/*! @m_page{{c,java},cursors,Cursors}

Common operations in WiredTiger are performed using WT_CURSOR handles.
A cursor includes:

- a position within a data source
- getter/setters for key and value fields
- encoding of fields to store in the data source
- methods to navigate within and iterate through the data

See @subpage cursor_ops for a description of how to use cursors.

@section cursor_types Cursor types

@copydoc doc_cursor_types

See the following for more details:

- @subpage data_sources
- @ref metadata
- @ref cursor_log
- @ref cursor_join

@section cursor_projections Projections

Cursors on tables and indices can return a subset of columns.  This is done by
listing the column names in parenthesis in the <code>uri</code> parameter to
WT_SESSION::open_cursor.  Only the fields from the listed columns are returned
by WT_CURSOR::get_value.

The @ex_ref{ex_schema.c} example creates a table where the value format is
\c "5sHq", where the initial string is the country, the short is a year,
and the long is a population.  The following example lists just the country
and year columns from the table record values:

@snippet ex_schema.c Return a subset of values from the table

This is particularly useful with index cursors, because if all columns in
the projection are available in the index (including primary key columns,
which are the values of the index), the data can be read from the index
without accessing any column groups.  See @ref schema_index_projections for
more information.

@section cursors_transactions Cursors and Transactions

If there is a transaction active in a session, cursors operate in the
context of that transaction.  Reads performed while a transaction is
active inherit the isolation level of the transaction, and updates
performed within a transaction are made durable by calling
WT_SESSION::commit_transaction, or discarded by calling
WT_SESSION::rollback_transaction.

If no transaction is active, cursor reads are performed at the isolation
level of the session, set with the \c isolation configuration key to
WT_CONNECTION::open_session and successful updates are automatically
committed before the update operation completes.

Any operation that consists of multiple related updates should be
enclosed in an explicit transaction to ensure that the updates are
applied atomically.

At \c read-committed (the default) or \c snapshot isolation levels,
committed changes from concurrent transactions become visible when no
cursor is positioned.  In other words, at these isolation levels, all
cursors in a session read from a stable snapshot while any cursor in the
session remains positioned.

Cursor positions survive transaction boundaries, unless a transaction
is rolled back. When a transaction is rolled-back either implicitly
or explicitly, all cursors in the session are reset as if the
WT_CURSOR::reset method was called, discarding any cursor position as
well as any key and value.

See @ref transactions for more information.

@section cursors_eviction Cursors and Eviction

Cursor positions hold resources that can inhibit the eviction of memory
pages. If a cursor is active on a page being considered for eviction,
the eviction will defer until the cursor is moved or reset. To avoid
this and to keep resources freed in general, an application should call
WT_CURSOR::reset during times it does not need to keep the cursor
positioned.  A cursor that has been reset is not active and will not
inhibit eviction.

@section cursor_raw Raw mode

Cursors can be configured for raw mode by specifying the \c "raw" config
keyword to WT_SESSION::open_cursor.  In this mode, the methods
WT_CURSOR::get_key, WT_CURSOR::get_value, WT_CURSOR::set_key and
WT_CURSOR::set_value all take a single
@m_if{c}
WT_ITEM
@m_else
byte array
@m_endif
in the variable-length
argument list instead of a separate argument for each column.

@m_if{c}
WT_ITEM structures do not need to be cleared before use.

For WT_CURSOR::get_key and WT_CURSOR::get_value in raw mode, the WT_ITEM
can be split into columns by calling WT_EXTENSION_API::struct_unpack
with the cursor's \c key_format or \c value_format, respectively.  For
WT_CURSOR::set_key and WT_CURSOR::set_value in raw mode, the WT_ITEM
should be equivalent to calling WT_EXTENSION_API::struct_pack for the
cursor's \c key_format or \c value_format, respectively.

The @ex_ref{ex_schema.c} example creates a table where the value format is
\c "5sHq", where the initial string is the country, the short is a year,
and the long is a population.
@m_endif
The following example lists the table record
values, using raw mode:

@snippet ex_schema.c List the records in the table using raw mode.

Raw mode can be used in combination with projections.  The following
example lists just the country and year columns from the table record
values, using raw mode:

@snippet ex_schema.c Return a subset of values from the table using raw mode

@section metadata Reading WiredTiger Metadata

WiredTiger cursors provide access to data from a variety of sources.
One of these sources is the list of objects in the database.

To retrieve the list of database objects, open a cursor on the uri
<code>metadata:</code>.  Each returned key will be a database object and
each returned value will be the information stored in the metadata for
object named by the key.

For example:

@snippet ex_all.c Open a cursor on the metadata

To retrieve value strings that are valid arguments for calls to
WT_SESSION::create, open a cursor on <code>metadata:create</code>.

The metadata cursor is read-only, and the metadata cannot be modified.

*/
