Multiple files compiled into one outer class

[Niklas Keller]

Morning,

I pretty new to protobuf, but I already got the basics and compiled all my definitions in a single file to a Java class called "Proto". I wanted to split the definitions into separate files, mainly to get the advantage of being able to include them into a Latex document separately for documentation purposes.

Having all definitions in separate files results one of the following problems:

1) Compiling into separate files:

Classes are in a separate "proto" package, but are always inner classes of NameInCamelCaseOuterClass.

TemplateOuterClass.Template template = TemplateOuterClass.Template.newBuilder().setId(1).setName("XY").setContent("...").build();

2) Compiling into one file:

Setting "option java_outer_classname = "Proto";" results in:

edu/.../proto/Proto.java: Tried to write the same file twice.

Is there any way having separate files but one outer class named "Proto" just like when all definitions are in one file with "option java_outer_classname = "Proto";"?

[Feng Xiao]

That is not possible. Each proto file must be in a stand-alone Java class file. You can though, use a "java_multiple_files" option to generate the classes outside of the outer class. Try adding this to your proto file:

option java_multiple_files = true;

After this the Template class will be generated separately from the TemplateOuterClass and each message type will have its own Java class file.

 

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[Niklas Keller]

That's a good solution, thanks.

However, I don't understand why the TemplateOuterClass is still needed then. Isn't everything it provides already in Template?

[Feng Xiao]

On Tue, Jan 5, 2016 at 3:25 AM, Niklas Keller <nicks.po...@gmail.com> wrote:

That's a good solution, thanks.

However, I don't understand why the TemplateOuterClass is still needed then. Isn't everything it provides already in Template?

The outer class still contains the meta information (descriptors) of the proto file and will always be generated. You can also specify a different name for it by using 'option java_outer_classname = "...";'.