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Table Admin API

After creating a :class:`Cluster <gcloud.bigtable.cluster.Cluster>`, you can interact with individual tables, groups of tables or column families within a table.

List Tables

If you want a comprehensive list of all existing tables in a cluster, make a ListTables API request with :meth:`Cluster.list_tables() <gcloud.bigtable.cluster.Cluster.list_tables>`:

>>> cluster.list_tables()
[<gcloud.bigtable.table.Table at 0x7ff6a1de8f50>,
 <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table at 0x7ff6a1de8350>]

Table Factory

To create a :class:`Table <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table>` object:

table = cluster.table(table_id)

Even if this :class:`Table <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table>` already has been created with the API, you'll want this object to use as a parent of a :class:`ColumnFamily <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.ColumnFamily>` or :class:`Row <gcloud.bigtable.row.Row>`.

Create a new Table

After creating the table object, make a CreateTable API request with :meth:`create() <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table.create>`:

table.create()

If you would to initially split the table into several tablets (Tablets are similar to HBase regions):

table.create(initial_split_keys=['s1', 's2'])

Delete an existing Table

Make a DeleteTable API request with :meth:`delete() <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table.delete>`:

table.delete()

Rename an existing Table

Though the RenameTable API request is listed in the service definition, requests to that method return:

BigtableTableService.RenameTable is not yet implemented

We have implemented :meth:`rename() <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table.rename>` but it will not work unless the backend supports the method.

List Column Families in a Table

Though there is no official method for retrieving column families associated with a table, the GetTable API method returns a table object with the names of the column families.

To retrieve the list of column families use :meth:`list_column_families() <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table.list_column_families>`:

column_families = table.list_column_families()

Column Family Factory

To create a :class:`ColumnFamily <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.ColumnFamily>` object:

column_family = table.column_family(column_family_id)

There is no real reason to use this factory unless you intend to create or delete a column family.

In addition, you can specify an optional gc_rule (a :class:`GarbageCollectionRule <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.GarbageCollectionRule>` or similar):

column_family = table.column_family(column_family_id,
                                    gc_rule=gc_rule)

This rule helps the backend determine when and how to clean up old cells in the column family.

See :doc:`bigtable-column-family` for more information about :class:`GarbageCollectionRule <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.GarbageCollectionRule>` and related classes.

Create a new Column Family

After creating the column family object, make a CreateColumnFamily API request with :meth:`ColumnFamily.create() <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.ColumnFamily.create>`

column_family.create()

Delete an existing Column Family

Make a DeleteColumnFamily API request with :meth:`ColumnFamily.delete() <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.ColumnFamily.delete>`

column_family.delete()

Update an existing Column Family

Make an UpdateColumnFamily API request with :meth:`ColumnFamily.delete() <gcloud.bigtable.column_family.ColumnFamily.update>`

column_family.update()

Next Step

Now we go down the final step of the hierarchy from :class:`Table <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table>` to :class:`Row <gcloud.bigtable.row.Row>` as well as streaming data directly via a :class:`Table <gcloud.bigtable.table.Table>`.

Head next to learn about the :doc:`bigtable-data-api`.