Gary Lucas created SANSELAN-78:
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             Summary: Improve speed of random-access-file handling for TIFF 
format, potentially others
                 Key: SANSELAN-78
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SANSELAN-78
             Project: Commons Sanselan
          Issue Type: Improvement
          Components: Format: TIFF
            Reporter: Gary Lucas



Large TIFF files can be organized into chunks (either strips or tiles) so that 
the image can be read a piece-at-a-time.  In the Apache Imaging implementation, 
each time one of these pieces is read, the TiffReader uses the getBlock() 
method of the ByteSourceFile class.  This class opens the file using the Java 
RandomAccessFile class, seeks to the position of the data in the file, reads 
its content, and closes the file.   Although this operation can be performed 
several times and thus entails a lot of redundant file opens and reads, the 
file cache performance on modern computers is truly amazing and for files of 
less than 5 megabytes, it often doesn't make a difference.   On larger files, 
however, it can be significant.

This Tracker Item proposes to modify the ByteSourceFile class so that an access 
routine can optionally hold the file open between getBlock() method calls.   It 
will accomplish this by adding a new method called .setPersistent(boolean).  By 
default, persistence will be set to false and the ByteSourceFile class will 
continue to work just as it always has (existing code will not be affected).  
If persistence is set to true, the RandomAccessFile will be held open.

To get some sense of the performance difference, I ran several tests.  For the 
sample  "ron and andy.tif" file provided with the Apache Imaging package, which 
is under 5 megabytes, the change made little difference.   However, when I 
tested with a larger files, such as the Apache Imaging sample 2560-by-1920 
pixel  PICT2833.TIF file (a blurry picture of a pretty girl), and a 
2500-by-2500 pixel file I downloaded from the US Geological Survey (USGS), I 
saw notable differences.  

I also tested on a fast local disk (my PC) and on a network disk.  Not 
surprisingly, the network disk showed the biggest change (in order to keep the 
test environment clean, I ran the network test early in the morning when the 
network was lightly used).

As you can see in the tests below on the local disk the savings is modest even 
for the largest file.  However, when dealing with a network file system, the 
change becomes significant.

{code}
ron and andy.tif   1500-by-1125   4.8 MB       
    local  original:     25.9 ms.   
    local  modified:     24.8 ms.
    network original:   122.7 ms.
    network modified:   117.6 ms.

PICT2833.TIF   2560-by-1920  14.1 MB
    local  original:     77.7 ms.   
    local  modified:     61.7 ms.
    network original:   774.1 ms.
    network modified:   463.8 ms.

USGS1   2500-by-2500   18.8 MB
    local  original:    192.3 ms.   
    local  modified:     94.5 ms.
    network original:  3992.8 ms.
    network modified:  1807.1 ms.

USGS2  10000-by-10000  286 MB
    local  original:   1930.5 ms.   
    local  modified:   1344.5 ms.
    network original: 26627.6 ms.
    network modified: 13402.1 ms.

{code}
One consequence of this change is that if persistence is set to true, the file 
will be held open until the ByteSourceFile goes out-of-scope and is garbage 
collected.  So this change will also make sure that the TiffReader sets the 
persistence back to false when it is done reading the file in order to expedite 
the release of file resources.


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