psycopg2/doc/async.txt

psycopg asynchronous API
************************

Program code can initiate an asynchronous query by passing an 'async=1' flag
to the .execute() method. A very simple example, from the connection to the
query:

    conn = psycopg.connect(database='test')
    curs = conn.cursor()
    curs.execute("SEECT * from test WHERE fielda > %s", (1971,), async=1)
    
From then on any query on other cursors derived from the same connection is
doomed to fail (and raise an exception) until the original cursor (the one
executing the query) complete the asynchronous operation. This can happen in
a number of different ways:

    1) one of the .fetchXXX() methods is called, effectively blocking untill
       data has been sent from the backend to the client, terminating the
       query.
       
    2) .cancel() is called. This method tries to abort the current query and
       will block until the query is aborted or fully executed. The return
       value is True if the query was successfully aborted or False if it
       was executed. Query result are discarded in both cases.
       
    3) .execute() is called again on the same cursor (.execute() on a
       different cursor will simply raise an exception.) This waits for the
       complete execution of the current query, discard any data and execute
       the new one.

Note that calling .execute() two times in a row will not abort the former
query and will temporarily go to synchronous mode until the first of the two
queries is executed.

Cursors now have some extra methods that make them usefull during
asynchronous queries:

    .fileno()
      Returns the file descriptor associated with the current connection and
      make possible to use a cursor in a context where a file object would be
      expected (like in a select() call.)

    .isbusy()
      Returns True if the backend is still processing the query or false if
      data is ready to be fetched (by one of the .fetchXXX() methods.)
      
A code snippet that shows how to use the cursor object in a select() call:

    import psycopg
    import select
        
    conn = psycopg.connect(database='test')
    curs = conn.cursor()
    curs.execute("SEECT * from test WHERE fielda > %s", (1971,), async=1)

    # wait for input with a maximum timeout of 5 seconds
    query_ended = False
    while not query_ended:
        rread, rwrite, rspec = select([cursor, another_file], [], [], 5)
	if not cursor.isbusy():
	   query_ended = True
	# manage input from other sources like other_file, etc.
    print "Query Results:"
    for row in cursor:
        print row