# Striim 3.10.1 documentation

#### Window

A window bounds real-time data by time (for example, five minutes), event count (for example, 10,000 events), or both. A window is required for an application to aggregate or perform calculations on data, populate the dashboard, or send alerts when conditions deviate from normal parameters. Without a window to bound the data, an application is limited to evaluating and acting on individual events.

There are two types of windows, sliding and jumping. Windows send data to downstream queries when their contents change (sliding) or expire (jumping).

Sliding windows always contain the most recent events in the data stream. For example, at 8:06 am, a five-minute sliding window would contain data from 8:01 to 8:06, at 8:07 am, it would contain data from 8:02 am to 8:07 am, and so on. The time values may be taken from an attribute of the incoming stream (see the ON dateTime example below).

• If the window's size is specified as a number of events, each time a new event is received, the oldest event is discarded.

• If the size is specified as a length of time, each event is discarded after the specified time has elapsed since it was added to the window, so the number of events in the window may vary. Be sure to keep this in mind when writing queries that make calculations.

• If both a number of events and a length of time are specified, each event is discarded after it has been in the window for the specified time, or sooner if necessary to avoid exceeding the specified number.

Jumping windows are periodically updated with an entirely new set of events. For example, a five-minute jumping window would output data sets for 8:00:00-8:04:59 am, 8:05:00-8:09:59 am, and so on. A 10,000-event jumping window would output a new data set for every 10,000 events. If both five minutes and 10,000 events were specified, the window would output a new data set every time it accumulates 10,000 events or five minutes has elapsed since the previous data set was output.

To put it another way, a jumping window slices the data stream into chunks. The query, WActionStore, or target that receives the events will process each chunk in turn. For example, a map visualization for a five-minute jumping window would refresh every five minutes.

For better performance, filter out any unneeded fields using a query before the data is sent to the window.

This window breaks the RetailOrders stream (discussed above) into chunks:

CREATE JUMPING WINDOW ProductData_15MIN
OVER RetailOrders
KEEP WITHIN 15 MINUTE ON dateTime;

Each chunk contains 15 minutes worth of events, with the 15 minutes measured using the timestamp values from the events' dateTime field (rather than the Striim host's system clock).

The PARTITION BY field_name option applies the KEEP clause separately for each value of the specified field. For example, this window would contain 100 orders per store:

CREATE JUMPING WINDOW Orders100PerStore
OVER RetailOrders
KEEP 100 ROWS
PARTITION BY storeId;