HCatalog contains a data transfer API for parallel input and output without using MapReduce. This API uses a basic storage abstraction of tables and rows to read data from Hadoop cluster and write data into it.

The Data Transfer API contains mainly three classes; those are −

• HCatReader − Reads data from a Hadoop cluster.

• HCatWriter − Writes data into a Hadoop cluster.

• DataTransferFactory − Generates reader and writer instances.

This API is suitable for master-slave node setup. Let us discuss more on HCatReader and HCatWriter.

HCatReader

HCatReader is an abstract class internal to HCatalog and abstracts away the complexities of the underlying system from where the records are to be retrieved.

The HCatReader class is used to read the data from HDFS. Reading is a two-step process in which the first step occurs on the master node of an external system. The second step is carried out in parallel on multiple slave nodes.

Reads are done on a ReadEntity. Before you start to read, you need to define a ReadEntity from which to read. This can be done through ReadEntity.Builder. You can specify a database name, table name, partition, and filter string. For example −

ReadEntity.Builder builder = new ReadEntity.Builder();
ReadEntity entity = builder.withDatabase("mydb").withTable("mytbl").build(); 10. 

The above code snippet defines a ReadEntity object (“entity”), comprising a table named mytbl in a database named mydb, which can be used to read all the rows of this table. Note that this table must exist in HCatalog prior to the start of this operation.

After defining a ReadEntity, you obtain an instance of HCatReader using the ReadEntity and cluster configuration −

HCatReader reader = DataTransferFactory.getHCatReader(entity, config);

The next step is to obtain a ReaderContext from reader as follows −

ReaderContext cntxt = reader.prepareRead();

HCatWriter

This abstraction is internal to HCatalog. This is to facilitate writing to HCatalog from external systems. Don”t try to instantiate this directly. Instead, use DataTransferFactory.

Similar to reading, writing is also a two-step process in which the first step occurs on the master node. Subsequently, the second step occurs in parallel on slave nodes.

Writes are done on a WriteEntity which can be constructed in a fashion similar to reads −

WriteEntity.Builder builder = new WriteEntity.Builder();
WriteEntity entity = builder.withDatabase("mydb").withTable("mytbl").build();

The above code creates a WriteEntity object entity which can be used to write into a table named mytbl in the database mydb.

After creating a WriteEntity, the next step is to obtain a WriterContext −

HCatWriter writer = DataTransferFactory.getHCatWriter(entity, config);
WriterContext info = writer.prepareWrite();

All of the above steps occur on the master node. The master node then serializes the WriterContext object and makes it available to all the slaves.

On slave nodes, you need to obtain an HCatWriter using WriterContext as follows −

HCatWriter writer = DataTransferFactory.getHCatWriter(context);

Then, the writer takes an iterator as the argument for the write method −

writer.write(hCatRecordItr);

The writer then calls getNext() on this iterator in a loop and writes out all the records attached to the iterator.

The TestReaderWriter.java file is used to test the HCatreader and HCatWriter classes. The following program demonstrates how to use HCatReader and HCatWriter API to read data from a source file and subsequently write it onto a destination file.

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.ObjectInputStream;
import java.io.ObjectOutputStream;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Map.Entry;

import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.metastore.api.MetaException;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.CommandNeedRetryException;
import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.InputSplit;

import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.common.HCatException;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.DataTransferFactory;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.HCatReader;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.HCatWriter;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.ReadEntity;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.ReaderContext;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.WriteEntity;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.data.transfer.WriterContext;
import org.apache.hive.HCatalog.mapreduce.HCatBaseTest;

import org.junit.Assert;
import org.junit.Test;

public class TestReaderWriter extends HCatBaseTest {
   @Test
   public void test() throws MetaException, CommandNeedRetryException,
      IOException, ClassNotFoundException {
		
      driver.run("drop table mytbl");
      driver.run("create table mytbl (a string, b int)");
		
      Iterator<Entry<String, String>> itr = hiveConf.iterator();
      Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>();
		
      while (itr.hasNext()) {
         Entry<String, String> kv = itr.next();
         map.put(kv.getKey(), kv.getValue());
      }
		
      WriterContext cntxt = runsInMaster(map);
      File writeCntxtFile = File.createTempFile("hcat-write", "temp");
      writeCntxtFile.deleteOnExit();
		
      // Serialize context.
      ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(writeCntxtFile));
      oos.writeObject(cntxt);
      oos.flush();
      oos.close();
		
      // Now, deserialize it.
      ObjectInputStream ois = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(writeCntxtFile));
      cntxt = (WriterContext) ois.readObject();
      ois.close();
      runsInSlave(cntxt);
      commit(map, true, cntxt);
		
      ReaderContext readCntxt = runsInMaster(map, false);
      File readCntxtFile = File.createTempFile("hcat-read", "temp");
      readCntxtFile.deleteOnExit();
      oos = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream(readCntxtFile));
      oos.writeObject(readCntxt);
      oos.flush();
      oos.close();
		
      ois = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(readCntxtFile));
      readCntxt = (ReaderContext) ois.readObject();
      ois.close();
		
      for (int i = 0; i < readCntxt.numSplits(); i++) {
         runsInSlave(readCntxt, i);
      }
   }
	
   private WriterContext runsInMaster(Map<String, String> config) throws HCatException {
      WriteEntity.Builder builder = new WriteEntity.Builder();
      WriteEntity entity = builder.withTable("mytbl").build();
		
      HCatWriter writer = DataTransferFactory.getHCatWriter(entity, config);
      WriterContext info = writer.prepareWrite();
      return info;
   }
	
   private ReaderContext runsInMaster(Map<String, String> config, 
      boolean bogus) throws HCatException {
      ReadEntity entity = new ReadEntity.Builder().withTable("mytbl").build();
      HCatReader reader = DataTransferFactory.getHCatReader(entity, config);
      ReaderContext cntxt = reader.prepareRead();
      return cntxt;
   }
	
   private void runsInSlave(ReaderContext cntxt, int slaveNum) throws HCatException {
      HCatReader reader = DataTransferFactory.getHCatReader(cntxt, slaveNum);
      Iterator<HCatRecord> itr = reader.read();
      int i = 1;
		
      while (itr.hasNext()) {
         HCatRecord read = itr.next();
         HCatRecord written = getRecord(i++);
			
         // Argh, HCatRecord doesnt implement equals()
         Assert.assertTrue("Read: " + read.get(0) + "Written: " + written.get(0),
         written.get(0).equals(read.get(0)));
			
         Assert.assertTrue("Read: " + read.get(1) + "Written: " + written.get(1),
         written.get(1).equals(read.get(1)));
			
         Assert.assertEquals(2, read.size());
      }
		
      //Assert.assertFalse(itr.hasNext());
   }
	
   private void runsInSlave(WriterContext context) throws HCatException {
      HCatWriter writer = DataTransferFactory.getHCatWriter(context);
      writer.write(new HCatRecordItr());
   }
	
   private void commit(Map<String, String> config, boolean status,
      WriterContext context) throws IOException {
      WriteEntity.Builder builder = new WriteEntity.Builder();
      WriteEntity entity = builder.withTable("mytbl").build();
      HCatWriter writer = DataTransferFactory.getHCatWriter(entity, config);
		
      if (status) {
         writer.commit(context);
      } else {
         writer.abort(context);
      }
   }
	
   private static HCatRecord getRecord(int i) {
      List<Object> list = new ArrayList<Object>(2);
      list.add("Row #: " + i);
      list.add(i);
      return new DefaultHCatRecord(list);
   }
	
   private static class HCatRecordItr implements Iterator<HCatRecord> {
      int i = 0;
		
      @Override
      public boolean hasNext() {
         return i++ < 100 ? true : false;
      }
		
      @Override
      public HCatRecord next() {
         return getRecord(i);
      }
		
      @Override
      public void remove() {
         throw new RuntimeException();
      }
   }
}

The above program reads the data from the HDFS in the form of records and writes the record data into mytable