Assumptions regarding Node ID strings in Neo4j - cypher

Question

In my recent question, Modeling conditional relationships in neo4j v.2 (cypher), the answer has led me to another question regarding my data model and the cypher syntax to represent it. Lets say in my model, there is a node CLT1 that is what I'll call the Source node. CLT1 has relationships to other 286 Target nodes. This is a model of a target node:

CREATE    
(Abnormally_high:Label1:Label2:Label3:Label4:Label5:Label6:Label7:Label8:Label9:Label10 
{Pro1:'x',Prop2:'y',Prop3:'z'})

Key point: I am assuming the string after the CREATE clause is

The ID of this target node
The ID is significant because its content has domain-specific meaning and is query-able.
in this case its the phrase ...."Abnormally_high".

I made this assumption based on the movie database example.

CREATE (Keanu:Person {name:'Keanu Reeves', born:1964})
CREATE (Carrie:Person {name:'Carrie-Anne Moss', born:1967})

The first strings after CREATE definitely have domain-specific meaning!

In my earlier post I discuss Problem 2. I find that problem 2 arises because among the 286 target nodes, there are many instances where there was at least one more Target node who shares the identical ID. In this instance, the ID is "Abnormally_high". The other Target nodes may differ in the value of any of Label1 - Label10 or the associated properties.

Apparently, Cypher doesn't like that. In Problem 2, I was discussing the ways to deal with the fact that cypher doesn't like using the same node ID multiple times even though the labels or properties were different.

My problem are my assumptions about the Target node ID.

AM I RIGHT?

I am now thinking that I could instead use this....

CREATE (CLT1_target_1:Label1:Label2:Label3:Label4:Label5:Label6:Label7:Label8:Label9:Label10  
{name:'Abnormally_high',Prop2:'y',Prop3:'z'})

If indeed the first string after the CREATE clause is an ID, then all I have to do is put a unique target node identifier.... like CLT1_target_1 and increment up to CLT1_target_286. If I do this, then I can have the name as a property and change whatever label or property I want.

Do I have this right?

cybersam cybersam · Accepted Answer · 2014-03-19T08:40:20

You are wrong. In Cypher, a node name (like "Abnormally_high") is just a variable name that exists for the lifetime of the query (and sometimes not even that long). The node name used in a Cypher query is never persisted in any way, and can be any arbitrary string.

Also, in neo4j, the term "ID" has a specific meaning. The neo4j DB will automatically assign a (currently) unique integer ID to each new node. You have no control over the ID value assigned to a node. And when a node is deleted, neo4j can reassign its ID to a new node.

You should read the neo4j manual (available at docs.neo4j.org), especially the section on Cypher, to get a better understanding.

Assumptions regarding Node ID strings in Neo4j - cypher

1 Answers