Aerospike aql: How to fetch records from aerospike using predicate based on the Map field - aerospike

Question

I've below class definition for data transfer object. I use spring-data-aerospike to persistence.
import org.springframework.data.annotation.Id;
public class User implements Serializable {
#Id
String uid;
Map<String, Object> ext = new HashMap<String, Object>();
// getters & setters
}
Sample data in the database is like -
select ext from department.User;
+-------+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
| PK | ext || #_class |
+-------+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
| "123" | MAP('{"idfa": "xyz"}') | "com.tut.dto.User" |
| "234" | MAP('{}') | "com.tut.dto.User" |
+-------+-------------------------+----------------------------------+
I need to query the database now that it should only return the records which have "idfa" key string in the ext field column.
I tried the following. But it didn't work
1.
select * from test.UserRecord where ext.idfa is not null;
Unsupported command format with token - '.'
Make sure string values are enclosed in quotes.
Type " aql --help " from console or simply "help" from within the aql-prompt.
```
2.
select * from test.UserRecord where ext contains 'idfa';
Unsupported command format with token - ''idfa''
Make sure string values are enclosed in quotes.
Type " aql --help " from console or simply "help" from within the aql-prompt.
How can I make it work?

Answer 1

Try executing:
select * from department.user in mapkeys where ext = "idfa"
Based on the following structure:
SELECT <bins> FROM <ns>[.<set>] IN <indextype> WHERE <bin> = <value>
Assuming you've created an index with collection type of "MAPKEYS", you can create it using #Indexed annotation on the ext field in your User class.
If your using Spring Data Aerospike latest version it should look something like that:
#Indexed(name = "indexName", type = IndexType.STRING, collectionType = IndexCollectionType.MAPKEYS)
Map<String, Object> ext = new HashMap<String, Object>();
If you're interested in interacting with Aerospike List/Map bins through code (instead of AQL) you should read about CDT (Collection Data Type) operations.
CDT documentation:
https://docs.aerospike.com/docs/guide/cdt.html
Map Operation class (including methods documentation):
https://github.com/aerospike/aerospike-client-java/blob/master/client/src/com/aerospike/client/cdt/MapOperation.java
And some examples in the Aerospike Java Client:
https://github.com/aerospike/aerospike-client-java/blob/master/test/src/com/aerospike/test/sync/basic/TestOperateMap.java