Spanner Client
==============

.. _spanner-client:


Instantiating a Client
----------------------

To use the API, the :class:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.Client`
class defines a high-level interface which handles authorization
and creating other objects:

.. code:: python

    from google.cloud import spanner_v1
    client = spanner_v1.Client()

Long-lived Defaults
-------------------

When creating a :class:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.Client`, the
``user_agent`` and ``timeout_seconds`` arguments have sensible
defaults
(:data:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.DEFAULT_USER_AGENT` and
:data:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_SECONDS`).
However, you may over-ride them and these will be used throughout all API
requests made with the ``client`` you create.

Configuration
-------------

- For an overview of authentication in ``google.cloud-python``,
  see `Authentication
  <https://googleapis.github.io/google-cloud-python/latest/core/auth.html>`_.

- In addition to any authentication configuration, you can also set the
  :envvar:`GCLOUD_PROJECT` environment variable for the Google Cloud Console
  project you'd like to interact with. If your code is running in Google App
  Engine or Google Compute Engine the project will be detected automatically.
  (Setting this environment variable is not required, you may instead pass the
  ``project`` explicitly when constructing a
  :class:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.Client`).

- After configuring your environment, create a
  :class:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.Client`

  .. code::

     >>> from google.cloud import spanner_v1
     >>> client = spanner_v1.Client()

  or pass in ``credentials`` and ``project`` explicitly

  .. code::

     >>> from google.cloud import spanner_v1
     >>> client = spanner_v1.Client(project='my-project', credentials=creds)

.. tip::

    Be sure to use the **Project ID**, not the **Project Number**.


Warnings about Multiprocessing
------------------------------

.. warning::
   When using multiprocessing, the application may hang if a
   :class:`Client <google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.Client>` instance is created
   before :class:`multiprocessing.Pool` or :class:`multiprocessing.Process`
   invokes :func:`os.fork`.  The issue is under investigation, but may be only
   happening on Macintosh and not Linux.  See `GRPC/GRPC#12455
   <https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/12455#issuecomment-348578950>`_ for
   more information.

Next Step
---------

After a :class:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.client.Client`, the next
highest-level object is an :class:`~google.cloud.spanner_v1.instance.Instance`.
You'll need one before you can interact with databases.

Next, learn about the :doc:`instance-usage`.

.. _Instance Admin: https://cloud.google.com/spanner/reference/rpc/google.spanner.admin.instance.v1
.. _Database Admin: https://cloud.google.com/spanner/reference/rpc/google.spanner.admin.database.v1
