES(1, 'SLCSQL')
INSERT INTO Meetup VALUES(2, 'UTSPUG')
INSERT INTO Meetup VALUES(3, 'CRMUG')
INSERT INTO Technology VALUES(
(SELECT $node_id FROM Meetup WHERE Title = 'SLCSQL'),
(SELECT $node_id FROM Meetup WHERE Title = 'UTSPUG'),
'Microsoft SQL Server'
)

ASCII ART
:MMMMH:
:XMMMM$M$RX
MMM$$MXM!$MX
XMMMMR$MMM!MMX
MMMRMM$$MMX!!MX XMM
<MMMMMMMRMMM!!MM> XMM!
XMMMMMMMMM!!!!!MXXHHMMMMMMXXMMM!!!~~!M?M~
XMMMM?~ !M8!!!!MMMMMMMMMM??~~~~~ <X! ~
'MMMM> MMX!:HMMM!~ ~ '! `!!HX.
'MMMMM :MMM!~~ ~ '~: ~ ~~ <~ ~ !MX:
~MMMMM:~!MMM~~ <~ ':!XXXHMMMMMHH!: ~MMMx ..:...
!MMMM! ~~~~ ~<XHMMMMMMM!?MMMMMMMMMM~ ~MMMMHMMMMMMMMMMH.
MMMM! ~ ~ XMMM~ `?MMMMMX ?MM?!!!XX!?MMMMM
XMM~~ ~~ <MM? !MMMM!: 'M!!!!!!!:!M!MMM!
XMM!~ `~ XMM `MMMM 'MX<XXHXHMMMMMMMM
'MMMX~ ~ XM~ ?MM!<~!X~?M~~~~~MMMM$M~
MMMMM! ~MMX~~~!~~! XMMMMM
:MM~!MM!~ MMM: <~ ~~~ MMMMM!
XM!: ~~ 'MM!:` ~XH! .MMMMM
MM~ .~ XX ~ ~!MMMMMMMMMMX
! 'MM~ ~~X !!~ '~~XMMMMMMMMM~
~!'MM!`~!X !~ ~:MM?~```
!: !MM!!!!! ~ `:XMX
!x ~MM`H!~ ' :HMMMM!
::MX ~ X! 'MM '~!??MMM>
!M!MM??~`?~ !~ M M .. ~~~!~:MX
~?!X. ! XXMM X`M !~!!~MM!
.XHMM !MMf < XM !~!!:MM
.!?~ ` ~~ MMM! :!!~!!MX
~MM 'HXMHMMMM
X:::. < !!!: ' !MMMMMM!:XH!
```~M> < .XMMMM@HXH<`. ~!~`~M??~`
XM~ ~.~ XM$R!~~!?MMMMHX. ~ :HMM.
<~ '< X! XM?~!~:~~~:~ !MMMX ~ :XMM~
!MXXXX !~ !MR:~~XMMMMMMX<~!MMM !X
`M X !M!~XMM8MMMMMMMX:!MMX ~?Hx:.
! ! XMM!8MM$M8$MM$MMM!MMX .XMMMMX
` :!!!: ! 'MMMMM$MMMMRMMMMMMMM~ :< !M
` !~ ! ~MMMMMMM$MMMMMMMMMf !!'! `%:
! .: !: ?MMMMMMMMMMMMMM~ M! ~ : ~:
<~!!H!~ : `?MMRMMMMMMM! !` 'M.
.!! ~` ~<. ~~?MMM"~ :' !! !.
` `! ~: >` : ~: `
< ~~~ :!!. ! `~
!! !X `!!X
!M MH `~
!MX. ~
!MMX: :!!
!MMMMMMMMM~
`~!""~

CQL – CYPHER QUERY LANGUAGE
• Not “See-Quel” – that must be some other language
• The MATCH keyword contains all the magic
• Described as ASCII art depicting relationships
– Nodes are just names (or the alias)
– Edges are wrapped in parenthesis
– A dash indicates a relationship
– Relationships can have a direction

CQL – GRAMMAR
MATCH (<graph_search_pattern>)
<graph_search_pattern> ::=
{<node_alias> {
{ <-( <edge_alias> )- }
| { -( <edge_alias> )-> }
<node_alias> } }
[ { AND } { ( <graph_search_pattern> ) } ]
[ ,...n ]
<node_alias> ::= node_table_name | node_alias
<edge_alias> ::= edge_table_name | edge_alias

CQL EXAMPLES – FRIENDS OF ANDREA
SELECT Person2.Name AS FriendName
FROM Person Person1, Friend, Person Person2
WHERE MATCH(Person1-(Friend)->Person2)
AND Person1.Name = 'Andrea'

CQL EXAMPLES – FRIENDS REVERSED
-- Shows the match clause can be reversed
SELECT Person1.Name, Person2.name AS FriendName
FROM Person Person1, friend, Person Person2
WHERE MATCH(Person2<-(friend)-Person1)

CQL EXAMPLES – FRIEND OF A FRIEND
SELECT Person1.Name, Person2.Name AS Middle,
Person3.Name AS FoF
FROM People Person1, friend f1, People Person2,
friend f2, People Person3
WHERE MATCH(Person1-(f1)->Person2-(f2)->Person3)

CQL EXAMPLES – TWO FRIENDS PART 1
-- Two people who are friends of the same person
SELECT
Person1.name AS Friend1, Person2.name AS Friend2
FROM
Person Person1, friend friend1,
Person Person0
WHERE MATCH
(Person1-(friend1)->Person0
AND Person2-(friend2)->Person0);

CQL EXAMPLES – TWO FRIENDS PART 2
-- Two people who are friends of the same person
SELECT
Person1.name AS Friend1, Person2.name AS Friend2
FROM
Person Person0
WHERE MATCH
(Person1-(friend1)->Person0<-(friend2)-Person2);

HIERARCHAL QUERIES
• Ah, our dear friend the CTE to the rescue right?
• Wait – aren’t these really a graph structure?
• Let’s look at a simple example

INTERESTING QUESTIONS
• Find restaurants that my friends like
– Near where I am currently
• How many coastal cities are rainy?
– How many rainy cities claim to have good fish and chips?
– Are all rainy cities with good fish and chips in Europe?

GRAPH DB LIMITATIONS
• Unidirectional graphs only
• No updating $from_id and $to_id edge columns
– Can update custom columns on edges
– Need to create new edge and delete old one
• No to Temp tables, Table types, table variables
– Cannot be node or edge tables
• No cross-database queries
– Remember? One graph per database

BLEEDING EDGE - WHAT IS NEW IN SQL 2019
• Edge Constraints – CONNECTION and TO keywords
Example:
CONSTRAINT MyName CONNECTION
(Customer TO Product)
• MATCH support in MERGE statements
• Use derived table or view aliases in graph match queries

WANT TO LEARN MORE?
• Works in Azure SQL and SQL 2017
– Requires correct engine and database level 140
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-
databases/graphs/sql-graph-overview
• Lots of other articles and demos

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
• First the call to action:
– How can you start using this today?
– Any blockers that would stop you?
– Share with others what you learned today
• I’d love to hear your success stories
– Please connect with me on social media
• What questions do you still have?

Introduction to SQL Server Graph DB

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