DynamoDB Streams low-level API: Java example
Note
The code on this page is not exhaustive and does not handle all scenarios for consuming Amazon DynamoDB Streams. The recommended way to consume stream records from DynamoDB is through the Amazon Kinesis Adapter using the Kinesis Client Library (KCL), as described in Using the DynamoDB Streams Kinesis adapter to process stream records.
This section contains a Java program that shows DynamoDB Streams in action. The program does the following:
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Creates a DynamoDB table with a stream enabled.
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Describes the stream settings for this table.
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Modifies data in the table.
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Describes the shards in the stream.
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Reads the stream records from the shards.
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Fetches child shards and continues reading records.
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Cleans up.
When you run the program, you will see output similar to the following.
Testing Streams Demo Creating an Amazon DynamoDB table TestTableForStreams with a simple primary key: Id Waiting for TestTableForStreams to be created... Current stream ARN for TestTableForStreams: arn:aws:dynamodb:us-east-2:123456789012:table/TestTableForStreams/stream/2018-03-20T16:49:55.208 Stream enabled: true Update view type: NEW_AND_OLD_IMAGES Performing write activities on TestTableForStreams Processing item 1 of 100 Processing item 2 of 100 Processing item 3 of 100 ... Processing item 100 of 100 Shard: {ShardId: shardId-1234567890-...,SequenceNumberRange: {StartingSequenceNumber: 100002572486797508907,},} Shard iterator: EjYFEkX2a26eVTWe... StreamRecord(ApproximateCreationDateTime=2025-04-09T13:11:58Z, Keys={Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, NewImage={Message=AttributeValue(S=New Item!), Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, SequenceNumber=2000001584047545833909, SizeBytes=22, StreamViewType=NEW_AND_OLD_IMAGES) StreamRecord(ApproximateCreationDateTime=2025-04-09T13:11:58Z, Keys={Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, NewImage={Message=AttributeValue(S=This is an updated item), Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, OldImage={Message=AttributeValue(S=New Item!), Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, SequenceNumber=2100003604869767892701, SizeBytes=55, StreamViewType=NEW_AND_OLD_IMAGES) StreamRecord(ApproximateCreationDateTime=2025-04-09T13:11:58Z, Keys={Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, OldImage={Message=AttributeValue(S=This is an updated item), Id=AttributeValue(S=4)}, SequenceNumber=2200001099771112898434, SizeBytes=36, StreamViewType=NEW_AND_OLD_IMAGES) ... Deleting the table... Table StreamsDemoTable deleted. Demo complete
Example
import java.util.HashMap; import java.util.List; import java.util.Map; import software.amazon.awssdk.core.waiters.WaiterResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.regions.Region; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.DynamoDbClient; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.AttributeAction; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.AttributeDefinition; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.AttributeValue; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.AttributeValueUpdate; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.BillingMode; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.CreateTableRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.CreateTableResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DeleteItemRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DeleteTableRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DescribeStreamRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DescribeStreamResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DescribeTableRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DescribeTableResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.DynamoDbException; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.GetRecordsRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.GetRecordsResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.GetShardIteratorRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.GetShardIteratorResponse; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.KeySchemaElement; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.KeyType; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.PutItemRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.Record; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.ScalarAttributeType; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.Shard; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.ShardFilter; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.ShardFilterType; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.ShardIteratorType; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.StreamSpecification; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.TableDescription; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.model.UpdateItemRequest; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.streams.DynamoDbStreamsClient; import software.amazon.awssdk.services.dynamodb.waiters.DynamoDbWaiter; public class StreamsLowLevelDemo { public static void main(String[] args) { final String usage = "Testing Streams Demo"; try { System.out.println(usage); String tableName = "StreamsDemoTable"; String key = "Id"; System.out.println("Creating an Amazon DynamoDB table " + tableName + " with a simple primary key: " + key); Region region = Region.US_WEST_2; DynamoDbClient ddb = DynamoDbClient.builder() .region(region) .build(); DynamoDbStreamsClient ddbStreams = DynamoDbStreamsClient.builder() .region(region) .build(); DescribeTableRequest describeTableRequest = DescribeTableRequest.builder() .tableName(tableName) .build(); TableDescription tableDescription = null; try{ tableDescription = ddb.describeTable(describeTableRequest).table(); }catch (Exception e){ System.out.println("Table " + tableName + " does not exist."); tableDescription = createTable(ddb, tableName, key); } // Print the stream settings for the table String streamArn = tableDescription.latestStreamArn(); StreamSpecification streamSpec = tableDescription.streamSpecification(); System.out.println("Current stream ARN for " + tableDescription.tableName() + ": " + streamArn); System.out.println("Stream enabled: " + streamSpec.streamEnabled()); System.out.println("Update view type: " + streamSpec.streamViewType()); System.out.println(); // Generate write activity in the table System.out.println("Performing write activities on " + tableName); int maxItemCount = 100; for (Integer i = 1; i <= maxItemCount; i++) { System.out.println("Processing item " + i + " of " + maxItemCount); // Write a new item putItemInTable(key, i, tableName, ddb); // Update the item updateItemInTable(key, i, tableName, ddb); // Delete the item deleteDynamoDBItem(key, i, tableName, ddb); } // Process Stream processStream(streamArn, maxItemCount, ddb, ddbStreams, tableName); // Delete the table System.out.println("Deleting the table..."); DeleteTableRequest deleteTableRequest = DeleteTableRequest.builder() .tableName(tableName) .build(); ddb.deleteTable(deleteTableRequest); System.out.println("Table " + tableName + " deleted."); System.out.println("Demo complete"); ddb.close(); } catch (Exception e) { System.out.println("Error: " + e.getMessage()); } } private static void processStream(String streamArn, int maxItemCount, DynamoDbClient ddb, DynamoDbStreamsClient ddbStreams, String tableName) { // Get all the shard IDs from the stream. Note that DescribeStream returns // the shard IDs one page at a time. String lastEvaluatedShardId = null; do { DescribeStreamRequest describeStreamRequest = DescribeStreamRequest.builder() .streamArn(streamArn) .exclusiveStartShardId(lastEvaluatedShardId).build(); DescribeStreamResponse describeStreamResponse = ddbStreams.describeStream(describeStreamRequest); List<Shard> shards = describeStreamResponse.streamDescription().shards(); // Process each shard on this page fetchShardsAndReadRecords(streamArn, maxItemCount, ddbStreams, shards); // If LastEvaluatedShardId is set, then there is // at least one more page of shard IDs to retrieve lastEvaluatedShardId = describeStreamResponse.streamDescription().lastEvaluatedShardId(); } while (lastEvaluatedShardId != null); } private static void fetchShardsAndReadRecords(String streamArn, int maxItemCount, DynamoDbStreamsClient ddbStreams, List<Shard> shards) { for (Shard shard : shards) { String shardId = shard.shardId(); System.out.println("Shard: " + shard); // Get an iterator for the current shard GetShardIteratorRequest shardIteratorRequest = GetShardIteratorRequest.builder() .streamArn(streamArn).shardId(shardId) .shardIteratorType(ShardIteratorType.TRIM_HORIZON).build(); GetShardIteratorResponse getShardIteratorResult = ddbStreams.getShardIterator(shardIteratorRequest); String currentShardIter = getShardIteratorResult.shardIterator(); // Shard iterator is not null until the Shard is sealed (marked as READ_ONLY). // To prevent running the loop until the Shard is sealed, we process only the // items that were written into DynamoDB and then exit. int processedRecordCount = 0; while (currentShardIter != null && processedRecordCount < maxItemCount) { // Use the shard iterator to read the stream records GetRecordsRequest getRecordsRequest = GetRecordsRequest.builder() .shardIterator(currentShardIter).build(); GetRecordsResponse getRecordsResult = ddbStreams.getRecords(getRecordsRequest); List<Record> records = getRecordsResult.records(); for (Record record : records) { System.out.println(" " + record.dynamodb()); } processedRecordCount += records.size(); currentShardIter = getRecordsResult.nextShardIterator(); } if (currentShardIter == null){ System.out.println("Shard has been fully processed. Shard iterator is null."); System.out.println("Fetch the child shard to continue processing instead of bulk fetching all shards"); DescribeStreamRequest describeStreamRequestForChildShards = DescribeStreamRequest.builder() .streamArn(streamArn) .shardFilter(ShardFilter.builder() .type(ShardFilterType.CHILD_SHARDS) .shardId(shardId).build()) .build(); DescribeStreamResponse describeStreamResponseChildShards = ddbStreams.describeStream(describeStreamRequestForChildShards); fetchShardsAndReadRecords(streamArn, maxItemCount, ddbStreams, describeStreamResponseChildShards.streamDescription().shards()); } } } private static void putItemInTable(String key, Integer i, String tableName, DynamoDbClient ddb) { Map<String, AttributeValue> item = new HashMap<>(); item.put(key, AttributeValue.builder() .s(i.toString()) .build()); item.put("Message", AttributeValue.builder() .s("New Item!") .build()); PutItemRequest request = PutItemRequest.builder() .tableName(tableName) .item(item) .build(); ddb.putItem(request); } private static void updateItemInTable(String key, Integer i, String tableName, DynamoDbClient ddb) { HashMap<String, AttributeValue> itemKey = new HashMap<>(); itemKey.put(key, AttributeValue.builder() .s(i.toString()) .build()); HashMap<String, AttributeValueUpdate> updatedValues = new HashMap<>(); updatedValues.put("Message", AttributeValueUpdate.builder() .value(AttributeValue.builder().s("This is an updated item").build()) .action(AttributeAction.PUT) .build()); UpdateItemRequest request = UpdateItemRequest.builder() .tableName(tableName) .key(itemKey) .attributeUpdates(updatedValues) .build(); ddb.updateItem(request); } public static void deleteDynamoDBItem(String key, Integer i, String tableName, DynamoDbClient ddb) { HashMap<String, AttributeValue> keyToGet = new HashMap<>(); keyToGet.put(key, AttributeValue.builder() .s(i.toString()) .build()); DeleteItemRequest deleteReq = DeleteItemRequest.builder() .tableName(tableName) .key(keyToGet) .build(); ddb.deleteItem(deleteReq); } public static TableDescription createTable(DynamoDbClient ddb, String tableName, String key) { DynamoDbWaiter dbWaiter = ddb.waiter(); StreamSpecification streamSpecification = StreamSpecification.builder() .streamEnabled(true) .streamViewType("NEW_AND_OLD_IMAGES") .build(); CreateTableRequest request = CreateTableRequest.builder() .attributeDefinitions(AttributeDefinition.builder() .attributeName(key) .attributeType(ScalarAttributeType.S) .build()) .keySchema(KeySchemaElement.builder() .attributeName(key) .keyType(KeyType.HASH) .build()) .billingMode(BillingMode.PAY_PER_REQUEST) // DynamoDB automatically scales based on traffic. .tableName(tableName) .streamSpecification(streamSpecification) .build(); TableDescription newTable; try { CreateTableResponse response = ddb.createTable(request); DescribeTableRequest tableRequest = DescribeTableRequest.builder() .tableName(tableName) .build(); System.out.println("Waiting for " + tableName + " to be created..."); // Wait until the Amazon DynamoDB table is created. WaiterResponse<DescribeTableResponse> waiterResponse = dbWaiter.waitUntilTableExists(tableRequest); waiterResponse.matched().response().ifPresent(System.out::println); newTable = response.tableDescription(); return newTable; } catch (DynamoDbException e) { System.err.println(e.getMessage()); System.exit(1); } return null; } }