Name: nt126004 Date: 08/30/2002


FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
java version "1.4.1-rc"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.4.1-rc-b19)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.4.1-rc-b19, mixed mode)

FULL OPERATING SYSTEM VERSION :
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]

ADDITIONAL OPERATING SYSTEMS :
This problem is platform-neutral.


A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
As the size of object graph gets large, the performance of
XMLEncoder degrades significantly. I use XMLEncoder to
save data in my application. Archiving of an object graph
took about 18 sec. It was unacceptable.

Profiling revealed that the main cause is in a very odd
place in the XMLEncoder. Please see the following code
snippet from java.beans.XMLEncoder:

    private void writeln(String exp) {
        try {
            for(int i = 0; i < indentation; i++) {
                out.write(' ');
            }
            out.write(exp.getBytes(encoding));
            out.write(" \n".getBytes());
        }
        catch (IOException e) {
            getExceptionListener().exceptionThrown(e);
        }
    }

The "exp.getBytes(encoding)" was proved to be occupying
most of execution time. We created a modified version of
XMLEncoder that uses a custom version of UTF-8 encoder. By
doing so, we could reduce the archiving time to 1 sec.

It's critical problem. We use XMLEncoder to save design of
visual content composed of java.awt.Components and other
Java objects. Even with a small content, the performance
is unacceptable.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
1. Creates a test program to encode a relatively large
graph. It's enough if it takes over 15sec in your machine.
2. Profiles it.
3. See what's eating up the execution time.
4. Replace getBytes with a custom, simple UTF-8 encoder.
5. Then profile it again, and compare with the previous
result.

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
The two results should be significantly different. In my
case, I experienced archiving time of 18sec and 1sec for
the same graph.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
The following code demonstrates the performance difference between
the original and modified versions of XMLEncoder. Statement2
and NameGenerator2 were just same as java.beans.Statement and NameGenerator.

Compile with javac -source 1.4 Test.java.
Run java Test.


**** see attached jar file

---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER WORKAROUND :
Create an enhanced version extending java.beans.Encoder
based on the original source code.
(Review ID: 163565)
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