[FIXED] Spring Batch - Looping a reader/processor/writer step

Issue

ANSWER

Based on the accepted answer code the following adjustment to that code worked for me:

// helper method to create a split flow out of a List of steps
private static Flow createParallelFlow(List<Step> steps) {
    SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor taskExecutor = new SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor();
    taskExecutor.setConcurrencyLimit(steps.size());         
        
    Flow[] flows = new Flow[steps.size()];
    for (int i = 0; i < steps.size(); i++) {
        flows[i] = new FlowBuilder<SimpleFlow>(steps.get(i).getName()).start(steps.get(i)).build();
    }           

    return new FlowBuilder<SimpleFlow>("parallelStepsFlow")
        .split(taskExecutor)                
        .add(flows)
        .build();
}

EDIT

I have updated the question to a version that correctly loops, but as the application will scale, being able to process parallel is important, and I still don't know how to do that with a java-config dynamically at runtime...

Refined question: How do I create a reader-processor-writer dynamically at runtime for say 5 different situations (5 queries means a loop of 5 as it is configured now)?

My LoopDecider looks like this:

public class LoopDecider implements JobExecutionDecider {
    
    private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(LoopDecider.class);
    private static final String COMPLETED = "COMPLETED";
    private static final String CONTINUE = "CONTINUE";
    private static final String ALL = "queries";
    private static final String COUNT = "count";
    
    private int currentQuery;
    private int limit;

    @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
    @Override
    public FlowExecutionStatus decide(JobExecution jobExecution, StepExecution stepExecution) {
        List<String> allQueries = (List<String>) jobExecution.getExecutionContext().get(ALL);
        this.limit = allQueries.size();
        jobExecution.getExecutionContext().put(COUNT, currentQuery);
        if (++currentQuery >= limit) {
            return new FlowExecutionStatus(COMPLETED);
        } else {
            LOG.info("Looping for query: " + allQueries.get(currentQuery - 1));
            return new FlowExecutionStatus(CONTINUE);
        }       
    }

}

Based on a list of queries (HQL queries) I want a reader - processor - writer for each query. My current configuration looks like this:

Job

@Bean
public Job subsetJob() throws Exception {
    LoopDecider loopDecider = new LoopDecider();        
    FlowBuilder<Flow> flowBuilder = new FlowBuilder<>(FLOW_NAME);
    Flow flow = flowBuilder
            .start(createHQL())
            .next(extractData())
            .next(loopDecider)
            .on("CONTINUE")
            .to(extractData())
            .from(loopDecider)
            .on("COMPLETED")                
            .end()
            .build();       
    
    return jobBuilderFactory.get("subsetJob")               
            .start(flow)                
            .end()
            .build();
}

Step

public Step extractData(){
    return stepBuilderFactory.get("extractData")
            .chunk(100_000)
            .reader(reader())
            .processor(processor())
            .writer(writer())
            .build();
}

Reader

public HibernateCursorItemReader reader(){      
    CustomHibernateCursorItemReader reader = new CustomHibernateCursorItemReader();
    reader.setSessionFactory(HibernateUtil.getSessionFactory());        
    reader.setUseStatelessSession(false);
    return reader;
}

Processor

public DynamicRecordProcessor processor(){
    return new DynamicRecordProcessor();
}

Writer

public FlatFileItemWriter writer(){
    CustomFlatFileItemWriter writer = new CustomFlatFileItemWriter();               
    writer.setLineAggregator(new DelimitedLineAggregator(){{
        setDelimiter(TARGET_DELIMITER);
        setFieldExtractor(new PassThroughFieldExtractor());
        }}
    );
    return writer;
}

Currently, the process works fine for a single query. However, I actually have a list of queries.

My initial idea is to loop the step and pass the step the list of queries and for each query read - process - write. This would also be ideal for parallel chunking.

However, when I add the list of queries as a parameter to the extract data step and for each query, I create a step, a list of steps is returned, instead of the expected single step. The job starts complaining it expects a single step instead of a list of steps.

Another idea was to create a custom MultiHibernateCursorItemReader with the same idea as the MultiItemResourceReader, however, I am really looking for a more out-of-the-box solution.

@Bean
public List<Step> extractData(@Value("#{jobExecutionContext[HQL]}") List<String> queries){
    List<Step> steps = new ArrayList<Step>();
    for (String query : queries) {
        steps.add(stepBuilderFactory.get("extractData")
            .chunk(100_000)
            .reader(reader(query))
            .processor(processor())
            .writer(writer(query))
            .build());
    }
    return steps;
}

Question
How do I loop the step and integrate that into the job?

Solution

Don't instantiate your Steps, Readers, Processers and Writers as Spring-Beans. There is no need to do it. Only your job instance has to be a Spring Bean.

So just remove the @Bean and @StepScope configuration from your step, reader, writer and processor creater methods and instantiate them where needed.

There is only one catch, you have to call afterPropertiesSet() manually. E.g.:

// @Bean -> delete
// @StepScope -> delete
public FlatFileItemWriter writer(@Value("#{jobExecutionContext[fileName]}") String fileName){
    FlatFileItemWriter writer = new FlatFileItemWriter();
    writer.setResource(new FileSystemResource(new File(TARGET_LOCATION + fileName + TARGET_FILE_EXTENSION)));       
    writer.setLineAggregator(new DelimitedLineAggregator(){{
        setDelimiter(TARGET_DELIMITER);
        setFieldExtractor(new PassThroughFieldExtractor());
        }}
    );

    // ------- ADD!!
    writer.afterPropertiesSet();

    return writer;
}

This way, your step, reader, writer instances will be "step scoped" automatically, since you instantiate them for every step explicitely.

Let me know, if my answer is not clear enough. I will then add a more detailed example.

EDIT

A simple example:

@Configuration
public class MyJobConfiguration {

    @Autowired
    private JobBuilderFactory jobBuilderFactory;

    @Autowired
    private StepBuilderFactory stepBuilderFactory;


    List<String> filenames = Arrays.asList("file1.txt", "file2.txt");

    @Bean
    public Job myJob() {

       List<Step> steps = filenames.stream().map(name -> createStep(filename));

       return jobBuilderFactory.get("subsetJob")               
            .start(createParallelFlow(steps));                
            .end()
            .build();
    }


    // helper method to create a step
    private Step createStep(String filename) {
    {
        return stepBuilderFactory.get("convertStepFor" + filename); // !!! Stepname has to be unique
            .chunk(100_000)
            .reader(createFileReader(new FileSystemResource(new File(filename)), new YourInputLineMapper()));
            .processor(new YourConversionProcessor());
            .writer(createFileWriter(new FileSystemResource(new File("converted_"+filename)), new YourOutputLineAggregator()));
            .build();
    }


    // helper method to create a split flow out of a List of steps
    private static Flow createParallelFlow(List<Step> steps) {
        SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor taskExecutor = new SimpleAsyncTaskExecutor();
        taskExecutor.setConcurrencyLimit(steps.size());

        List<Flow> flows = steps.stream() // we have to convert the steps to a flows
            .map(step -> //
                    new FlowBuilder<Flow>("flow_" + step.getName()) //
                    .start(step) //
                    .build()) //
            .collect(Collectors.toList());

        return new FlowBuilder<SimpleFlow>("parallelStepsFlow").split(taskExecutor) //
            .add(flows.toArray(new Flow[flows.size()])) //
            .build();
    }


    // helper methods to create filereader and filewriters
    public static <T> ItemReader<T> createFileReader(Resource source, LineMapper<T> lineMapper) throws Exception {
        FlatFileItemReader<T> reader = new FlatFileItemReader<>();

        reader.setEncoding("UTF-8");
        reader.setResource(source);
        reader.setLineMapper(lineMapper);
        reader.afterPropertiesSet();

        return reader;
    }

    public static <T> ItemWriter<T> createFileWriter(Resource target, LineAggregator<T> aggregator) throws Exception {
        FlatFileItemWriter<T> writer = new FlatFileItemWriter<>();

        writer.setEncoding("UTF-8");
        writer.setResource(target);
        writer.setLineAggregator(aggregator);

        writer.afterPropertiesSet();
        return writer;
    }
}

Answered By - Hansjoerg Wingeier
Answer Checked By - Marie Seifert (JavaFixing Admin)