Can I split an Apache Avro schema across multiple files?

Question

I can do,

{
    "type": "record",
    "name": "Foo",
    "fields": [
        {"name": "bar", "type": {
            "type": "record",
            "name": "Bar",
            "fields": [ ]
        }}
    ]
}

and that works fine, but supposing I want to split the schema up into two files such as:

{
    "type": "record",
    "name": "Foo",
    "fields": [
        {"name": "bar", "type": "Bar"}
    ]
}

{
    "type": "record",
    "name": "Bar",
    "fields": [ ]
}

Does Avro have the capability to do this?

Answer 1

Yes, it's possible.

I've done that in my java project by defining common schema files in avro-maven-plugin Example:

search_result.avro:

{"namespace": "com.myorg.other",
 "type": "record",
 "name": "SearchResult",
 "fields": [
     {"name": "type", "type": "SearchResultType"},
     {"name": "keyWord",  "type": "string"},
     {"name": "searchEngine", "type": "string"},
     {"name": "position", "type": "int"},
     {"name": "userAction", "type": "UserAction"}
 ]
}

search_suggest.avro:

{"namespace": "com.myorg.other",
 "type": "record",
 "name": "SearchSuggest",
 "fields": [
     {"name": "suggest", "type": "string"},
     {"name": "request",  "type": "string"},
     {"name": "searchEngine", "type": "string"},
     {"name": "position", "type": "int"},
     {"name": "userAction", "type": "UserAction"},
     {"name": "timestamp", "type": "long"}
 ]
}

user_action.avro:

{"namespace": "com.myorg.other",
 "type": "enum",
 "name": "UserAction",
 "symbols": ["S", "V", "C"]
}

search_result_type.avro

{"namespace": "com.myorg.other",
 "type": "enum",
 "name": "SearchResultType",
 "symbols": ["O", "S", "A"]
}

avro-maven-plugin configuration:

<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
<artifactId>avro-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.7.4</version>
    <executions>
    <execution>
        <phase>generate-sources</phase>
        <goals>
        <goal>schema</goal>
        </goals>
    <configuration>
     <sourceDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/avro</sourceDirectory>
         <outputDirectory>${project.basedir}/src/main/java/</outputDirectory>
     <includes>
         <include>**/*.avro</include>
     </includes>
     <imports>
              <import>${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/avro/user_action.avro</import>
              <import>${project.basedir}/src/main/resources/avro/search_result_type.avro</import>
     </imports>
       </configuration>
     </execution>
</executions>
</plugin>