API Usage

Comprehensive guide to using the BoxLang Redis Module API for advanced caching and data management in BoxLang applications.

🔌 Overview

If you need more power or are familiar with the Redis Java API and want to use features beyond the standard cache interface, the bx-redis module provides direct access to the underlying Redis connections and providers. Behind the scenes, the module leverages the Jedis library for Redis connectivity.

This page documents the low-level API functions available for advanced Redis operations.

🛠️ Available Functions

The module provides several global BoxLang functions to access the underlying Redis infrastructure:

Function

Purpose

Returns

redisGetProvider()

Get the cache provider implementation

IRedisCache interface

redisGetConnectionPool()

Get the Jedis connection pool (non-clustered)

JedisPool

redisGetCluster()

Get the Redis cluster connection

JedisCluster

redisGetClusterNodes()

Get map of cluster node connections

Map<String, JedisPool>

📋 Function Reference

redisGetProvider()

Returns the BoxLang Redis cache provider implementation. This gives you access to the IRedisCache interface, which extends BoxLang's standard ICacheProvider with Redis-specific functionality.

Syntax:

provider = redisGetProvider( [ cacheName ] )

Parameters:

Parameter

Type

Required

Default

Description

cacheName

string

"default"

The name of the configured Redis cache

Returns: ortus.boxlang.modules.redis.cache.IRedisCache

Throws: InvalidCacheType if the specified cache is not a Redis cache

Example:

// Get the provider for the default cache
provider = redisGetProvider();

// Get the provider for a named cache
sessionProvider = redisGetProvider( "sessions" );

// Access Redis-specific methods
keys = provider.getKeys();
stats = provider.getStats();

Use Cases:

Accessing Redis-specific cache operations
Getting cache statistics and metadata
Performing bulk operations
Direct cache provider manipulation

redisGetConnectionPool()

Returns the Jedis connection pool for non-clustered Redis caches. This provides direct access to the redis.clients.jedis.JedisPool for low-level Redis operations.

Syntax:

pool = redisGetConnectionPool( [ cacheName ] )

Parameters:

Parameter

Type

Required

Default

Description

cacheName

string

"default"

The name of the configured Redis cache (must be non-clustered)

Returns: redis.clients.jedis.JedisPool

Throws:

InvalidCacheType if the cache is not a Redis cache
Exception if called on a clustered cache

Example:

// Get connection pool
pool = redisGetConnectionPool( "sessions" );

// Get a connection from the pool
try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();

    // Perform Redis operations
    jedis.set( "mykey", "myvalue" );
    var value = jedis.get( "mykey" );

    // Connection is auto-closed via try-with-resources
} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

Use Cases:

Direct Jedis API access
Redis commands not exposed through cache interface
Performance-critical operations requiring connection pooling
Custom Redis operations

Important: Always return connections to the pool using jedis.close() or use try-with-resources patterns to prevent connection leaks.

redisGetCluster()

Returns the Redis cluster connection for clustered deployments. Provides access to redis.clients.jedis.JedisCluster for cluster-specific operations.

Syntax:

cluster = redisGetCluster( [ cacheName ] )

Parameters:

Parameter

Type

Required

Default

Description

cacheName

string

"default"

The name of the configured Redis cache (must be clustered)

Returns: redis.clients.jedis.JedisCluster

Throws:

InvalidCacheType if the cache is not a Redis cache
Exception if called on a non-clustered cache

Example:

// Get cluster connection
cluster = redisGetCluster( "distributedCache" );

// Perform cluster operations
cluster.set( "user:123", serializeJSON( userData ) );
var user = cluster.get( "user:123" );

// Get cluster info
var clusterInfo = cluster.clusterNodes();
var clusterSlots = cluster.clusterSlots();

Use Cases:

Cluster-specific Redis commands
Cluster topology inspection
Slot management
Multi-key operations across cluster

redisGetClusterNodes()

Returns a map of all cluster node connections. Each entry provides a JedisPool for a specific cluster node.

Syntax:

nodes = redisGetClusterNodes( [ cacheName ] )

Parameters:

Parameter

Type

Required

Default

Description

cacheName

string

"default"

The name of the configured Redis cache (must be clustered)

Returns: Map<String, redis.clients.jedis.JedisPool>

Throws:

InvalidCacheType if the cache is not a Redis cache
Exception if called on a non-clustered cache

Example:

// Get all cluster nodes
nodes = redisGetClusterNodes( "distributedCache" );

// Iterate through nodes
for( var nodeKey in nodes ) {
    var nodePool = nodes[ nodeKey ];

    try {
        var jedis = nodePool.getResource();
        var info = jedis.info();
        writeOutput( "Node: #nodeKey# - #info#<br>" );
    } finally {
        if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
            jedis.close();
        }
    }
}

Use Cases:

Node-specific operations
Health checking individual nodes
Gathering per-node statistics
Debugging cluster issues

💡 Advanced Usage Examples

Custom Redis Command Execution

// Execute raw Redis commands
pool = redisGetConnectionPool( "default" );

try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();

    // Use Redis commands not in standard cache API
    jedis.lpush( "queue:tasks", "task1" );
    jedis.lpush( "queue:tasks", "task2" );

    var task = jedis.rpop( "queue:tasks" );

    // Set expiration in milliseconds
    jedis.pexpire( "temp:data", 5000 );

} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

Pipeline Operations

// Batch multiple commands for better performance
pool = redisGetConnectionPool( "default" );

try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();
    var pipeline = jedis.pipelined();

    // Queue multiple operations
    for( var i = 1; i <= 100; i++ ) {
        pipeline.set( "key:#i#", "value:#i#" );
    }

    // Execute all at once
    pipeline.sync();

} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

Transaction Support

// Execute atomic transactions
pool = redisGetConnectionPool( "default" );

try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();

    // Start transaction
    var transaction = jedis.multi();

    transaction.set( "account:123:balance", "1000" );
    transaction.set( "account:456:balance", "2000" );
    transaction.incr( "total:accounts" );

    // Execute transaction
    var results = transaction.exec();

} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

Cluster Slot Information

// Get cluster slot mappings
cluster = redisGetCluster( "distributedCache" );

// Get slot assignments
var slots = cluster.clusterSlots();

// Find which node handles a specific key
var keySlot = jedis.clusterKeySlot( "mykey" );

Monitoring and Statistics

// Gather Redis statistics
provider = redisGetProvider( "default" );

// Get cache statistics
var stats = provider.getStats();
writeOutput( "Hits: #stats.hits#<br>" );
writeOutput( "Misses: #stats.misses#<br>" );
writeOutput( "Size: #stats.size#<br>" );

// Get all keys (use with caution in production)
var allKeys = provider.getKeys();

⚠️ Best Practices

Connection Management

Always close Jedis resources - Use try/finally blocks or BoxLang's try-with-resources
Don't hold connections - Get, use, and return connections quickly
Pool size configuration - Configure appropriate connection pool sizes in your cache settings

// GOOD: Proper connection handling
try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();
    jedis.set( "key", "value" );
} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

// BAD: Connection leak
var jedis = pool.getResource();
jedis.set( "key", "value" );
// Connection never returned!

Error Handling

Catch Redis-specific exceptions - Handle JedisException and connection errors
Implement retry logic - For transient network failures
Validate cache type - Check cache is Redis before calling these functions

try {
    var provider = redisGetProvider( "myCache" );
    // Use provider
} catch( InvalidCacheType e ) {
    writeLog( "Cache is not a Redis cache: #e.message#" );
}

Performance Considerations

Use pipelining - For bulk operations to reduce round trips
Avoid KEYS command - Use SCAN in production environments
Connection pooling - Reuse connections via the pool
Cluster awareness - Use cluster-aware operations for distributed caches

Security

Protect credentials - Use environment variables for Redis passwords
Limit command access - Use Redis ACLs if available
Network security - Use SSL/TLS for production deployments
Connection validation - Enable pool validation to detect stale connections

🔍 Debugging

Enable Debug Logging

// Log connection pool statistics
pool = redisGetConnectionPool( "default" );
writeOutput( "Active: #pool.getNumActive()#<br>" );
writeOutput( "Idle: #pool.getNumIdle()#<br>" );
writeOutput( "Waiting: #pool.getNumWaiters()#<br>" );

Test Connectivity

// Test Redis connection
try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();
    var response = jedis.ping();
    writeOutput( "Redis responded: #response#" );
} catch( any e ) {
    writeOutput( "Connection failed: #e.message#" );
} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

Monitor Commands

// Enable Redis command monitoring (development only)
try {
    var jedis = pool.getResource();

    // MONITOR command streams all Redis commands
    // WARNING: Very high performance impact
    var monitor = jedis.monitor( function( command ) {
        writeLog( "Redis: #command#" );
    } );

} finally {
    if( !isNull( jedis ) ) {
        jedis.close();
    }
}

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