To perform multiple updates in a single request to Amazon DynamoDB,first use the INSERT INTO syntax to insert a temporary table of data into Amazon DynamoDB. This works by first populating a temporary table with the data you are going to submit to Amazon DynamoDB. Once you have all of the data you want to update, use UPDATE SELECT FROM to pass the temporary table data into the table in Amazon DynamoDB.

Populate the Temporary Table

The temporary table you are populating is dynamic and is created at run time the first time you insert to it. Temporary tables are denoted by a # appearing in their name. When using a temporary table to update, the temporary table must be named in the format [TableName]#TEMP, where TableName is the name of the table you are inserting to. For example:

INSERT INTO Account#TEMP (Id, Name, MyCustomField__c) VALUES ('AX1000001', 'New Account', '9000');
INSERT INTO Account#TEMP (Id, Name, MyCustomField__c) VALUES ('AX1000002', 'New Account 2', '9001');
INSERT INTO Account#TEMP (Id, Name, MyCustomField__c) VALUES ('AX1000003', 'New Account 3', '9002');

This creates a temporary table called Account#TEMP with three columns and three rows of data. Since type cannot be determined on the temporary table itself, all values are stored in memory as strings. The values are later converted to the proper type when they are submitted to the Account table.

Update the Actual Table

Once your temporary table is populated, it is now time to update the actual table in Amazon DynamoDB. You can do this by performing an UPDATE to the actual table and selecting the input data from the temporary table. For example:

UPDATE Account (Id, Name, MyCustomField__c) SELECT Id, Name, MyCustomField__c FROM Account#TEMP

In this example, the full contents of the Account#TEMP table are passed into the Account table. This results in fewer requests being submitted to Amazon DynamoDB since multiple updates may be submitted with each request, which is much better for performance if you have many records to update.

Results

The results of the query are stored in the LastResultInfo#TEMP temporary table. This table is cleared and repopulated the next time data is modified by passing in a temporary table. Please be aware that the LastResultInfo#TEMP table has no predefined schema. You need to check its metadata at run time before reading data.

Temporary Table Life Span

Temporary tables only last as long as the connection remains open. When the connection to Amazon DynamoDB is closed, all temporary tables are cleared, including the LastResultInfo#TEMP table.