---
title: "NoSQL Item Operations"
url: https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/sdk/java/v1/cloud-scale/nosql/item-operations/
description: "Catalyst NoSQL is a fully-managed, powerful database that provides you with a non-relational, non-SQL means of data storage. This page describes the SDK methods to perform various NoSQL item operations."
last_updated: 2025-09-16T15:18:37Z
service: Cloud Scale
type: general
related_links:
  - name: "NoSQL"
    url: /en/cloud-scale/help/nosql/introduction
  - name: "Working with Data"
    url: /en/cloud-scale/help/nosql/working-with-data/introduction/
  - name: "NoSQL API"
    url: /en/api/code-reference/cloud-scale/nosql/insert-item/#InsertNewItem
---

# NoSQL Item Operations

[Catalyst NoSQL](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/nosql/introduction/) items represent a collection of attributes that hold the data of a single data point, like records. Given below are the methods that you can use with an [item](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/nosql/components/#basic-components) and perform various operations on it.

#### Remove attributes from a constructed item

```java
//public ZCNoSQLItem removeAttribute(String attrName) throws Exception;
item.removeAttribute("attribute name");
```

#### Get all the keys from the item being constructed

```java
//public Iterable<Map.Entry>String, Object>> attributes();
item.attributes();
```

#### Check if the constructed item contains a specific attribute

```java
//public boolean hasAttribute(String attrName);
item.hasAttribute("attribute name");
```

#### Getting the item as a map

```java
//public Map<String, Object> asMap();
item.asMap();
//public Map&lt;String, Object&gt; getAllAttributesAsMap();
item.getAllAttributesAsMap();
```

#### Get the item as a JSON

```java
//public String toJSON() throws Exception;
item.toJSON();
```

#### Get the count of the attributes in the constructed item

```java
//public int numberOfAttributes();
item.numberOfAttributes();
```

### ZCNoSQLAttribute

You can use the `ZCNoSQLAttribute` class to indicate the attributes upon which you perform the operations. To access the nested elements of a Map, you can separate the attributes using ',' while using `ZCNoSQLAttribute`. To access a specific index of a list, you can denote it as "[&lt;index&gt;]". This is demonstrated in the example below.

```java
//public static ZCNoSQLAttribute getInstance(String ...pathElements) throws Exception;
//public ZCNoSQLAttribute(List&lt;String&gt; pathElements) throws Exception;
ZCNoSQLAttribute.getInstance("", ...);
new ZCNoSQLAttribute("", ...)
```

The datatypes supported by NoSQL can be denoted with the `ZCNoSQLAttribute` as follows:

<table class="content-table nosql-components-table">

<thead>
        <tr>
            <th class="w10p">Supported Data Type</th>
            <th class="w10p">Notation with ZCNoSQLAttribute</th>
        </tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
    <tr>
        <td>String</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.S` </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Numeric</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.N`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Binary</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.B` </td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
       <td>Boolean</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.BOOL`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Set of String</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.SS`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Set of Numbers</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.SN`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Set of Binary</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.SB`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>List</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.L`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Map</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.M`</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td>Null</td>
        <td>`ZCNoSQLValue.DataType.NuLL`</td>
    </tr>
</tbody>
</table>

### ZCNoSQLValue

Objects of this class are used to indicate the value of attributes along with their data type, as shown below.

```java
// public ZCNoSQLValue(DataType dataType, Object value) throws Exception;
//public static ZCNoSQLValue getInstance(DataType dataType, Object value) throws Exception;
new ZCNoSQLValue(&lt;ZCNoSQLValue.DataType&gt;, &lt;Value&gt;)
ZCNoSQLValue.getInstance(&lt;ZCNoSQLValue.DataType&gt;, &lt;Value&gt;)
```

### ZCNoSQLResponseBean

This class contains the response of the SDK calls made to the server. This includes the following methods. 

* `getSize` - Used to return the size of data read/write from or to the server.

```java
//public int getSize();
responseBean.getSize();
```

* `getStartKey` - Used to return the start key for next set of data for pagination, if more data exists.

```java
//public ZCNoSQLItem getStartKey();
responseBean.getStartKey();
```

* `getResponseDataList` - Returns the actual data. Based on the `NOSQL_RETURN_VALUE`, either the old or new data is returned in `getNew_item()` or `getOld_Item()` method.

```java
//public List&lt;Data&gt; getResponseDataList();
responseBean.getResponseDataList().get(&lt;index&gt;).getNew_item();
responseBean.getResponseDataList().get(&lt;index&gt;).getOld_item();
responseBean.getResponseDataList().get(&lt;index&gt;).setStatus();
```