Correcting A SQLite Code Example

I’ve been experimenting with filtering and manipulating a large amount of data within a Google Cloud Function. I decided to use an in-memory SQLite database to help manage all the data, so I googled up some code samples. This page came up with some helpful Python code samples.

Unfortunately when I tried to run the sample code, Cloud Functions popped an error. The sample code uses Python 2-style print as a statement instead of as a function call – i.e. the print call is missing the parentheses needed to make it a correct function call. Here’s a sample screenshot:

I’ve placed red arrows next to the erroneous print statements. If you paste this code into Google Cloud Functions, it won’t work because print needs to be a function call, (with parentheses) instead of a statement (missing parentheses). Credit: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/sqlite/sqlite_python.htm

Below is a fixed version of the code in the linked page. You can paste it directly into the Google Cloud Functions editor and it’ll work: it sets up an in-memory database, creates a table, adds data, then queries data out of it.

import sqlite3



def hello_world(request):
    """Responds to any HTTP request.
    Args:
        request (flask.Request): HTTP request object.
    Returns:
        The response text or any set of values that can be turned into a
        Response object using
        `make_response <http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/1.0/api/#flask.Flask.make_response>`.
    """
    conn = sqlite3.connect(":memory:")
    conn.execute('''CREATE TABLE COMPANY
         (ID INT PRIMARY KEY     NOT NULL,
         NAME           TEXT    NOT NULL,
         AGE            INT     NOT NULL,
         ADDRESS        CHAR(50),
         SALARY         REAL);''')
    conn.execute("INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY) \
        VALUES (1, 'Paul', 32, 'California', 20000.00 )");
    conn.execute("INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY) \
        VALUES (2, 'Allen', 25, 'Texas', 15000.00 )");
    conn.execute("INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY) \
        VALUES (3, 'Teddy', 23, 'Norway', 20000.00 )");
    conn.execute("INSERT INTO COMPANY (ID,NAME,AGE,ADDRESS,SALARY) \
        VALUES (4, 'Mark', 25, 'Rich-Mond ', 65000.00 )");
    conn.commit()
    print("Records created successfully");
    cursor = conn.execute("SELECT id, name, address, salary from COMPANY")
    for row in cursor:
        print("ID = ", row[0])
        print("NAME = ", row[1])
        print("ADDRESS = ", row[2])
        print("SALARY = ", row[3], "\n")
    conn.close()
    request_json = request.get_json()
    if request.args and 'message' in request.args:
        return request.args.get('message')
    elif request_json and 'message' in request_json:
        return request_json['message']
    else:
        return f'Hello World!'

Use this code as a starting point to build your own cloud functions and work with data.

I’m pleasantly surprised at how fast SQLite runs within a cloud function – I was worried that the function would run out of memory quickly, but I’ve been manipulating thousands of rows comfortably within a 512MB RAM function.