CODEWITHSUNDEEP
neo4jgraph-databases
glorkvorn
glorkvorn

Reputation: 43

Using neo4j import tool with integer IDs

I'm new to Neo4j, and I'm trying to use its import tool to import a bunch of legacy data into a new database. The main ID for this data will be integers. However, it seems that the :ID property of a node defaults to a string type? I know I can use :int on other properties to make them integer type, but it doesn't seem possible to combine that with :ID.

For example, here's node type 1:

node1_int_id:ID(node1)|other_prop|another_prop
12345                 |foo       |bar

node type 2:

node2_int_id:ID(node2)|other_prop|another_prop
67890                 |foo       |bar

and the relationships

:START_ID(node1)      |:END_ID(node2)
12345                 |67890

This seems to work, but the result is a relationship based on two string-type fields. So I guess I have two questions:

1)Am I doing this right? Is there some way to make the ID fields integers that I'm not seeing?

2)If I have to do it this way, is it a problem that they are strings? This will eventually result in a fairly large database of ~100 million nodes and relationships, so it seems like a bad idea to be looking for relationships based on a string comparison.

Upvotes: 4

Views: 995

Answers (1)

cybersam
cybersam

Reputation: 67019

The Command line usage page of the neo4j import tool documents this command line option:

--id-type <id-type>

One out of [STRING, INTEGER, ACTUAL] and specifies how ids in node/relationship input files are treated.

STRING: arbitrary strings for identifying nodes. INTEGER: arbitrary integer values for identifying nodes. ACTUAL: (advanced) actual node ids.

The default option is STRING.

So, you should specify --id-type INTEGER on the command line when running the import tool.

Upvotes: 2

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