Serialization Overwriting Data - java

I have a program I'm making for a small business which is implementing serializable on a linkedList to save data. This all works fine, until I have two staff members try and add more data to the list and one ends up overwriting the other.
JButton btnSaveClientFile = new JButton("Save Client File");
btnSaveClientFile.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent arg0) {
// add new items to list
jobList.add(data);
.
.
.
Controller.saveData();
}
});
btnSaveClientFile.setBounds(10, 229, 148, 23);
frame.getContentPane().add(btnSaveClientFile);
This method results in one overwriting the other, so I tried doing it like this
JButton btnSaveClientFile = new JButton("Save Client File");
btnSaveClientFile.addMouseListener(new MouseAdapter() {
#Override
public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent arg0) {
Controller.retrieveData();
// add new items to list
jobList.add(data);
.
.
.
Controller.saveData();
}
});
btnSaveClientFile.setBounds(10, 229, 148, 23);
frame.getContentPane().add(btnSaveClientFile);
And when I use this one, I get no data added to the list at all. Here are my Serialization methods. This one is used to save my data.
// methods to serialize data
public static void saveData() {
System.out.println("Saving...");
FileOutputStream fos = null;
ObjectOutputStream oos = null;
try {
fos = new FileOutputStream("Data.bin");
oos = new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
oos.writeObject(myOLL);
oos.close();
} catch (Exception ex) {
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
And this one is used to collect my data
public static void retrieveData() {
// Get data from disk
System.out.println("Loading...");
FileInputStream fis = null;
ObjectInputStream ois = null;
try {
fis = new FileInputStream("Data.bin");
ois = new ObjectInputStream(fis);
myOLL = (OrderedLinkedList) ois.readObject();
ois.close();
} catch (Exception ex) {
System.err.println("File cannot be found");
ex.printStackTrace();
}
}
How do I make it so I can save data to my file from two different computers at a similar time, without one overwriting the other?

This is a demo (and not meant to be used in this crude way) how to acquire a lock on file /tmp/data.
RandomAccessFile raf = new RandomAccessFile( "/tmp/data", "rw" );
FileChannel chan = raf.getChannel();
FileLock lock = null;
while( (lock = chan.tryLock() ) == null ){
System.out.println( "waiting for file" );
Thread.sleep( 1000 );
}
System.out.println( "using file" );
Thread.sleep( 3000 );
System.out.println( "done" );
lock.release();
Clearly, reading a sequential file, mulling over it for some time and then rewriting or not is prohibitive if you require a high level of concurrency. That's why such applications typically use database systems, the client-server paradigm. A free-for-all on the file system isn't tolerable except in rare circumstances. Your organization may be able to assign updates of the data to one person at a time, which would simplify matters.

add more data to the list and one ends up overwriting the other.
This is how files work by default, in fact the ObjectOutputStream doesn't support an "append" mode. Once you have closed the stream, you can't alter it.
How do I make it so I can save data to my file from two different computers at a similar time, without one overwriting the other?
You have two problems here
how to write to a file twice without losing information.
how to co-ordinate writes between processes without one impacting the other.
For the first part, you need to read the contents of the list first, add the entries you wand to add, and write out the contents again. OR you can change the file format to one which supports appending.
For the second part, you need to use locking of some kind. A simple way to do this is to create a lock file. You can create a second file atomically e.g. file.lock and the one which succeeds in creating the file holds the lock, that process alters the file and deletes the lock which finished. Some care needs to be taken to ensure you always remove the lock.
Another approach is to use file locks. You have to take care not to delete the file in the process however this has the benefit that the OS will clean up the lock if your process dies.

Related

Save JList into Txt File

After searching for an answer for hours I decided to ask it here, since the solutions I found didn't work.
I have a simple GUI to register a persons first/last name and date of birth. After entering the values, the data is listed in a JList. Now I want to save the data from the JList into a Txt file. But I can't find a way to get the data from the JList.
public void save(){
try(BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("jlist.txt")))
{
/* Here should be the part, where I get the data from the JList */
bw.write(person.getNachname() + " ; " + person.getVorname() + " ; " + person.getDate() + "\n");
} catch (Exception speichern) {
speichern.printStackTrace();
}
}
Later I want to take the created Txt file and load it back into the same JList.
Maybe there is even a better way to do this but I haven't found something.
Some tips would be helpful :)
There is no JList method that does this for you.
You need to get the data from the ListModel.
You get the ListModel from the JList using the getModel() method.
You need to write a loop to:
get each element from the ListModel using the getElementAt(...) method.
convert the element to a String and write the data to your file.
Some tips would be helpful
Not related to your question, but typically data like this would be displayed in a JTable. Then you have a separate column for each of the first name, last name and date. Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use Tables for more information.
As camickr point out there is no method implemented for what you a trying to achieve, instead there is a combination of things that you could do for archiving your goal.
You are facing the problem of data persistence. In now-a-days for small|medium|big size industrial applications the recommended approach is to relay on databases. I guess that is out the scope for one person that is starting to code, so using files for storing info is OK but is not straightforward.
In your case, if your application is for non-commercial purposes I would suggest to use the default mechanism for serializing and deserializing objects that comes bundled with the platform. With this you could write an entire object (including its data, a.k.a. its state) to a file on a disk, and later retrieve it with few lines codes. There are details about how the object gets serialize ("translate object to bits") and deserialized ("translate bits to object") that doesn't comes into place right now, but is well to advice to study them in the future if you planning to use this method in a commercial application.
So I suggest that you load and store the information of your application on start-up and shutdown respectively, thus only one load and store per application instance, while the application is active work with the data on memory. THIS is the simplest approach you could have in any application, and for that reason I suggest to start with this ideal scenario.
So, I say a lot of things but let's goes to the code that shows an example of storing (serialize) and loading (deserialize)
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
class Person implements Serializable {
String name;
int birthDate;
public Person(String name, int birthDate) {
this.name = name;
this.birthDate = birthDate;
}
}
class Main {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Collection<Person> collection = createExampleCollection();
System.out.println(collection);
storeCollection(collection, "persons.data");
Collection<Person> otherCollection = loadCollection("persons.data");
System.out.println(otherCollection);
}
private static Collection<Person> createExampleCollection() {
Collection<Person> collection = new ArrayList<Person>();
collection.add(new Person("p1",0));
collection.add(new Person("p2",10));
collection.add(new Person("p2",20));
return collection;
}
// here I'm doing two separated things that could gone in separate functions, 1) I'm converting into bytes and object of an specific class, 2) saving those bytes into a file on the disk. The thing is that the platform offers us convenient objects to do this work easily
private static void storeCollection(Collection<Person> collection, String filename) {
try {
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(filename);
ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
out.writeObject(collection);
out.close();
fos.close();
} catch (IOException i) {
i.printStackTrace();
}
}
// again there two things going on inside, 1) loading bytes from disk 2) converting those bits into a object of a specific class.
private static Collection<Person> loadCollection(String filename) {
try {
FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream(filename);
ObjectInputStream in = new ObjectInputStream(fis);
Collection<Person> persons = (Collection<Person>) in.readObject();
in.close();
fis.close();
return persons;
} catch (Exception i) {
i.printStackTrace();
return null;
}
}
}
You should try to use the functions of loadCollection and storeCollection on start-up and shutdown respectively.
I made this code with comments for jButton and jList in jFrame, Button saves text Items to File from jList.
private void btnSaveActionPerformed(java.awt.event.ActionEvent evt) { //jButton name: "btnSave"
try { //trying to save file
BufferedWriter bw = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("data.txt")); //file where I store the data of jList1 (file will be stored at: C:\Users\%username%\Documents\NetBeansProjects\<ThisProjectName>\data.txt) (if You use NetBeans)
for (int i=0; i<jList1.getModel().getSize(); i++){ //opens a cycle to automatically store data of all items
bw.write(jList1.getModel().getElementAt(i)); //writing a line from jList1
bw.newLine(); //making a new line for the next item (by removing this line, You will write only one line of all items in file)
} //cycle closes
bw.close(); //file writing closes
} catch (IOException ex) { //catching the error when file is not saved
Logger.getLogger(NewJFrame.class.getName()).log(Level.SEVERE, null, ex); //showing the error
} //Exception closes
} //Action closes

Re-opening GUI doesn't show saved data

I am new to Java and I need help.
When I reopen GUI, it doesn't shows what has been saved into the file, which was serialization. The file is saving successful, but when I close and reopen and run the application it doesn't show on JList, what was saved into this file.
try
{
FileInputStream jos = new FileInputStream("jokam.ser");
GZIPInputStream gis = new GZIPInputStream(jos);
ObjectInputStream hehe = new ObjectInputStream(gis);
v1= (Vector<Vector>)hehe.readObject();
Vpredmeti.addAll((Collection<? extends Predmet>)v1.get(0));
Vvlak.addAll((Collection<? extends Vlak>)v1.get(1));
jos.close();
hehe.close();
gis.close();
v1.addAll(0, v1);
for(Predmet pr : predmetAR){
System.out.println(pr);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
}
}
These Vectors are before try code.
Vector <Predmet> Vpredmeti = new Vector (predmetAR);
Vector <Vlak> Vvlak= new Vector();
Vector <Vector> v1 = new Vector<>();
This is where I add to JList.
private void DodajPredmetMouseClicked(java.awt.event.MouseEvent evt) {
// TODO add your handling code here:
// DefaultListModel list = new DefaultListModel();
String praznoPolje=ImePredmeta.getText();
String drugoPraznoPolje=ZnacilnostPredmeta.getText();
int tretjoPraznoPolje = (int)ComboBoxZabojnika.getSelectedIndex();
Predmet novPredmet = new Predmet();
novPredmet.ime = ImePredmeta.getText();
novPredmet.znacilnosti = drugoPraznoPolje;
novPredmet.tipZabojnika=tretjoPraznoPolje;
//list.addElement(novPredmet);
predmetAR.add(novPredmet);
Save code
Vector<Predmet> Vpredmet = new Vector<>(predmetAR);
Vector<Vlak> Vvlak = new Vector<>(vlakAR);
Vector<Vector> v = new Vector<>();
v.add(0,Vpredmet);
v.add(1,Vvlak);
try
{
FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream("jokam.ser");
GZIPOutputStream gos = new GZIPOutputStream(fos);
ObjectOutputStream oos = new ObjectOutputStream(gos);
oos.writeObject(v);
gos.close();
fos.close();
oos.close();
}
catch(Exception e)
{
}
}
Those exceptions you noted are almost definitely problems where a stream was closed early, either on the write part or the read part. It's also indicative of a layering problem with the streams, but I don't see that here.
To first step in solving these problems is making sure all the data is written before the stream is closed, and in the proper order. I usually flush() the highest level stream before closing it or underlying parts. flush() the highest level OutputStream (here, the ObjectOutputStream), and it will flush all the underlying streams (here the GZIPOutputStream and FileOutputStream). Technically close() also flush()es the stream so this may not be necessary.
Also, make sure to close() streams in the correct order. Same as flush(), close the higher level stream and the underlying streams get close()d (and flush()ed) automatically.
The code you already have close()es the GZIPOutputStream first, which precludes the closing bits of the ObjectOutputStream. Later, the ObjectOutputStream is close()d which will try to write those bits but the underlying stream has already been closed so, so an IOException is thrown.
When writing, I suggest trying just:
objectOutputStream.close();
As for the reading, just this should be good:
objectInputStream.close()
As I mentioned in the comments, you should close() in a finally block so that any Exception thrown in the try block still results in the close() being called. Be aware that close() can also throw an Exception ;)
To investigate this on your own, I suggest looking into the source code of all these streams to see what's happening inside. The JDK includes an optional jdk/lib/src.zip, which most IDE's will let you jump into. Try 'go to definition' on your objectOutputStream.close() and you should see the source code.

Java - Updating / Changing serialized classes

I am creating a program for a small business. This program is meant to have smaller modules that, when developed, will be attatched to the rest of the program. It contains an "Article" and a "Category" class, which is contained in lists in a "ArticleDatabase" class.
This class is serialized and saved to a file to the harddrive.
The Register module is complete, and the "Receipt" class, is likewise contained within lists in a "RegisterDatabase" class, which is serialized and saved to a separate file.
System settings, are saved in the same manner.
However, now i am designing a Invoice module, and found out that i need to add a field to the "Article" class, and to the System data.
The register is now being used, and contains actual data that needs to be saved, and therefore i can't just change the class, since this gives an InvalidClassException when i load.
Since i know that this will be a common problem in the future too, i need some advice on how to tackle this problem.
How can i setup a system i which i can save a file from a class, and load the data into an updated or new version of this class, or should i approach this in an entirely new way?
I have tried loading the data form the old file in to a duplicate class with the needed fields addded, but reconfiguring the program to use the new files instead is a very cumbersome task, and if i have to do this every now and again, a lot of time will be wasted doing this.
The methods used for saving loading are as follows:
public void saveArticleDB() throws IOException {
// Write to disk with FileOutputStream
FileOutputStream f_out = new FileOutputStream("articles.data");
// Write object with ObjectOutputStream
ObjectOutputStream obj_out = new ObjectOutputStream(f_out);
obj_out.writeObject(MyMain.articleDB);
}
public ArticleDB loadArticleDB() throws IOException {
try {
FileInputStream f_in = new FileInputStream("articles.data");
ObjectInputStream obj_in = new ObjectInputStream(f_in);
Object obj = obj_in.readObject();
if (obj instanceof ArticleDB) {
return (ArticleDB) obj;
} else return null;
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
new MessageDialog("Article DB - File not found");
return null;
} catch (InvalidClassException e) {
new MessageDialog("Article DB - Class didnt match");
return null;
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
new MessageDialog("Article DB - Class not found");
return null;
}
}
The classes that delivers data to the save file, implements Serializable, and thats the only code used regarding the saving and loading of the class.
This is my first attempt with serializing, saving and loading, which means i am quite new to this, and therefore know/understand very few of the concepts regarding these subjects.
Advice is much appreciated :-)

Print Objects to file txt

I'm trying to print objects into file.
Then I want to import them back to my program.
ObjectOutputStream not working, What am I missing? (try, catch not visible here but they're doing their job)
Map< Account, Customer> customerInfo = new HashMap< Account, Customer>();
File bankFile = new File("Bank.txt");
FileOutputStream fOut = new FileOutputStream( bankFile);
ObjectOutputStream objOut = new ObjectOutputStream(fOut);
for(Map.Entry<Account, Customer> e : bank.customerInfo.entrySet())
{
objOut.writeObject(e.getValue());
objOut.writeObject(e.getKey());
}
objOut.flush();
objOut.close();
fOut.close();
My problem here is that ObjectOutputStream is not working properly, it prints some weird code. I've used other methods to print out to file and they work just fine.
I've tried printing to different file extensions,
I tried changing the encoding for both the file and eclipse.
I tried different methods for getting the info from the Map using ObjectOutputStream. Is there a reason why ObjectOutputStream prints weird characters that I haven't think of? The entire file is almost impossible to read. Thanks!
Ps. some of the weird print, don't know if it helps.
¬ísrCustomerDìUðkJ
personalIdNumLnametLjava/lang/String;xpthellosr
SavingAccountUÞÀÀ;>ZfreeWithdrawDwithdrawalInterestRateLaccountTypeq~xrAccount é=UáÐI
accountNumberDbalanceDinterestRateLaccountTypeq~L transListtLjava/util/List;xpé?záG®{tsrjava.util.ArrayListxÒÇaIsizexpw
x?záG®{tSaving Accountq~sr
CreditAccountÝ
*5&­VcLaccountTypeq~xq~ê?záG®{q~sq~ w
xtCredit Account
It's really quite simple. First things first, create a class that implements Serializable. Serializable is a marker interface, so you don't need to implement any methods for it:
public class Shoe implements Serializable { ... }
NOTE: If Shoe has other classes in it, for example Heel, or Buckle, those classes also need to implement the Serializable interface.
Next step is to write that to a file, using an ObjectOutputStream.
FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("myfile.txt");
// Create the stream to the file you want to write too.
ObjectOutputStream objOut = new ObjectOutputStream(out);
// Use the FileOutputStream as the constructor argument for your object.
objOut.writeObject(new Shoe("Prada"));
// Write your object to the output stream.
objOut.close();
// MAKE SURE YOU CLOSE to avoid memory leaks, and make sure it actually writes.
There you have it. The serialized object is written to the txt file. Now to read it, it's just a case of using the ObjectInputStream.
ObjectInputStream objIn = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream("myfile.txt");
Object obj = objIn.readObject();
if(obj instanceof Shoe)
{
Shoe shoe = (Shoe)obj;
}
And you've got an object you can use.

Update only the new content in a file all five minutes

I get a file personHashMap.ser with a HashMap in it. Here's the code how i create it:
String file_path = ("//releasearea/ToolReleaseArea/user/personHashMap.ser");
public void createFile(Map<String, String> newContent) {
try{
File file = new File(file_path);
FileOutputStream fos=new FileOutputStream(file);
ObjectOutputStream oos=new ObjectOutputStream(fos);
oos.writeObject(newContent);
oos.flush();
oos.close();
fos.close();
}catch (Exception e){
System.err.println("Error in FileWrite: " + e.getMessage());
}
}
Now i want, when the program is running, that all five minutes update the file personHashMap.ser only with the content which changed. So the method i called:
public void updateFile(Map<String, String> newContent) {
Map<String, String> oldLdapContent = readFile();
if(!oldLdapContent.equals(ldapContent)){ // they arent the same,
// so i must update the file
}
}
But now i haven't any ideas how i can realise that.
And is it better for the performance to update only the new content or should i clean the full file and insert the new list again?
Hope you can Help me..
EDIT:
The HashMap includes i.e street=Example Street.
But now, the new street called New Example Street. Now i must update the HashMap in the File. So i can't just append the new content...
Firstly HashMap isn't really an appropriate choice. It's designed for in-memory usage, not serialization (though of course it can be serialized in the standard way). But if it's just 2kb, then go ahead and write the whole thing rather than the updated data.
Second, you seem to be overly worried about performance of this rather trivial method (for 2kb the write will take mere milliseconds). I would be worried more about consistency and concurrency issues. I suggest you look into using a lightweight database such as JavaDB or h2.
Use the constructor FileOutputStream(File file, boolean append), set the boolean append to true. It will append the text in the existing file.
You can call the updateFile method in a loop and then call sleep for 5 minutes (5*60*1000 ms).
Thread.Sleep(300000); // sleep for 5 minutes
To append to your already existing file you can use :
FileOutputStream fooStream = new FileOutputStream(file, true);

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