InMemory Driver¶
The InMemoryDriver provides a fully in-memory MongoDB-compatible database that runs embedded in your application. It's perfect for:
- Unit Testing: No MongoDB installation required
- CI/CD Pipelines: Fast, isolated test environments
- Development: Local development without Docker/MongoDB
- Embedded Applications: Ship with a built-in database
- Microservices: Lightweight in-process data storage
Note: For running MorphiumServer as a standalone MongoDB-compatible server, see MorphiumServer.
Quick Start¶
Set the driver name to InMemDriver:
MorphiumConfig cfg = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg.connectionSettings().setDatabase("testdb");
cfg.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
Morphium morphium = new Morphium(cfg);
Or use environment variable:
Or system property:
Supported Features (v6.0)¶
Core Operations¶
- ✅ CRUD Operations: insert, find, update, delete, upsert
- ✅ Queries: $eq, $ne, $gt, $gte, $lt, $lte, $in, $nin, $exists, $regex
- ✅ Logical Operators: $and, $or, $not, $nor
- ✅ Array Operators: $elemMatch, $all, $size
- ✅ Projections: Field inclusion/exclusion, nested fields
- ✅ Sorting & Pagination: sort(), skip(), limit()
Aggregation Pipeline¶
- ✅ Basic Stages: $match, $group, $sort, $limit, $skip, $project
- ✅ Group Operators: $sum, $avg, $min, $max, $first, $last, $push, $addToSet
- ✅ MapReduce: Full JavaScript-based MapReduce with GraalJS engine
- ⚠️ Advanced Stages: $lookup, $unwind, $facet (limited support)
Change Streams (v6.0)¶
- ✅ Event Types: insert, update, delete, drop operations
- ✅ Document Snapshots: Immutable snapshots prevent dirty reads
- ✅ Pipeline Filtering: Filter events with aggregation pipelines
- ✅ Full Document Support: Access complete document in change events
- ✅ Database-scoped Sharing: Multiple Morphium instances share driver per database
Messaging System (v6.0)¶
- ✅ StandardMessaging: Single-collection messaging with change streams
- ✅ MultiCollectionMessaging: Multi-collection messaging
- ✅ Exclusive Messages: Single-consumer message processing
- ✅ Broadcast Messages: Multi-consumer message distribution
- ✅ Message Locking: Proper lock collection support
Indexes¶
- ✅ Single Field Indexes: Basic indexing support
- ⚠️ Compound Indexes: Limited support
- ❌ Text Indexes: Not fully implemented
- ❌ Geospatial Indexes: Limited geospatial support
Transactions¶
- ✅ Basic Transactions: start, commit, abort (single-instance)
- ❌ Multi-document ACID: Limited to single instance
- ❌ Distributed Transactions: No replica set support
V6.0 Improvements¶
Change Stream Enhancements¶
The v6.0 release significantly improved change stream reliability:
Deep Copy Snapshots
// Documents are deep-copied before change stream events are dispatched
// This prevents dirty reads where documents are modified before callbacks execute
morphium.watch(UncachedObject.class, evt -> {
// evt.getFullDocument() contains an immutable snapshot
// Safe to process without worrying about concurrent modifications
});
Database-scoped Driver Sharing
// Multiple Morphium instances sharing the same database will share the driver
MorphiumConfig cfg1 = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg1.connectionSettings().setDatabase("testdb");
cfg1.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
Morphium m1 = new Morphium(cfg1);
MorphiumConfig cfg2 = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg2.connectionSettings().setDatabase("testdb"); // same database
cfg2.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
Morphium m2 = new Morphium(cfg2);
// m1 and m2 share the same InMemoryDriver instance
// Change streams work correctly across both instances
// Driver is only closed when the last Morphium instance closes
Reference Counting - Automatic reference counting prevents premature driver shutdown - Each Morphium instance increments the ref count on creation - Driver shuts down only when ref count reaches zero - Solves issues with tests that create multiple Morphium instances
Messaging Improvements¶
No More Re-reads
// v5: messaging layer re-read documents from change stream events
// v6: uses evt.getFullDocument() directly - more efficient, no dirty reads
MorphiumMessaging msg = morphium.createMessaging();
msg.addListenerForTopic("events", (m, message) -> {
// message is from the immutable snapshot, not a re-read
return null;
});
Better Multi-Instance Support
// Tests with multiple messaging instances now work correctly
Morphium m1 = new Morphium(cfg);
Morphium m2 = new Morphium(cfg); // same database
MorphiumMessaging msg1 = m1.createMessaging();
MorphiumMessaging msg2 = m2.createMessaging();
// Both receive change stream events correctly
// Exclusive messages work as expected
// Broadcast messages delivered to all listeners
MapReduce Support¶
The InMemory driver includes full MapReduce support using JavaScript (GraalJS engine).
Basic MapReduce Example¶
MorphiumConfig cfg = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
cfg.connectionSettings().setDatabase("testdb");
try (Morphium morphium = new Morphium(cfg)) {
// Insert sample data
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
MyEntity entity = new MyEntity();
entity.setCategory(i % 5); // 5 categories
entity.setValue(i);
morphium.store(entity);
}
// Define map function (JavaScript)
String mapFunction = """
function() {
emit(this.category, this.value);
}
""";
// Define reduce function (JavaScript)
String reduceFunction = """
function(key, values) {
return values.reduce((sum, val) => sum + val, 0);
}
""";
// Execute MapReduce
List<Map<String, Object>> results = morphium.mapReduce(
MyEntity.class,
mapFunction,
reduceFunction
);
// Process results
for (Map<String, Object> result : results) {
System.out.println("Category: " + result.get("_id") +
", Total: " + result.get("value"));
}
}
MapReduce with Query Filter¶
// Only process documents matching a query
Map<String, Object> query = Doc.of("category", Doc.of("$gte", 2));
List<Map<String, Object>> results = morphium.mapReduce(
MyEntity.class,
mapFunction,
reduceFunction,
query
);
MapReduce with Finalize¶
String finalizeFunction = """
function(key, reducedValue) {
return {
category: key,
total: reducedValue,
average: reducedValue / 20 // Assuming 20 docs per category
};
}
""";
List<Map<String, Object>> results = morphium.mapReduceWithFinalize(
MyEntity.class,
mapFunction,
reduceFunction,
query,
finalizeFunction
);
Word Count Example¶
// Classic MapReduce word count example
String mapFunction = """
function() {
var words = this.text.split(/\\s+/);
words.forEach(function(word) {
emit(word.toLowerCase(), 1);
});
}
""";
String reduceFunction = """
function(key, values) {
return values.reduce((sum, val) => sum + val, 0);
}
""";
List<Map<String, Object>> wordCounts = morphium.mapReduce(
Document.class,
mapFunction,
reduceFunction
);
// Results: [{_id: "hello", value: 5}, {_id: "world", value: 3}, ...]
JavaScript Engine Details¶
- Engine: GraalJS (modern JavaScript engine)
- Compatibility: Supports ES6+ JavaScript features (arrow functions, destructuring, etc.)
- Functions Available:
emit(key, value)- Emit key-value pairs from map function- Standard JavaScript built-ins (Array methods, Math, Date, String, JSON, etc.)
- ES6 features:
forEach,map,reduce,filter, arrow functions, template literals
Performance Considerations¶
MapReduce in InMemory driver is: - ✅ Fast: All in-memory, no disk I/O - ✅ Single-threaded: Simpler, predictable execution - ⚠️ Memory-bound: Large datasets may consume significant RAM - ⚠️ No distribution: Cannot scale across multiple nodes
For large-scale MapReduce, consider using real MongoDB with sharding.
Limitations¶
Not Supported¶
- ❌ Replica Sets: No replica set simulation
- ❌ Sharding: No shard key or distributed queries
- ❌ Full Text Search: Limited $text operator support
- ❌ Advanced Geospatial: Basic $near/$geoWithin only
- ❌ GridFS: No file storage support
- ❌ Time Series Collections: Not implemented
- ❌ Authentication: No user/role management
- ❌ $lookup Joins: Not yet implemented
Performance Considerations¶
- Memory Usage: All data stored in memory
- No Persistence: Data lost when driver closes
- Concurrency: Uses ReadWriteLock for thread safety
- Index Performance: Limited compared to MongoDB's B-tree indexes
Testing Strategies¶
Unit Tests¶
@Test
public void testWithInMemory() {
MorphiumConfig cfg = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
cfg.connectionSettings().setDatabase("unittest");
try (Morphium morphium = new Morphium(cfg)) {
// Test code here
// No MongoDB required!
}
}
Shared Driver Tests¶
@Test
public void testMultipleInstances() {
String dbName = "shareddb";
MorphiumConfig cfg1 = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg1.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
cfg1.connectionSettings().setDatabase(dbName);
MorphiumConfig cfg2 = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg2.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
cfg2.connectionSettings().setDatabase(dbName);
try (Morphium m1 = new Morphium(cfg1);
Morphium m2 = new Morphium(cfg2)) {
// Both share the same driver
// Write with m1, read with m2
m1.store(new MyEntity("test"));
MyEntity found = m2.findById(MyEntity.class, id);
// Works correctly!
}
}
Messaging Tests¶
@Test
public void testMessaging() throws Exception {
MorphiumConfig cfg = new MorphiumConfig();
cfg.driverSettings().setDriverName("InMemDriver");
cfg.connectionSettings().setDatabase("msgtest");
try (Morphium morphium = new Morphium(cfg)) {
MorphiumMessaging sender = morphium.createMessaging();
MorphiumMessaging receiver = morphium.createMessaging();
AtomicInteger count = new AtomicInteger(0);
receiver.addListenerForTopic("test", (m, msg) -> {
count.incrementAndGet();
return null;
});
sender.start();
receiver.start();
sender.sendMessage(new Msg("test", "Hello", "World", 30000));
Thread.sleep(500);
assertEquals(1, count.get());
}
}
Monitoring¶
Built-in Status Monitoring: When using messaging with InMemory driver, all instances automatically respond to morphium_status queries. This provides JVM, messaging, and driver metrics without any setup.
MorphiumMessaging sender = morphium.createMessaging();
sender.start();
// Query status from all instances
List<Msg> responses = sender.sendAndAwaitAnswers(
new Msg(sender.getStatusInfoListenerName(), "status", "ALL"),
5, 2000
);
// Check metrics
for (Msg r : responses) {
Map<String, Object> stats = r.getMapValue();
System.out.println("Heap: " + stats.get("jvm.heap.used"));
System.out.println("Processing: " + stats.get("messaging.processing"));
}
See Messaging - Built-in Status Monitoring for complete documentation.
Best Practices¶
- Use for Unit Tests Only: Not intended for production
- Separate Database Names: Different test classes should use different database names to avoid interference
- Clean Up: Use try-with-resources to ensure proper cleanup
- Test Against Real MongoDB: Always verify behavior against actual MongoDB before production
- Watch Memory Usage: Large datasets can consume significant memory
Troubleshooting¶
Issue: Change streams not working¶
Solution: Ensure you're using v6.0+ with the deep copy snapshot fix
Issue: Messages not received by all listeners¶
Solution: Use database-scoped sharing by ensuring all Morphium instances use the same database name
Issue: NullPointerException in insert()¶
Solution: Upgrade to v6.0+ which includes index data structure initialization fix
Issue: Driver shutdown too early¶
Solution: v6.0+ includes reference counting to prevent premature shutdown
See Also¶
- MorphiumServer - Standalone MongoDB-compatible server
- Messaging - Messaging patterns with InMemory driver
- Migration v5 to v6 - Upgrading to latest InMemory driver features
- Configuration Reference - Complete configuration options