Schema Design for Optimal size

[bwo...@netflix.com]

Hi,

I want to convert from my current storage of data using json to use flatbuffers. I am not seeing the saving that I am hoping for, though. I am seeing my flatbuffer data size(the underlying byte array that I am storing) is larger than the original json. I am guessing it has to do with my schema design. I think it's pretty simple but want to find out  for sure. I basically have an object that is made up of an array of lists , each list has an array of items. The schema I defined is here

namespace datatypes;

enum ObjectType : short {

        integer=1,

        longvalue,

        stringvalue,

        booleanvalue,

        shortvalue,

        doublevalue

}

table AnnotationFB{

    key:string;

    type:ObjectType=integer;

    valueint:int;

    valuelong:long;

    valuestring:string;

    valueboolean:bool;

    valueshort:short;

    valuedouble:double;

}

table ResponseFB {

  annotations:[AnnotationFB];

  lists:[ListFB];   // Vector of lists.

}

table ListFB {

  items:[ItemFB];

  annotations:[AnnotationFB];

}

table ItemFB {

  itemId:long;

  annotations:[AnnotationFB];

}

root_type ResponseFB;

Any suggestions are appreciated

[Wouter van Oortmerssen]

Your schema is trying to emulate a dynamically typed JSON in FlatBuffers. FlatBuffers is intended to be used with strong typing.

Instead of storing a object like:

{ a: 1, b: 2 }

in an ItemFB (which costs you 3 tables, a vector, 2 strings, and several scalar fields), you want to define a specific object in the schema:

table MyTable { a:int; b:int; }

Which costs you 1 table and a few scalars.

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[Bruce Wobbe]

That was what I was thinking. I thought maybe my Annotation table got around that, but no.

Thanks Again

Bruce