README

Bolt

PHP library for communication with graph database over TCP socket with Bolt protocol specification. Bolt protocol was created by Neo4j and documentation is available at https://www.neo4j.com/. This library is aimed to be low level, support all available versions and keep up with protocol messages architecture and specifications.

🏷️ Version support

We are trying to keep up and this library supports Bolt <= 5.6.

https://www.neo4j.com/docs/bolt/current/bolt-compatibility/

✅ Requirements

This library keep up with PHP supported versions what means it is at PHP^8.1.

PHP Extensions

• mbstring
• sockets (optional) - Required when you use Socket connection class
• openssl (optional) - Required when you use StreamSocket connection class with enabled SSL

💾 Installation

You can use composer or download this repository from github and manually implement it.

Composer

Run the following command in your project to install the latest applicable version of the package:

composer require stefanak-michal/bolt

Packagist

Manual

1. Download source code from github
2. Unpack
3. Copy content of src directory into your project

🖥️ Usage

Concept of usage is based on Bolt messages. Bolt messages are mapped 1:1 as protocol methods. Available protocol methods depends on Bolt version. Communication works in pipeline and you can chain multiple Bolt messages before consuming response from the server.

Main Bolt class serves as Factory design pattern and it returns instance of protocol class by requested Bolt version. Basic usage consist of query execution and fetching response which is split in two methods. First message run is for sending queries. Second message pull is for fetching response from executed query on database. Response from database for Bolt message pull always contains n+1 rows because last entry is success message with meta informations.

ℹ️ More info about available Bolt messages: https://www.neo4j.com/docs/bolt/current/bolt/message/

Available methods

Bolt class

Protocol class

Multiple methods accept argument called $extra. This argument can contain any of key-value by Bolt specification. This argument was extended during Neo4j development which means the content of it changed. You should keep in mind what version you are working with when using this argument. You can read more about extra parameter in Bolt documentation where you can look into your version and bolt message.

ℹ️ Annotation of methods in protocol classes contains direct link to specific version and message from mentioned documentation website.

Authentication

Method logon expects $auth array. This array has to contain up to these three keys: scheme, principal and credentials. It depends on chosen scheme, as content for the other keys. Look at following table to choose the right structure.

Transactions

Bolt from version 3 supports transactions and protocol contains these methods:

• begin
• commit
• rollback

run executes query in auto-commit transaction if explicit transaction was not open.

Cypher query parameters

List or dictionary can be also provided as instance of class implementing Bolt\packstream\IPackListGenerator or Bolt\PackStream\IPackDictionaryGenerator. This approach helps with memory management while working with big amount of data. To learn more you can check performance test or packer test.

⚠️ Structures Node, Relationship, UnboundRelationship and Path cannot be used as parameter. They are available only as received data from database.

Example

// Choose and create connection class and specify target host and port.
$conn = new \Bolt\connection\Socket('127.0.0.1', 7687);
// Create new Bolt instance and provide connection object.
$bolt = new \Bolt\Bolt($conn);
// Set requested protocol versions ..you can add up to 4 versions
$bolt->setProtocolVersions(5.4);
// Build and get protocol version instance which creates connection and executes handshake.
$protocol = $bolt->build();

// Initialize communication with database
$response = $protocol->hello()->getResponse();
// verify $response for successful initialization

// Login into database
$response = $protocol->logon(['scheme' => 'basic', 'principal' => 'neo4j', 'credentials' => 'neo4j'])->getResponse();
// verify $response for successful login

// Pipeline two messages. One to execute query with parameters and second to pull records.
$protocol
    ->run('RETURN $a AS num, $b AS str', ['a' => 123, 'b' => 'text'])
    ->pull();
    
// Fetch waiting server responses for pipelined messages.
foreach ($protocol->getResponses() as $response) {
    // $response is instance of \Bolt\protocol\Response.
    // First response is SUCCESS message for RUN message.
    // Second response is RECORD message for PULL message.
    // Third response is SUCCESS message for PULL message.
}

Autoload

Directory src contains autoload file which accepts only Bolt library namespaces. Main Bolt namespace points to this directory. If you have installed this project with composer, you have to load vendor/autoload.php.

⛓️ Connection

Bolt class constructor accepts connection argument. This argument has to be instance of class which implements IConnection interface. Library offers few options.

\Bolt\connection\Socket

This class use php extension sockets and has better memory usage. More informations here: https://www.php.net/manual/en/book.sockets.php

\Bolt\connection\StreamSocket

This class uses php stream functions. Which is a part of php and there is no extensions needed. More informations here: https://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.stream.php

StreamSocket besides of implemented methods from interface has method to configure SSL. SSL option requires php extension openssl. When you want to activate SSL you have to call method setSslContextOptions. This method accept array by php specification available here: https://www.php.net/manual/en/context.ssl.php.

\Bolt\connection\PStreamSocket

This class extends StreamSocket and adds support for persistent connections. Upon reuse of connection remaining buffer is consumed and message RESET is automatically sent. PHP is stateless therefore using this connection class requires storing meta information about active TCP connection. Default storage is \Bolt\helper\FileCache which you can change with method setCache (PSR-16 Simple Cache).

⚠️ If your system reuse persistent connection and meta information about it was lost for some reason, your attemt to connect will end with ConnectionTimeoutException. Repeated attempt to connect will succeed.

🔒 SSL

Neo4j Aura

Connecting to Aura requires encryption which is provided with SSL. To connect to Aura you have to use StreamSocket connection class and enable SSL.

$conn = new \Bolt\connection\StreamSocket('helloworld.databases.neo4j.io');
// enable SSL
$conn->setSslContextOptions([
    'verify_peer' => true
]);
$bolt = new \Bolt\Bolt($conn);

https://www.php.net/manual/en/context.ssl.php

Example on localhost database with self-signed certificate:

$conn = new \Bolt\connection\StreamSocket();
$conn->setSslContextOptions([
    'local_cert'=> 'd:\www\bolt\cert\public_cert.pem',
    'local_pk' => 'd:\www\bolt\cert\private_key.pem',
    'passphrase' => 'password',
    'allow_self_signed' => true,
    'verify_peer' => false,
    'verify_peer_name' => false
]);
$bolt = new \Bolt\Bolt($conn);

🔖 You can also take a look at my article on how to implement SSL for Neo4j running on localhost at Neo4j and self signed certificate.

⏱️ Timeout

Connection class constructor contains $timeout argument. This timeout is for established socket connection. To set up timeout for establishing socket connection itself you have to set ini directive default_socket_timeout.

Setting up ini directive isn't part of connection class because function ini_set can be disabled on production environments for security reasons.

🚦 Server state

Server state is not reported by server but it is evaluated by received response. You can access current state through property $protocol->serverState. This property is updated with every call getResponse(s).

📊 Analytics

Bolt does collect anonymous analytics data. These data are stored offline (as files in temp directory) and submitted once a day. You can opt out with environment variable BOLT_ANALYTICS_OPTOUT.

Analytics data are public and available at Mixpanel.

📌 More solutions

If you need simple class to cover basic functionality you can use: neo4j-bolt-wrapper

When you are in need of enterprise level take a look on: php-client

PDO implementation is available at pdo-bolt

More informations can be found at: https://neo4j.com/developer/php/

♻️ Old versions

If you need support for end-of-life PHP versions, here is a short info list. Not all new features are implement backwards and this readme is updated to latest released version.

• PHP < 7.4 - v3.x
• PHP 7.4 - v5.x
• PHP 8.0 - v6.x