How to update an item in Dynamodb of type String Set (SS)?

Question

I have created a attribute of type String Set. When I create the Item and assign an attribute of type SS everything works. But when I try to update this attribute, the data type

Answer 1

This is an artifact of using the DocumentClient - StringSet is not a JSON type.

The DocumentClient converts a StringSet to the Array native JavaScript type: https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-js/blob/master/lib/dynamodb/converter.js#L61. Then the client serializes the native JavaScript Array as a DynamoDB List type: https://github.com/aws/aws-sdk-js/blob/master/lib/dynamodb/converter.js#L12.

If you want to use the StringSet type, you can use the low-level API: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSJavaScriptSDK/latest/AWS/DynamoDB.html

Answer 2

As of September 2015, there is a createSet function in the DocumentClient that you can use for this.

UPDATE - added example

I've modified your example code to use this function:

qw = new AWS.DynamoDB.DocumentClient();

var params = {
  TableName : "myTable",
  Key: {
    "id": somekey
  },
  UpdateExpression: "set ssvar= :arrp",
  ExpressionAttributeValues: {
     ":arrp": qw.createSet([ "test", "test2" ])
  }
};

qw.update (etc.)

Answer 3

An alternative simpler syntax

Upsert Item and Add "A" to set

const documentClient = new AWS.DynamoDB.DocumentClient();
await documentClient.update({
    TableName,
    Key: { hashKey, sortKey },
    AttributeUpdates: {
      'userIDs': {
        Action: 'ADD',
        Value: documentClient.createSet(['A' ])
      },
    },
  }).promise();

Upsert Item and remove "A" from set

await documentClient.update({
    TableName,
    Key: { hashKey, sortKey },
    AttributeUpdates: {
      'userIDs': {
        Action: 'DELTE',
        Value: documentClient.createSet(['A'])
      },
    },
  }).promise();

• Update expression docs
• documentClient.createSet
• documentClient.update