Android Support

Android Runtime​

Fory Java supports Android 8.0+ (API level 26+) through the regular fory-core artifact. No separate Android artifact is required for core object serialization.

Use core object serialization on Android:

• Fory#serialize(Object) and Fory#deserialize(byte[]).
• BaseFory#deserialize(ByteBuffer) for heap, direct, and read-only ByteBuffer inputs.
• Stream, channel, and out-of-band buffer APIs through byte-array, heap-buffer, or ByteBuffer copy paths.
• Java collections/maps and xlang collections/maps.

java/fory-format row-format APIs are JVM-only and are not supported on Android.

Runtime Codegen​

Runtime serializer code generation is disabled on Android. If withCodegen(true) is set, Fory keeps Android serialization on the non-codegen path and logs a warning.

Android apps that need generated serializers should use build-time static generated serializers instead.

Static Generated Serializers​

Use @ForyStruct static generated serializers for Android application classes. They are generated by javac during the app build and work without runtime bytecode generation.

Install The Annotation Processor​

Add fory-annotation-processor to the annotation processor path of the module that compiles your Android model classes:

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
        <annotationProcessorPaths>
          <path>
            <groupId>org.apache.fory</groupId>
            <artifactId>fory-annotation-processor</artifactId>
            <version>${fory.version}</version>
          </path>
        </annotationProcessorPaths>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>

Then annotate Android model classes with @ForyStruct.

Static generated serializers are required on Android when a serialized class uses Fory type-use annotations, for example:

import java.util.List;
import org.apache.fory.annotation.ForyStruct;
import org.apache.fory.annotation.UInt8Type;

@ForyStruct
public class ImageBlock {
  public List<@UInt8Type Integer> pixels;
}

Without the generated static descriptors, Android reflection may not expose the nested type-use metadata needed for annotations such as @Ref, @Int8Type, @UInt8Type, @Float16Type, or @BFloat16Type. Serialization for those classes will not have the schema information Fory needs.

See Static Generated Serializers for setup instructions.

Object Model Requirements​

Android serializers use public Android APIs. For application classes, prefer:

• accessible no-argument constructors, or records with supported constructors.
• public, protected, or package-private serialized fields.
• non-private getters and setters for private serialized fields.
• @ForyStruct static generated serializers for Android model classes.

Final fields in ordinary classes are not suitable for generated read/copy methods. Use records for constructor-based immutable values.

Unsupported Features​

The following JVM features are not supported on Android:

• Runtime serializer code generation and async compilation.
• Lambda and SerializedLambda serialization.
• Native-address serialization APIs and native-address MemoryBuffer wrapping.
• Raw unsafe memory copy APIs.
• java/fory-format row-format APIs.

ByteBuffer​

BaseFory#deserialize(ByteBuffer) supports heap, direct, and read-only buffers on Android by copying the remaining bytes into a Fory-owned heap buffer. The caller buffer position and limit are not changed.

Raw direct-buffer address wrapping is a JVM-only fast path and is not used on Android.

Collections, Maps, And Proxies​

Common JDK collection and map implementations are supported on Android. In xlang mode, collection and map serialization uses the xlang protocol and does not encode Java wrapper/view internals.

java.lang.reflect.Proxy serialization is supported for normal proxy usage. Do not invoke, log, or use a proxy as a map/set key while it is still being deserialized; the invocation handler may not be ready yet.