apache / apache/arrow-java

[Java] DictionaryEncoder doesn't crash when decoding index outside of Dictionary

Open Beginner friendly
#1,158 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Type: bug
Dominant language
Java
Stars
94
Forks
152
Avg merge
3d 16h
Merged PRs (30d)
11

Description

### Describe the bug, including details regarding any error messages, version, and platform.

### Background
When manually creating an encoded vector, with values referencing indices in a Dictionary, it is possible to have values equal to `valueCount` of the Dictionary vector i.e. one index out of bounds. This is interpreted as a null value in the Dictionary.

---

### Example
_Dictionary_
| Index | Original Value |
|-------|---------------|
| 0 | Foo |

_Encoded Vector - 1_
| Index | Encoded Value | Expected Decode Outcome | Actual Outcome |
|-------|----------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------|
| 0 | 0 | Return the original value | Returns the original value |

_Encoded Vector - 2_
| Index | Encoded Value | Expected Decode Outcome | Actual Outcome |
|-------|----------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------|
| 0 | 1 | Raise `IllegalArgumentException` | Returns null |

_Encoded Vector - 3_
| Index | Encoded Value | Expected Decode Outcome | Actual Outcome |
|-------|----------------|-----------------------------------|-----------------|
| 0 | 2 | Raise `IllegalArgumentException` | Raises `IllegalArgumentException`|

---

### Test to reproduce the error
```java
@Test
public void testReferencingIndexOutOfBounds() {
// Index at which the original value will be stored at in the dictionary
var encodedIndex = 0;
// The encoded value that references an index in the dictionary
var indexReferenced = 1;

try (final IntVector encodedVector = new IntVector("encodings", allocator);
final VarCharVector dictionaryVector = newVarCharVector("dict", allocator); ) {
var originalValue = "Foo";
dictionaryVector.allocateNew(1);
dictionaryVector.setValueCount(1);
dictionaryVector.set(encodedIndex, originalValue.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));

encodedVector.allocateNew(1);
encodedVector.setValueCount(1);
encodedVector.set(0, indexReferenced);

Dictionary dictionary =
new Dictionary(dictionaryVector, new DictionaryEncoding(1L, false, null));

try (ValueVector decoded = DictionaryEncoder.decode(encodedVector, dictionary)) {
fail("There should be an exception when decoding index outside dictionary's range.");
} catch (Exception e) {
assertEquals("Provided dictionary does not contain value for index " + indexReferenced, e.getMessage());
}
}
}

```

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start at DictionaryEncoder.decode and reproduce the behavior with the provided testReferencingIndexOutOfBounds test. Confirm that an encoded index equal to the dictionary value count raises IllegalArgumentException with the expected message, while valid indices still decode normally.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
data
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
74/100

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