Use in Java    {#flatbuffers_guide_use_java}
==============

## Before you get started

Before diving into the FlatBuffers usage in Java, it should be noted that
the [Tutorial](../tutorial.md) page has a complete guide to
general FlatBuffers usage in all of the supported languages (including Java).
This page is designed to cover the nuances of FlatBuffers usage,
specific to Java.

You should also have read the [Building](../building.md)
documentation to build `flatc` and should be familiar with
[Using the schema compiler](../flatc.md) and
[Writing a schema](../schema.md).

## FlatBuffers Java code location

The code for the FlatBuffers Java library can be found at
`flatbuffers/java/com/google/flatbuffers`. You can browse the library on the
[FlatBuffers GitHub page](https://github.com/google/flatbuffers/tree/master/
java/com/google/flatbuffers).

## Testing the FlatBuffers Java libraries

The code to test the libraries can be found at `flatbuffers/tests`.

The test code for Java is located in [JavaTest.java](https://github.com/google
/flatbuffers/blob/master/tests/JavaTest.java).

To run the tests, use either [JavaTest.sh](https://github.com/google/
flatbuffers/blob/master/tests/JavaTest.sh) or [JavaTest.bat](https://github.com/
google/flatbuffers/blob/master/tests/JavaTest.bat), depending on your operating
system.

*Note: These scripts require that [Java](https://www.oracle.com/java/index.html)
is installed.*

## Using the FlatBuffers Java library

*Note: See [Tutorial](../tutorial.md) for a more in-depth
example of how to use FlatBuffers in Java.*

FlatBuffers supports reading and writing binary FlatBuffers in Java.

To use FlatBuffers in your own code, first generate Java classes from your
schema with the `--java` option to `flatc`.
Then you can include both FlatBuffers and the generated code to read
or write a FlatBuffer.

For example, here is how you would read a FlatBuffer binary file in Java:
First, import the library and generated code. Then, you read a FlatBuffer binary
file into a `byte[]`.  You then turn the `byte[]` into a `ByteBuffer`, which you
pass to the `getRootAsMyRootType` function:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{.java}
    import MyGame.Example.*;
    import com.google.flatbuffers.FlatBufferBuilder;

    // This snippet ignores exceptions for brevity.
    File file = new File("monsterdata_test.mon");
    RandomAccessFile f = new RandomAccessFile(file, "r");
    byte[] data = new byte[(int)f.length()];
    f.readFully(data);
    f.close();

    ByteBuffer bb = ByteBuffer.wrap(data);
    Monster monster = Monster.getRootAsMonster(bb);
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now you can access the data from the `Monster monster`:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{.java}
    short hp = monster.hp();
    Vec3 pos = monster.pos();
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

## Storing dictionaries in a FlatBuffer

FlatBuffers doesn't support dictionaries natively, but there is support to
emulate their behavior with vectors and binary search, which means you
can have fast lookups directly from a FlatBuffer without having to unpack
your data into a `Dictionary` or similar.

To use it:
-   Designate one of the fields in a table as the "key" field. You do this
    by setting the `key` attribute on this field, e.g.
    `name:string (key)`.
    You may only have one key field, and it must be of string or scalar type.
-   Write out tables of this type as usual, collect their offsets in an
    array.
-   Instead of calling standard generated method,
    e.g.: `Monster.createTestarrayoftablesVector`,
    call `createSortedVectorOfTables` (from the `FlatBufferBuilder` object).
    which will first sort all offsets such that the tables they refer to
    are sorted by the key field, then serialize it.
-   Now when you're accessing the FlatBuffer, you can use
    the `ByKey` accessor to access elements of the vector, e.g.:
    `monster.testarrayoftablesByKey("Frodo")`.
    which returns an object of the corresponding table type,
    or `null` if not found.
    `ByKey` performs a binary search, so should have a similar
    speed to `Dictionary`, though may be faster because of better caching.
    `ByKey` only works if the vector has been sorted, it will
    likely not find elements if it hasn't been sorted.

## Text parsing

There currently is no support for parsing text (Schema's and JSON) directly
from Java, though you could use the C++ parser through native call
interfaces available to each language. Please see the
C++ documentation for more on text parsing.

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