Using the QueryBuilder

Introduction

This section describes the use of the QueryBuilder, which is meant to help you query your AiiDA database independent of the employed backend. Before jumping into the specifics, let’s discuss what you should be clear about before writing a query:

  • You should know what you want to query for. In database-speek, you need to tell the backend what to project. For example, you might be interested in the label of a calculation and the pks of all its outputs.
  • In many use-cases, you will query for relationships between entities that are connected in a graph-like fashion, with links as edges and nodes as vertices. You have to know the relationships between these entities. A Node can be either input or output of another Node, but also an ancestor or a descendant.
  • In almost all cases, you will be interested in a subset of all possible entities that could be returned based on the joins between the entities of your graph. In other ways, you need to have an idea of how to filter the results.

If you are clear about what you want and how you can get it, you will have to provide this information to QueryBuilder, who will build an SQL-query for you. There is more than one possible API that you can use:

  1. The appender-method
  2. Using the queryhelp

What you will use depends on the specific use case. The functionalities are the same, so it’s up to you what to use.

The appender method

Introduction

Let’s first discuss the appender-method using some concrete examples. The first thing to know is how to chose entities that you want to query:

from aiida.orm.querybuilder import QueryBuilder
qb = QueryBuilder()       # Instantiating instance. One instance -> one query
qb.append(JobCalculation) # Setting first vertice of path

Retrieving results

So, let’s suppose that’s what we want to query for (all job calculations in the database). The question is how to get the results from the query:

from aiida.orm.querybuilder import QueryBuilder
qb = QueryBuilder()                 # Instantiating instance
qb.append(JobCalculation)           # Setting first vertice of path

first_row = qb.first()              # Returns a list (!)
                                    # of the results of the first row

all_results_d = qb.dict()           # Returns all results as
                                    # a list of dictionaries

all_results_l = qb.all()            # Returns a list of lists


# Also you can use generators:
all_res_d_gen = qb.iterdict()       # Return a generator of dictionaries
                                    # of all results
all_res_l_gen = qb.iterall()        # Returns a generator of lists

Note

Generators are useful if you have to retrieve a very large (>10000) number of results. This will retrieve the data in batches, and you can start working with the data before the query has completely finished. Be aware that if using generators, you should never commit (store) anything while iterating. The query is still going on, and might be compromised by new data in the database.

Filtering

Since we now know how to set an entity, we can start to filter by properties of that entity. Suppose we do not want to all JobCalculations, but only the ones in state ‘FINISHED’:

qb = QueryBuilder()                 # An empty QueryBuilder instances
qb.append(
    JobCalculation,                 # I am appending a JobCalculation
    filters={                       # Specifying the filters:
        'state':{'==':'FINISHED'},  # the calculation has to have finished
    },
)

How, can we have multiple filters? Suppose you are interested in all calculations in your database that are in state ‘FINISHED’ and were created in the last n days:

from datetime import timedelta
from aiida.utils import timezone
now = timezone.now()
time_n_days_ago = now - timedelta(days=n)

qb = QueryBuilder()                 # An empty QueryBuilder instances
qb.append(
    JobCalculation,                 # I am appending a JobCalculation
    filters={                       # Specifying the filters:
        'state':{'==':'FINISHED'},  # the calculation has to have finished AND
        'ctime':{'>':time_n_days_ago}     # created in the last n days
    },
)
result = qb.dict()                  # all results as a list of dictionaries

Let’s go through the above example. We have instantiated QueryBuilder instance. We appended to its path a JobCalculation (a remote calculation), and specified that we are only interested in calculations that have finished and that were created in the last n days.

What if we want calculations that have finished or were created in the last n days:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    JobCalculation,
    filters={
        'or':[
            {'state':{'==':'FINISHED'}},
            {'ctime':{'>': now - timedelta(days=n)}}
        ]
    },
)
res =vqb.dict()

If we had written and instead of or, we would have created the exact same query as in the first query, because and is the default behavior if you attach several filters. What if you want calculation in state ‘FINISHED’ or ‘RETRIEVING’? This will be the next example:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    JobCalculation,
    filters={
        'state':{'in':['FINISHED', 'RETRIEVING']}
    },
)
res = qb.all()

In order to negate a filter, that is to apply the not operator, precede the filter keyword with an exclamation mark. So, to ask for all calculations that are not in ‘FINISHED’ or ‘RETRIEVING’:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    JobCalculation,
    filters={
        'state':{'!in':['FINISHED', 'RETRIEVING']}
    },
)
res = qb.all()

Note

The above rule applies strictly! You check a non-equality with !==, since this is the equality operator (==) with a negation prepended.

This is a list of all implemented operators:

Operator Datatype Example Explanation
== All ‘id’:{‘==’:123} Checks equality
in All ‘name’:{‘in’:[‘foo’, ‘bar’]} equal to any element
>,<,<=,>= floats, integers, dates ‘ctime’:{‘<’:datetime(2016, 03, 03)} lower/greater (equal)
like Strings ‘name’:{‘like’:’lovely_calc%’} substring (% is wildcard)
ilike Strings ‘name’:{‘like’:’loVely_Calc%’} case insensitive ‘like’
or list of expressions ‘id’:{‘or’:[{‘<’:12}, {‘==’:199}]}  
and list of expressions ‘id’:{‘and’:[{‘<’:12}, {‘>’:1 }]}  

There are also some advanced operators:

Operator Datatype Example Explanation
has_key dicts
‘attributes.mykey’:{‘has_key’: ‘foo’}
‘extras’:{‘has_key’: ‘my_extra’}
Check that a dictionary (typically stored in the attributes or in the extras) has a given key. This can also be used to check if a given attribute or extra exists.
of_type any
‘attributes.mykey’:{‘of_type’: ‘bool’}
Check that an attribute or an extra is of a given type. Valid types are: object (meaning a dictionary), array (meaning a list), string, number (both for integers and floats), boolean or null) (currently implemented only in the SQLA backend)
of_length lists
‘attributes.mylist’: {‘of_length’: 4}
Check that a list (typically stored in the attributes or in the extras) has a given length (currently implemented only in the SQLA backend)
shorter lists
‘attributes.mylist’: {‘shorter’: 4}
Check that a list (typically stored in the attributes or in the extras) has a length shorter than the specified value (currently implemented only in the SQLA backend)
longer lists
‘attributes.mylist’: {‘longer’: 4}
Check that a list (typically stored in the attributes or in the extras) has a length longer than the specified value (currently implemented only in the SQLA backend)
contains lists
‘attributes.mykey’: {‘contains’: ‘a’}
Check that a list (typically stored in the attributes or in the extras) contains a specific element or value (currently implemented only in the SQLA backend)

This showed you how to ‘filter’ by properties of a node. So far we can do that for a single a single node in the database.

Joining entities

But we sometimes need to query relationships in graph-like database. Let’s join a node to its output, e.g. StructureData and JobCalculation (as output):

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(StructureData, tag='structure')
qb.append(JobCalculation, output_of='structure')

In above example we are querying structures and calculations, with the predicate that the calculation is an output of the structure (the same as saying that the structure is an input to the calculation) In the above example, we have first appended StructureData to the path. So that we can refer to that vertice later, we tag it with a unique keyword of our choice, which can be used only once. When we append another vertice to the path, we specify the relationship to a previous entity by using one of the keywords in the above table and as a value the tag of the vertice that it has a relationship with. There are several relationships that entities in Aiida can have:

Entity from Entity to Relationship Explanation
Node Node input_of One node as input of another node
Node Node output_of One node as output of another node
Node Node ancestor_of One node as the ancestor of another node (Path)
Node Node descendant_of One node as descendant of another node (Path)
Node Group group_of The group of a node
Group Node member_of The node is a member of a group
Node Computer computer_of The computer of a node
Computer Node has_computer The node of a computer
Node User creator_of The creator of a node is a user
User Node created_by The node was created by a user
User Group belongs_to The node was created by a user
Group User owner_of The node was created by a user

Some more examples:

# StructureData as an input of a job calculation
qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(JobCalculation, tag='calc')
qb.append(StructureData, input_of='calc')

# StructureData and ParameterData as inputs to a calculation
qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(JobCalculation, tag='calc')
qb.append(StructureData, input_of='calc')
qb.append(ParameterDataData, input_of='calc')

# Filtering the remote data instance by the computer it ran on (name)
qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(RemoteData, tag='remote')
qb.append(Computer, computer_of='remote', filters={'name':{'==':'mycomputer'}})

# Find all descendants of a structure with a certain uuid
qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(StructureData, tag='structure', filters={'uuid':{'==':myuuid}})
qb.append(Node, descendant_of='structure')

The above QueryBuilder will join a structure to all its descendants via the transitive closure table.

Defining the projections

But what will the query return exactly? If you try any of the examples, you will find that the instances of the last appended vertice appear! That is the default behavior if nothing else was specified. We usually do not want everything returned because it might lead to a big overhead. You need to specify what you want to return using the keyword project.

Let’s stick to the previous example:

# Find all descendants of a structure with a certain uuid
qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    StructureData,
    tag='structure',
    filters={'uuid':{'==':myuuid}},
)
qb.append(
    Node,
    descendant_of='structure',
    project=['type', 'uuid'],  # returns type (string) and uuid (string)
)

In the above example, executing the query returns the type and the id of all Node that are descendants of the structure:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    StructureData,
    tag='structure',
    filters={'uuid':{'==':myuuid}},
)
qb.append(
    Node,
    descendant_of='structure',
    project=['type', 'id'],  # returns type (string) and id (string)
    tag='descendant'
)

# Return the dictionaries:
print "\n\nqb.iterdict()"
for d in qb.iterdict():
    print '>>>', d

# Return the lists:
print "\n\nqb.iterall()"
for l in qb.iterall():
    print '>>>', l

# Return the first result:
print "\n\nqb.first()"
print '>>>', qb.first()

results in the following output:

qb.iterdict()
>>> {'descendant': {'type': u'calculation.job.quantumespresso.pw.PwCalculation.', 'id': 7716}}
>>> {'descendant': {'type': u'data.remote.RemoteData.', 'id': 8510}}
>>> {'descendant': {'type': u'data.folder.FolderData.', 'id': 9090}}
>>> {'descendant': {'type': u'data.array.ArrayData.', 'id': 9091}}
>>> {'descendant': {'type': u'data.array.trajectory.TrajectoryData.', 'id': 9092}}
>>> {'descendant': {'type': u'data.parameter.ParameterData.', 'id': 9093}}


qb.iterall()
>>> [u'calculation.job.quantumespresso.pw.PwCalculation.', 7716]
>>> [u'data.remote.RemoteData.', 8510]
>>> [u'data.folder.FolderData.', 9090]
>>> [u'data.array.ArrayData.', 9091]
>>> [u'data.array.trajectory.TrajectoryData.', 9092]
>>> [u'data.parameter.ParameterData.', 9093]


qb.first()
>>> [u'calculation.job.quantumespresso.pw.PwCalculation.', 7716]

Asking only for the properties that you are interested in can result in much faster queries. If you want the Aiida-ORM instance, add ‘*’ to your list of projections:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    StructureData,
    tag='structure',
    filters={'uuid':{'==':myuuid}},
)
qb.append(
    Node,
    descendant_of='structure',
    project=['*'],      # returns the Aiida ORM instance
    tag='desc'
)

# Return the dictionaries:
print "\n\nqb.iterdict()"
for d in qb.iterdict():
    print '>>>', d

# Return the lists:
print "\n\nqb.iterall()"
for l in qb.iterall():
    print '>>>', l

# Return the first result:
print "\n\nqb.first()"
print '>>>', qb.first()

Output:

qb.iterdict()
>>> {'desc': {'*': <PwCalculation: uuid: da720712-3ca3-490b-abf4-b0fb3174322e (pk: 7716)>}}
>>> {'desc': {'*': <RemoteData: uuid: 13a378f8-91fa-42c7-8d7a-e469bbf02e2d (pk: 8510)>}}
>>> {'desc': {'*': <FolderData: uuid: 91d5a5e8-6b88-4e43-9652-9efda4adb4ce (pk: 9090)>}}
>>> {'desc': {'*': <ArrayData: uuid: 7c34c219-f400-42aa-8bf2-ee36c7c1dd40 (pk: 9091)>}}
>>> {'desc': {'*': <TrajectoryData: uuid: 09288a5f-dba5-4558-b115-1209013b6b32 (pk: 9092)>}}
>>> {'desc': {'*': <ParameterData: uuid: 371677e1-d7d4-4f2e-8a41-594aace02759 (pk: 9093)>}}


qb.iterall()
>>> [<PwCalculation: uuid: da720712-3ca3-490b-abf4-b0fb3174322e (pk: 7716)>]
>>> [<RemoteData: uuid: 13a378f8-91fa-42c7-8d7a-e469bbf02e2d (pk: 8510)>]
>>> [<FolderData: uuid: 91d5a5e8-6b88-4e43-9652-9efda4adb4ce (pk: 9090)>]
>>> [<ArrayData: uuid: 7c34c219-f400-42aa-8bf2-ee36c7c1dd40 (pk: 9091)>]
>>> [<TrajectoryData: uuid: 09288a5f-dba5-4558-b115-1209013b6b32 (pk: 9092)>]
>>> [<ParameterData: uuid: 371677e1-d7d4-4f2e-8a41-594aace02759 (pk: 9093)>]


qb.first()
>>> [<PwCalculation: uuid: da720712-3ca3-490b-abf4-b0fb3174322e (pk: 7716)>]

Note

Be aware that, for consistency, QueryBuilder.all / iterall always returns a list of lists, and first always a list, even if you project on one entity!

If you are not sure which keys to ask for, you can project with ‘**’, and the QueryBuilder instance will return all column properties:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    StructureData,
    project=['**']
)

Output:

qb.limit(1).dict()
>>> {'StructureData': {
        u'user_id': 2,
        u'description': u'',
        u'ctime': datetime.datetime(2016, 2, 3, 18, 20, 17, 88239),
        u'label': u'',
        u'mtime': datetime.datetime(2016, 2, 3, 18, 20, 17, 116627),
        u'id': 3028,
        u'dbcomputer_id': None,
        u'nodeversion': 1,
        u'type': u'data.structure.StructureData.',
        u'public': False,
        u'uuid': u'93c0db51-8a39-4a0d-b14d-5a50e40a2cc4'
    }}

Attributes and extras

You should know by now that you can define additional properties of nodes in the attributes and the extras of a node. There will be many cases where you will either want to filter or project on those entities. The following example gives us a PwCalculation where the cutoff for the wavefunctions has a value above 30.0 Ry:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(PwCalculation, project=['*'], tag='calc')
qb.append(
    ParameterData,
    input_of='calc',
    filters={'attributes.SYSTEM.ecutwfc':{'>':30.0}},
    project=[
        'attributes.SYSTEM.ecutwfc',
        'attributes.SYSTEM.ecutrho',
    ]
)

The above examples filters by a certain attribute. Notice how you expand into the dictionary using the dot (.). That works the same for the extras.

Note

Comparisons in the attributes (extras) are also implicitly done by type.

Filtering or projecting on lists works similar to dictionaries. You expand into the list using the dot (.) and afterwards adding the list-index. The example below filters KpointsData by the first index in the mesh of KpointsData=instance, and returns that same index in the list:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    DataFactory('array.kpoints'),
    project=['attributes.mesh.0'],
    filters={'attributes.mesh.0':{'>':2}}
)

Let’s do a last example. You are familiar with the Quantum Espresso PWscf tutorial? Great, because this will be our use case here. (If not, you can find it on the documentation of the aiida-quantumespresso package. We will query for calculations that were done on a certain structure (mystructure), that fulfill certain requirements, such as a cutoff above 30.0. In our case, we have a structure (an instance of StructureData) and an instance of ParameterData that are both inputs to a PwCalculation. You need to tell the QueryBuilder that:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    StructureData,
    filters={'uuid':{'==':mystructure.uuid}},
    tag='strucure'
)
qb.append(
    PwCalculation,
    output_of='strucure',
    project=['*'],
    tag='calc'
)
qb.append(
    ParameterData,
    filters={'attributes.SYSTEM.ecutwfc':{'>':30.0}},
    input_of='calc',
    tag='params'
)

Cheats

A few cheats to save some typing:

  • The default edge specification, if no keyword is provided, is always output_of the previous vertice.
  • Equality filters (‘==’) can be shortened, as will be shown below.
  • Tags are not necessary, you can simply use the class as a label. This works as long as the same Aiida-class is not used again

A shorter version of the previous example:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    StructureData,
    filters={'uuid':mystructure.uuid},
)
qb.append(
    PwCalculation,
    project='*',
)
qb.append(
    ParameterData,
    filters={'attributes.SYSTEM.ecutwfc':{'>':30.0}},
    input_of=PwCalculation
)

Advanced usage

Let’s proceed to some more advanced stuff. If you’ve understood everything so far you’re in good shape to query the database, so you can skip the rest if you want.

Working with edges

Another feature that had to be added are projections, filters and labels on the edges of the graphs, that is to say links or paths between nodes. It works the same way, just that the keyword is preceeded by ‘link’. Let’s take the above example, but put a filter on the label of the link, project the label and label:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
        JobCalculation,
        filters={'ctime':{'>': now - timedelta(days=3)}},
        project={'id':{'func':'count'}}
    )
qb.append(
        ParameterData,
        filters={'attributes.energy':{'>':-5.0}},
        edge_filters={'label':{'like':'output_%'}},
        edge_project='label'
     )

Ordering results

You can also order by properties of the node, although ordering by attributes or extras is not implemented yet. Assuming you want to order the above example by the time of the calculations:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
        JobCalculation,
        project=['*']
    )
qb.append(
        ParameterData,
        filters={'attributes.energy':{'>':-5.0}},
     )

qb.order_by({JobCalculation:{'ctime':'asc'}}) # 'asc' or 'desc' (ascending/descending)

Limiting the number of results

You can also limit the number of rows returned with the method limit:

qb = QueryBuilder()
qb.append(
    JobCalculation,
    filters={'ctime':{'>': now - timedelta(days=3)}},
    project=['*']
)
qb.append(
    ParameterData,
    filters={'attributes.energy':{'>':-5.0}},
 )

# order by time descending
qb.order_by({JobCalculation:{'ctime':'desc'}})

# Limit to results to the first 10 results:
qb.limit(10)

The above query returns the latest 10 calculation that produced a final energy above -5.0.

The queryhelp

As mentioned above, there are two possibilities to tell the QueryBuilder what to do. The second uses one big dictionary that we can call the queryhelp in the following. It has the same functionalities as the appender method. But you could save this dictionary in a JSON or in the database and use it over and over. Using the queryhelp, you have to specify the path, the filter and projections beforehand and instantiate the QueryBuilder with that dictionary:

qb = Querybuilder(**queryhelp)

What do you have to specify:

  • Specifying the path: Here, the user specifies the path along which to join tables as a list, each list item being a vertice in your path. You can define the vertice in two ways: The first is to give the Aiida-class:

    queryhelp = {
        'path':[Data]
    }
    
    # or  (better)
    
    queryhelp = {
        'path':[
            {'cls': Data}
        ]
    }
    

    Another way is to give the polymorphic identity of this class, in our case stored in type:

    queryhelp = {
        'path':[
            {'type':"data."}
        ]
    }
    

    Note

    In Aiida, polymorphism is not strictly enforced, but done with type specification. Type-discrimination when querying is achieved by attaching a filter on the type every time a subclass of Node is given.

    Each node has to have a unique tag. If not given, the tag is chosen to be equal to the name of the class. This will not work if the user chooses the same class twice. In this case he has to provide the tag:

    queryhelp = {
        'path':[
            {
                'cls':Node,
                'tag':'node_1'
            },
            {
                'cls':Node,
                'tag':'node_2'
            }
        ]
    }
    

    There also has to be some information on the edges, in order to join correctly. There are several redundant ways this can be done:

    • You can specify that this node is an input or output of another node preceding the current one in the list. That other node can be specified by an integer or the class or type. The following examples are all valid joining instructions, assuming there is a structure defined at index 2 of the path with tag “struc1”:

      edge_specification = queryhelp['path'][3]
      edge_specification['output_of'] = 2
      edge_specification['output_of'] = StructureData
      edge_specification['output_of'] = 'struc1'
      edge_specification['input_of']  = 2
      edge_specification['input_of']  = StructureData
      edge_specification['input_of']  = 'struc1'
      
    • queryhelp_item[‘direction’] = integer

      If any of the above specs (“input_of”, “output_of”) were not specified, the key “direction” is looked for. Directions are defined as distances in the tree. 1 is defined as one step down the tree along a link. This means that 1 joins the node specified in this dictionary to the node specified on list-item before as an output. Direction defaults to 1, which is why, if nothing is specified, this node is joined to the previous one as an output by default. A minus sign reverse the direction of the link. The absolute value of the direction defines the table to join to with respect to your own position in the list. An absolute value of 1 joins one table above, a value of 2 to the table defined 2 indices above. The two following queryhelps yield the same query:

      qh1 = {
          'path':[
              {
                  'cls':PwCalculation
              },
              {
                  'cls':Trajectory
              },
              {
                  'cls':ParameterData,
                  'direction':-2
              }
          ]
      }
      
      # returns same query as:
      
      qh2 = {
          'path':[
              {
                  'cls':PwCalculation
              },
              {
                  'cls':Trajectory
              },
              {
                  'cls':ParameterData,
                  'input_of':PwCalculation
              }
          ]
      }
      
      # Shorter version:
      
      qh3 = {
          'path':[
              ParameterData,
              PwCalculation,
              Trajectory,
          ]
      }
      
  • Project: Determing which columns the query will return:

    queryhelp = {
        'path':[Relax],
        'project':{
            Relax:['state', 'id'],
        }
    }
    

    If you are using JSONB columns, you can also project a value stored inside the json:

    queryhelp = {
        'path':[
            Relax,
            StructureData,
        ],
        'project':{
            Relax:['state', 'id'],
        }
    }
    

    Returns the state and the id of all instances of Relax where a structures is linked as output of a relax-calculation. The strings that you pass have to be name of the columns. If you pass a star (‘*’), the query will return the instance of the AiidaClass.

  • Filters: What if you want not every structure, but only the ones that were added after a certain time t and have an id higher than 50:

    queryhelp = {
        'path':[
            {'cls':Relax}, # Relaxation with structure as output
            {'cls':StructureData}
        ],
        'filters':{
            StructureData:{
                'time':{'>': t},
                'id':{'>': 50}
            }
        }
    }
    

If you want to include filters and projections on links between nodes, you will have to add these to filters and projections in the queryhelp. Let’s take an example that we had and add a few filters on the link:

queryhelp = {
    'path':[
        {'cls':Relax, 'tag':'relax'}, # Relaxation with structure as output
        {'cls':StructureData, 'tag':'structure'}
    ],
    'filters':{
        'structure':{
            'time':{'>': t},
            'id':{'>': 50}
        },
        'relax--structure':{
            'time':{'>': t},
            'label':{'like':'output_%'},
        }
    },
    'project':{
        'relax--structure':['label'],
        'structure':['label'],
        'relax':['label', 'state'],
    }
}

Notice that the label for the link, by default, is the labels of the two connecting nodes delimited by two dashes ‘–’. The order does not matter, the following queryhelp would results in the same query:

queryhelp = {
    'path':[
        {'cls':Relax, 'label':'relax'},         # Relaxation with structure as output
        {'cls':StructureData, 'label':'structure'}
    ],
    'filters':{
        'structure':{
            'time':{'>': t},
            'id':{'>': 50}
        },
        'relax--structure':{
            'time':{'>': t},
            'label':{'like':'output_%'},
        }
    },
    'project':{
        'relax--structure':['label'],
        'structure':['label'],
        'relax':['label', 'state'],
    }
}

If you dislike that way to label the link, you can choose the linklabel in the path when definining the entity to join:

queryhelp = {
    'path':[
        {'cls':Relax, 'label':'relax'},         # Relaxation with structure as output
        {
            'cls':StructureData,
            'label':'structure',
            'edge_tag':'ThisIsMyLinkLabel'     # Definining the linklabel
        }
    ],
    'filters':{
        'structure':{
            'time':{'>': t},
            'id':{'>': 50}
        },
        'ThisIsMyLinkLabel':{                  # Using this linklabel
            'time':{'>': t},
            'label':{'like':'output_%'},
        }
    },
    'project':{
        'ThisIsMyLinkLabel':['label'],
        'structure':['label'],
        'relax':['label', 'state'],
    }
}

You can set a limit and an offset in the queryhelp:

queryhelp = {
    'path':[Node],
    'limit':10,
    'offset':20
}

That queryhelp would tell the QueryBuilder to return 10 rows after the first 20 have been skipped.