KafkaAvroDeserializer does not return SpecificRecord but returns GenericRecord

Question

My KafkaProducer is able to use KafkaAvroSerializer to serialize objects to my topic. However, KafkaConsumer.poll() returns deserialized GenericRecord instead of my serialized class.

MyKafkaProducer

 KafkaProducer<CharSequence, MyBean> producer;
    try (InputStream props = Resources.getResource("producer.props").openStream()) {
      Properties properties = new Properties();
      properties.load(props);
      properties.put(ProducerConfig.KEY_SERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG,
          io.confluent.kafka.serializers.KafkaAvroSerializer.class);
      properties.put(ProducerConfig.VALUE_SERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG,
          io.confluent.kafka.serializers.KafkaAvroSerializer.class);
      properties.put("schema.registry.url", "http://localhost:8081");

      MyBean bean = new MyBean();
      producer = new KafkaProducer<>(properties);
      producer.send(new ProducerRecord<>(topic, bean.getId(), bean));

My KafkaConsumer

 try (InputStream props = Resources.getResource("consumer.props").openStream()) {
      properties.load(props);
      properties.put(ConsumerConfig.KEY_DESERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, io.confluent.kafka.serializers.KafkaAvroDeserializer.class);
      properties.put(ConsumerConfig.VALUE_DESERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, io.confluent.kafka.serializers.KafkaAvroDeserializer.class);
      properties.put("schema.registry.url", "http://localhost:8081");
      consumer = new KafkaConsumer<>(properties);
    }
    consumer.subscribe(Arrays.asList(topic));
    try {
      while (true) {
        ConsumerRecords<CharSequence, MyBean> records = consumer.poll(100);
        if (records.isEmpty()) {
          continue;
        }
        for (ConsumerRecord<CharSequence, MyBean> record : records) {
          MyBean bean = record.value(); // <-------- This is throwing a cast Exception because it cannot cast GenericRecord to MyBean
          System.out.println("consumer received: " + bean);
        }
      }

MyBean bean = record.value(); That line throws a cast Exception because it cannot cast GenericRecord to MyBean.

I'm using kafka-client-0.9.0.1, kafka-avro-serializer-3.0.0.

Mickiemickle

Answer 1

KafkaAvroDeserializer supports SpecificData

It's not enabled by default. To enable it:

properties.put(KafkaAvroDeserializerConfig.SPECIFIC_AVRO_READER_CONFIG, true);

KafkaAvroDeserializer does not support ReflectData

Confluent's KafkaAvroDeserializer does not know how to deserialize using Avro ReflectData. I had to extend it to support Avro ReflectData:

/**
 * Extends deserializer to support ReflectData.
 *
 * @param <V>
 *     value type
 */
public abstract class ReflectKafkaAvroDeserializer<V> extends KafkaAvroDeserializer {

  private Schema readerSchema;
  private DecoderFactory decoderFactory = DecoderFactory.get();

  protected ReflectKafkaAvroDeserializer(Class<V> type) {
    readerSchema = ReflectData.get().getSchema(type);
  }

  @Override
  protected Object deserialize(
      boolean includeSchemaAndVersion,
      String topic,
      Boolean isKey,
      byte[] payload,
      Schema readerSchemaIgnored) throws SerializationException {

    if (payload == null) {
      return null;
    }

    int schemaId = -1;
    try {
      ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(payload);
      if (buffer.get() != MAGIC_BYTE) {
        throw new SerializationException("Unknown magic byte!");
      }

      schemaId = buffer.getInt();
      Schema writerSchema = schemaRegistry.getByID(schemaId);

      int start = buffer.position() + buffer.arrayOffset();
      int length = buffer.limit() - 1 - idSize;
      DatumReader<Object> reader = new ReflectDatumReader(writerSchema, readerSchema);
      BinaryDecoder decoder = decoderFactory.binaryDecoder(buffer.array(), start, length, null);
      return reader.read(null, decoder);
    } catch (IOException e) {
      throw new SerializationException("Error deserializing Avro message for id " + schemaId, e);
    } catch (RestClientException e) {
      throw new SerializationException("Error retrieving Avro schema for id " + schemaId, e);
    }
  }
}

Define a custom deserializer class which deserializes to MyBean:

public class MyBeanDeserializer extends ReflectKafkaAvroDeserializer<MyBean> {
  public MyBeanDeserializer() {
    super(MyBean.class);
  }
}

Configure KafkaConsumer to use the custom deserializer class:

properties.put(ConsumerConfig.VALUE_DESERIALIZER_CLASS_CONFIG, MyBeanDeserializer.class);

Kinesthesia

Thanks! I thought the generated bean extends SpecificRecordBase and implements SpecificRecord so what does it have to do with Avro Reflect Data? I'm new to Avro so just want a better understanding. – Mickiemickle

I tried your code and got the following exception: Caused by: org.apache.avro.AvroTypeException: Found string, expecting com.MyBean at org.apache.avro.io.ResolvingDecoder.doAction(ResolvingDecoder.java:292) at org.apache.avro.io.parsing.Parser.advance(Parser.java:88) at org.apache.avro.io.ResolvingDecoder.readFieldOrder(ResolvingDecoder.java:130)at org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumReader.readRecord(GenericDatumReader.java:223) at org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumReader.readWithoutConversion(GenericDatumReader.java:174)at org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumReader.read(Gene – Mickiemickle

I kept everything the same except switched to the new Deserializer that you've provided. – Mickiemickle

I didn't know you're using SpecificData. I updated my answer. – Kinesthesia

properties.put(KafkaAvroDeserializerConfig.SPECIFIC_AVRO_READER_CONFIG, true) worked for me. Btw, is there a documentation somewhere? I actually have been doing trial and error to figure things out. – Mickiemickle

ReflectData support got merged. github.com/confluentinc/schema-registry/pull/1111 – Inamorato

Answer 2

Edit : reflect data support got merged (see below)

To add to Chin Huang's answer, for minimal code and better performance, you should probably implement it this way :

/**
 * Extends deserializer to support ReflectData.
 *
 * @param <V>
 *     value type
 */
public abstract class SpecificKafkaAvroDeserializer<V extends SpecificRecordBase> extends AbstractKafkaAvroDeserializer implements Deserializer<V> {
  private final Schema schema;
  private Class<T> type;
  private DecoderFactory decoderFactory = DecoderFactory.get();

  protected SpecificKafkaAvroDeserializer(Class<T> type, Map<String, ?> props) {
    this.type = type;
    this.schema = ReflectData.get().getSchema(type);
    this.configure(this.deserializerConfig(props));
  }

  public void configure(Map<String, ?> configs) {
    this.configure(new KafkaAvroDeserializerConfig(configs));
  }

  @Override
  protected T deserialize(
          boolean includeSchemaAndVersion,
          String topic,
          Boolean isKey,
          byte[] payload,
          Schema readerSchemaIgnore) throws SerializationException {

    if (payload == null) {
      return null;
    }

    int schemaId = -1;
    try {
      ByteBuffer buffer = ByteBuffer.wrap(payload);
      if (buffer.get() != MAGIC_BYTE) {
        throw new SerializationException("Unknown magic byte!");
      }

      schemaId = buffer.getInt();
      Schema schema = schemaRegistry.getByID(schemaId);

      Schema readerSchema = ReflectData.get().getSchema(type);

      int start = buffer.position() + buffer.arrayOffset();
      int length = buffer.limit() - 1 - idSize;
      SpecificDatumReader<T> reader = new SpecificDatumReader(schema, readerSchema);
      BinaryDecoder decoder = decoderFactory.binaryDecoder(buffer.array(), start, length, null);
      return reader.read(null, decoder);
    } catch (IOException e) {
      throw new SerializationException("Error deserializing Avro message for id " + schemaId, e);
    } catch (RestClientException e) {
      throw new SerializationException("Error retrieving Avro schema for id " + schemaId, e);
    }
  }
}

Evslin

I feel like V needs to be renamed to T – Inamorato

ReflectData support got merged github.com/confluentinc/schema-registry/pull/1111 – Inamorato