.. meta::
   :description: This document provides usage information for the Confluent SMT io.confluent.connect.transforms.TombstoneHandler.
   
.. _tombstonehandler:

================
TombstoneHandler
================

The following provides usage information for the Confluent Single Message Transformation (SMT)
``io.confluent.connect.transforms.TombstoneHandler``.

Description
-----------

Manage tombstone records. A tombstone record is defined as a record with the
entire value field being null, whether or not it has ValueSchema.

Installation
------------

This transformation is developed by Confluent and does not ship by default with
|ak| or |CP|. You can install this transformation using the
:confluent-cli:`confluent connect plugin
install|command-reference/connect/plugin/confluent_connect_plugin_install.html`
command:

.. sourcecode:: properties

    confluent connect plugin install confluentinc/connect-transforms:latest

Examples
--------

The configuration snippets below show how to use and configure the ``Tombstone``
SMT.

The connector uses the default (warn) behavior to handle tombstone records,
which ignores the tombstone silently and writes a WARN message to log.

.. code-block:: json
   
   "transforms": "tombstoneHandlerExample",
   "transforms.tombstoneHandlerExample.type": "io.confluent.connect.transforms.TombstoneHandler"
   
The connector uses the ignore behavior to handle tombstone records, which
ignores the tombstone silently and writes a DEBUG message to log.
   
.. code-block:: json

   "transforms.tombstoneHandlerExample.type": "io.confluent.connect.transforms.TombstoneHandler",
   "transforms.tombstoneHandlerExample.behavior": "ignore",
   
The connector uses the fail behavior to handle tombstone records, which fails
the execution, throws a ``DataException``, and writes a DEBUG message to log.
   
.. code-block:: json

   "transforms.tombstoneHandlerExample.type": "io.confluent.connect.transforms.TombstoneHandler",
   "transforms.tombstoneHandlerExample.behavior": "fail"
   
.. tip::
   
   For additional examples, see `Tombstone Handler <https://docs.confluent.io/cloud/current/connectors/single-message-transforms.html#tombstone-handler>`__ for managed connectors.


Properties
----------

.. list-table::
   :header-rows: 1
   :widths: 15 30 10 10 10 10

   *  - Name
      - Description
      - Type
      - Default
      - Valid Values
      - Importance
   *  - ``behavior``
      - If set to ``ignore``, the tombstone
        record is ignored silently, with a DEBUG message written to log.
        If set to ``warn``, the tombstone record is ignored silently,
        with a WARN message written to log. If set to ``fail``, the execution
        fails, a ``DataException`` is thrown, and a DEBUG message is
        written to log.
      - string
      - warn
      - [ignore, warn, fail]
      - medium
      
.. include:: includes/predicate.rst