Truncated messages

[ecl]

I have a protocol buffer where I'm encoding audio snippets, containing
a small header, and a few hundred kilobytes of (mono or stereo,
multiplexed or not) audio data, as bytes. However, due to the nature
of the intermittent communications, the message may get truncated at
some point, most probably past the header, but therefore truncating a
significant chunk of the audio bytes.

As even the initial part of the audio could be useful (if the
remaining bits gets lost) - is there a way to safely deserialize a
protocol buffer message where the end has been chopped off? I've
tested deserializing a message where the last byte was removed - this
causes an exception (using the Java API), and apparently no way to get
the partial message, and most importantly, the partial bytes.

Any ideas on how I could go to solve this problem?

Kind regards,
Ernest

[Kenton Varda]

If you use Builder.mergeFrom() and catch the exception, the builder will be left containing whatever data was parsed before the problem was detected.

However, a better solution would be to encode your data in multiple messages, such that each packet you send contains one message.  That way, if one packet is lost, it doesn't prevent you from parsing previous or subsequent packets.  You can also receive packets out-of-order.

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Protocol Buffers" group.
To post to this group, send email to prot...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to protobuf+u...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/protobuf?hl=.