The transaction
method of the IDBDatabase
interface immediately returns a transaction object (IDBTransaction
) containing the IDBTransaction.objectStore
method, which you can use to access your object store.
Syntax
var transaction = db.transaction(["toDoList"], "readwrite");
Returns
An IDBTransaction
object.
Exceptions
This method may raise a DOMException
of one of the following types:
Exception | Description |
---|---|
InvalidStateError |
The |
NotFoundError |
An object store specified in in the storeNames parameter has been deleted or removed. |
TypeError |
The value for the mode parameter is invalid. |
InvalidAccessError |
The function was called with an empty list of store names. |
Example
In this example we open a database connection, then use transaction() to open a transaction on the database. For a complete example, see our To-do Notifications app (view example live.)
var db; // Let us open our database var DBOpenRequest = window.indexedDB.open("toDoList", 4); DBOpenRequest.onsuccess = function(event) { note.innerHTML += '<li>Database initialised.</li>'; // store the result of opening the database in the db variable. This is used a lot below db = DBOpenRequest.result; // Run the displayData() function to populate the task list with all the to-do list data already in the IDB displayData(); }; // open a read/write db transaction, ready for adding the data var transaction = db.transaction(["toDoList"], "readwrite"); // report on the success of opening the transaction transaction.oncomplete = function(event) { note.innerHTML += '<li>Transaction completed: database modification finished.</li>'; }; transaction.onerror = function(event) { note.innerHTML += '<li>Transaction not opened due to error. Duplicate items not allowed.</li>'; }; // you would then go on to do something to this database via an object store var objectStore = transaction.objectStore("toDoList"); // etc.
Parameters
- storeNames
- The names of object stores and indexes that are in the scope of the new transaction, declared as an array of strings. Specify only the object stores that you need to access.
If you need to access only one object store, you can specify its name as a string. Therefore the following lines are equivalent: -
var transaction = db.transaction(['my-store-name']); var transaction = db.transaction('my-store-name');
- If you need to access all object stores in the database, you can use the property
IDBDatabase.objectStoreNames
:var transaction = db.transaction(db.objectStoreNames);
- Passing an empty array will throw an exception.
- mode
- Optional. The types of access that can be performed in the transaction. Transactions are opened in one of three modes:
readonly
,readwrite
andreadwriteflush
(non-standard, Firefox-only.)versionchange
mode can't be specified here. If you don't provide the parameter, the default access mode isreadonly
. To avoid slowing things down, don't open areadwrite
transaction unless you actually need to write into the database. - If you need to open the object store in
readwrite
mode to change data, you would use the following:var transaction = db.transaction('my-store-name', "readwrite");
As of Firefox 40, IndexedDB transactions have relaxed durability guarantees to increase performance (see bug 1112702), which is the same behaviour as other IndexedDB-supporting browsers. Previously in a
readwrite
transactionIDBTransaction.oncomplete
was fired only when all data was guaranteed to have been flushed to disk. In Firefox 40+ thecomplete
event is fired after the OS has been told to write the data but potentially before that data has actually been flushed to disk. Thecomplete
event may thus be delivered quicker than before, however, there exists a small chance that the entire transaction will be lost if the OS crashes or there is a loss of system power before the data is flushed to disk. Since such catastrophic events are rare most consumers should not need to concern themselves further.Note: In Firefox, if you wish to ensure durability for some reason (e.g. you're storing critical data that cannot be recomputed later) you can force a transaction to flush to disk before delivering the
complete
event by creating a transaction using the experimental (non-standard)readwriteflush
mode (seeIDBDatabase.transaction
.) This is currently experimental, and can only be used if thedom.indexedDB.experimental
pref is set totrue
inabout:config
.
Specification
Specification | Status | Comment |
---|---|---|
Indexed Database API The definition of 'transaction()' in that specification. |
Editor's Draft |
Browser compatibility
Feature | Chrome | Firefox (Gecko) | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari (WebKit) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 23webkit 24 |
10 moz 16.0 (16.0) |
10, partial | 15 | 7.1 |
Available in workers | (Yes) | 37.0 (37.0) | ? | (Yes) | ? |
Feature | Android | Firefox Mobile (Gecko) | Firefox OS | IE Phone | Opera Mobile | Safari Mobile |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Basic support | 4.4 | 22.0 (22.0) | 1.0.1 | 10 | 22 | 8 |
Available in workers | (Yes) | 37.0 (37.0) | (Yes) | ? | (Yes) | ? |
See also
- Using IndexedDB
- Starting transactions:
IDBDatabase
- Using transactions:
IDBTransaction
- Setting a range of keys:
IDBKeyRange
- Retrieving and making changes to your data:
IDBObjectStore
- Using cursors:
IDBCursor
- Reference example: To-do Notifications (view example live.)