Versioning

Foundatio.Repositories provides optimistic concurrency control through document versioning. This guide covers how versioning works and how to handle conflicts.

Overview

Versioning prevents lost updates when multiple processes modify the same document simultaneously. When enabled, the repository checks that the document version matches before saving.

Enabling Versioning

Implement IVersioned on your entity:

using Foundatio.Repositories.Models;

public class Employee : IIdentity, IHaveDates, IVersioned
{
    public string Id { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public DateTime CreatedUtc { get; set; }
    public DateTime UpdatedUtc { get; set; }
    public string Version { get; set; } = string.Empty;  // Required by IVersioned
}

How Versioning Works

Version Format

The version is stored as "primaryTerm:sequenceNumber" using Elasticsearch's sequence numbers:

// Example version: "1:42"
// - primaryTerm: 1
// - sequenceNumber: 42

Read-Modify-Write Cycle

// 1. Read document (version is populated)
var employee = await repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
Console.WriteLine($"Version: {employee.Version}");  // e.g., "1:42"

// 2. Modify document
employee.Name = "John Smith";

// 3. Save document (version is checked)
await repository.SaveAsync(employee);
// If version matches: Save succeeds, version updated to "1:43"
// If version doesn't match: VersionConflictDocumentException thrown

Conflict Detection

Handling Version Conflicts

Basic Error Handling

try
{
    await repository.SaveAsync(employee);
}
catch (VersionConflictDocumentException ex)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Version conflict: {ex.Message}");
    // Handle conflict...
}

Retry Pattern

public async Task UpdateEmployeeWithRetry(string id, Action<Employee> update, int maxRetries = 3)
{
    int retries = maxRetries;
    
    while (retries > 0)
    {
        try
        {
            var employee = await repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
            if (employee == null)
                throw new DocumentNotFoundException(id);
            
            update(employee);
            await repository.SaveAsync(employee);
            return;  // Success
        }
        catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
        {
            retries--;
            if (retries == 0)
                throw;
            
            // Wait before retry (exponential backoff)
            await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(100 * (maxRetries - retries)));
        }
    }
}

// Usage
await UpdateEmployeeWithRetry(id, emp => emp.Name = "John Smith");

Merge Strategy

public async Task<Employee> UpdateEmployeeWithMerge(string id, Action<Employee> update)
{
    while (true)
    {
        try
        {
            var employee = await repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
            if (employee == null)
                throw new DocumentNotFoundException(id);
            
            update(employee);
            return await repository.SaveAsync(employee);
        }
        catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
        {
            // Refresh and retry - the update action will be applied to fresh data
            continue;
        }
    }
}

Last-Write-Wins

Skip version checking when you want the last write to win:

await repository.SaveAsync(employee, o => o.SkipVersionCheck());

Skipping Version Check

Per-Operation

// Skip version check for this operation
await repository.SaveAsync(employee, o => o.SkipVersionCheck());

// Explicitly control version checking
await repository.SaveAsync(employee, o => o.VersionCheck(false));

Use Cases for Skipping

• Bulk imports - Trusted data from verified sources
• System updates - Internal updates that should always succeed
• Migrations - Data transformations during schema changes
• Last-write-wins scenarios - When conflicts don't matter

WARNING

Only skip version checking when you're certain that lost updates are acceptable.

Version in Patch Operations

Patch operations also support version checking:

// Patch with version check (default)
await repository.PatchAsync(id, patch);

// Patch without version check
await repository.PatchAsync(id, patch, o => o.SkipVersionCheck());

Atomic Operations

For truly atomic operations, use ScriptPatch:

// Atomic increment - no version conflict possible
await repository.PatchAsync(id, new ScriptPatch("ctx._source.counter++"));

// Atomic conditional update
await repository.PatchAsync(id, new ScriptPatch(@"
    if (ctx._source.status == 'pending') {
        ctx._source.status = 'approved';
    }
"));

Version in Find Results

When querying, versions are available in the hits:

var results = await repository.FindAsync(query);

foreach (var hit in results.Hits)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"ID: {hit.Id}, Version: {hit.Version}");
    Console.WriteLine($"Document Version: {hit.Document.Version}");
}

Common Patterns

Optimistic Locking Service

public class OptimisticLockingService<T> where T : class, IIdentity, IVersioned, new()
{
    private readonly IRepository<T> _repository;
    private readonly int _maxRetries;

    public OptimisticLockingService(IRepository<T> repository, int maxRetries = 3)
    {
        _repository = repository;
        _maxRetries = maxRetries;
    }

    public async Task<T> UpdateAsync(string id, Func<T, Task> updateAction)
    {
        int retries = _maxRetries;
        
        while (true)
        {
            var document = await _repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
            if (document == null)
                throw new DocumentNotFoundException(id);
            
            await updateAction(document);
            
            try
            {
                return await _repository.SaveAsync(document);
            }
            catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
            {
                retries--;
                if (retries == 0)
                    throw;
                
                await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(50 * (_maxRetries - retries)));
            }
        }
    }
}

// Usage
var service = new OptimisticLockingService<Employee>(repository);
var updated = await service.UpdateAsync(id, async emp =>
{
    emp.Name = "John Smith";
    emp.UpdatedBy = currentUserId;
});

Compare-and-Swap

public async Task<bool> CompareAndSwapAsync(string id, string expectedValue, string newValue)
{
    try
    {
        var employee = await repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
        if (employee == null || employee.Status != expectedValue)
            return false;
        
        employee.Status = newValue;
        await repository.SaveAsync(employee);
        return true;
    }
    catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
    {
        return false;
    }
}

// Usage
bool success = await CompareAndSwapAsync(id, "pending", "approved");

Conditional Update

public async Task<(bool Success, T Document)> ConditionalUpdateAsync<T>(
    string id,
    Func<T, bool> condition,
    Action<T> update) where T : class, IIdentity, IVersioned, new()
{
    var document = await repository.GetByIdAsync(id);
    if (document == null)
        return (false, null);
    
    if (!condition(document))
        return (false, document);
    
    update(document);
    
    try
    {
        var saved = await repository.SaveAsync(document);
        return (true, saved);
    }
    catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
    {
        return (false, document);
    }
}

// Usage
var (success, employee) = await ConditionalUpdateAsync<Employee>(
    id,
    emp => emp.Status == "pending",
    emp => emp.Status = "approved");

Best Practices

1. Always Handle Version Conflicts

try
{
    await repository.SaveAsync(employee);
}
catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
{
    _logger.LogWarning("Version conflict for {Id}, retrying...", employee.Id);
    // Implement retry logic
}

2. Use Atomic Operations When Possible

// Prefer atomic script over read-modify-write
await repository.PatchAsync(id, new ScriptPatch("ctx._source.counter++"));

3. Keep Retry Counts Reasonable

// 3-5 retries is usually sufficient
const int MaxRetries = 3;

4. Use Exponential Backoff

await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(100 * Math.Pow(2, attempt)));

5. Log Conflicts for Monitoring

catch (VersionConflictDocumentException)
{
    _metrics.IncrementCounter("version_conflicts", new { entity = typeof(T).Name });
    _logger.LogWarning("Version conflict for {Type}", typeof(T).Name);
}

Next Steps

• CRUD Operations - Save operations with versioning
• Patch Operations - Atomic updates
• Configuration - Version check configuration