Default values not supported in the client write?

[Tim Robertson]

Hi all,

I am doing the protocol compilation to Java using the maven plugin and
looking for an explanation on the default values please.

http://www.mail-archive.com/avro-...@hadoop.apache.org/msg04063.html
tells me that defaults aren't used at write time, but it means that I
have to initiate all the Strings with "=new Utf8();" each time I
create a message payload - is this correct?

If I set them to null, then I always see:
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException
        at org.apache.avro.io.BinaryEncoder.writeString(BinaryEncoder.java:133)
        at 
org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumWriter.writeString(GenericDatumWriter.java:176)

I wonder the reasoning behind not initializing with null types (e.g.
for String using new Utf8()) in the client generation.  It means I
either need to modify the generated sources, or wrap them in some kind
of factory/builder right?  Is that a common practice for avro or are
others doing something different?

Any recommendations for best use greatly appreciated.  Currently in my
working test I have to:

                        Event e = new Event();
                        e.level=LEVEL_TYPES.DEBUG;  // no auto ENUM default?
                        e.objectType = OBJECT_TYPES.NAME_USAGE;
                        
e.sourceComponentType=SOURCE_COMPONENT_TYPES.CHECKLIST_HARVESTER;
                        e.agentId=new Utf8("Hi list");
                        e.count=0;
                        e.instanceId=new Utf8("127.0.0.1:7004");
                        e.message=new Utf8();
                        e.objectId=new Utf8();
                        //e.sensitive=false;  // works because is a primitive
                        e.sessionId=new Utf8("dysAw231");
                        e.sourceId=new Utf8();
                        e.userId=new Utf8();
                        logger.info(e, false);


Thanks,
Tim