sqlds stands for SQL Datasource.

Most SQL-driven datasources, like Postgres, MySQL, and MSSQL share extremely similar codebases.

The sqlds package is intended to remove the repetition of these datasources and centralize the datasource logic. The only thing that the datasources themselves should have to define is connecting to the database, and what driver to use, and the plugin frontend.

Usage

if err := datasource.Manage("my-datasource", datasourceFactory, datasource.ManageOpts{}); err != nil {
  log.DefaultLogger.Error(err.Error())
  os.Exit(1)
}

func datasourceFactory(ctx context.Context, s backend.DataSourceInstanceSettings) (instancemgmt.Instance, error) {
  ds := sqlds.NewDatasource(&myDatasource{})
  return ds.NewDatasource(ctx, s)
}

The sqlds package formerly defined a set of default macros, but those have been migrated to grafana-plugin-sdk-go: see the code for details.

SQLDatasource.Interpolator is a func field that produces the SQL reaching the driver:

type Interpolator func(ctx context.Context, query *sqlutil.Query, rawJSON json.RawMessage) (string, error)

NewDatasource installs a default that delegates to sqlutil.Interpolate over the driver's Macros() — byte-for-byte equivalent to the pre-extension default. Override it by assigning your own func (for example an AST-aware rewriter or a macropro-backed handler):

ds := sqlds.NewDatasource(driver)
ds.Interpolator = func(ctx context.Context, q *sqlutil.Query, rawJSON json.RawMessage) (string, error) {
    return myRewriter.Interpolate(ctx, q, rawJSON)
}

rawJSON carries the unparsed query JSON: sqlutil.Query keeps only its fixed fields and drops the rest, so it's the channel for plugin-defined macro context. A nil Interpolator resolves to the default, so a zero-value SQLDatasource built without NewDatasource still interpolates.

SQLDatasource.ConnectionCacheFactory accepts a factory function that returns any implementation of the ConnectionCache interface:

type ConnectionCache interface {
    Load(key string) (CachedConnection, bool)
    Store(key string, v CachedConnection)
    Range(f func(key string, v CachedConnection) bool)
    Dispose()
}

The cache traffics in CachedConnection, an exported concrete value type that pairs the underlying *sql.DB with the captured DataSourceInstanceSettings. Its fields are unexported; read them through the DB()/Settings() accessors and release the connection with Close(). Because it is a plain value, a plugin's TTL cache can be as simple as a mutex-guarded map[string]CachedConnection.

The factory is invoked once per Connector during datasource construction; plugins capture their own configuration (TTL, size cap, dependencies) in the closure. A nil factory falls back to NewSyncMapCache(), which is behaviourally equivalent to the pre-extension sync.Map-backed storage (no eviction, no background goroutines).