Thanks! A simple example to do that in the docs would be very useful. This is what I did and it works exactly as I wanted it to. Code in redbelow, shows the changes:
public class TestPerson { public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException { Person p1 = Person.newBuilder() .setField1("52114768") .setField2("54741573") .setField3("36702831") .setField4("1477556") .setField5("44421078") .setField6("48688590") .setField7("21657641") .setField8("51566604") .setField9("19799113") .setField10("31045088") .setField11("51944937") .setField12("18035997") .setField13("47693781") .setField14("44247784") .setField15("61035138") .setField16("62112467") .setField17("44173609") .setField18("45795251") .setField19("38467797") .setField20("18354530") .build(); FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(args[0]); fos.write(p1.toByteArray()); fos.close(); Person person = Person.parseFrom(new FileInputStream(args[0])); System.out.println("Read into " + person.getClass().getName() + " from " + args[0]); System.out.println(person); System.out.println("Bytes length " + person.getSerializedSize()); System.out.println(); PersonLite personLite = PersonLite.parseFrom(new FileInputStream(args[0])); System.out.println("Read into " + personLite.getClass().getName() + " from " + args[0]); System.out.println(personLite); System.out.println("Bytes length " + personLite.getSerializedSize()); System.out.println(); Builder personLiteBuilder2 = PersonLite.newBuilder().mergeFrom(new FileInputStream(args[0])); personLiteBuilder2.setUnknownFields(UnknownFieldSet.getDefaultInstance()); PersonLite personLite2 = personLiteBuilder2.build(); System.out.println("Read into " + personLite2.getClass().getName() + " from " + args[0]); System.out.println(personLite2); System.out.println("Bytes length " + personLite2.getSerializedSize()); } } *Output:* Read into com.javaforu.demo.protobuf.DemoProtos$Person from D:\Dump\protobuf\in_out\person1.dat field_1: "52114768" field_2: "54741573" field_3: "36702831" field_4: "1477556" field_5: "44421078" field_6: "48688590" field_7: "21657641" field_8: "51566604" field_9: "19799113" field_10: "31045088" field_11: "51944937" field_12: "18035997" field_13: "47693781" field_14: "44247784" field_15: "61035138" field_16: "62112467" field_17: "44173609" field_18: "45795251" field_19: "38467797" field_20: "18354530" Bytes length 204 Read into com.javaforu.demo.protobuf.DemoProtos$PersonLite from D:\Dump\protobuf\in_out\person1.dat field_1: "52114768" field_5: "44421078" field_10: "31045088" field_15: "61035138" field_20: "18354530" 2: "54741573" 3: "36702831" 4: "1477556" 6: "48688590" 7: "21657641" 8: "51566604" 9: "19799113" 11: "51944937" 12: "18035997" 13: "47693781" 14: "44247784" 16: "62112467" 17: "44173609" 18: "45795251" 19: "38467797" Bytes length 204 Read into com.javaforu.demo.protobuf.DemoProtos$PersonLite from D:\Dump\protobuf\in_out\person1.dat field_1: "52114768" field_5: "44421078" field_10: "31045088" field_15: "61035138" field_20: "18354530" Bytes length 51 Ashwin (http://www.ashwinjayaprakash.com) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Protocol Buffers" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/protobuf/-/_kUYRSO048cJ. To post to this group, send email to protobuf@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to protobuf+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/protobuf?hl=en.