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This page is meant to provide a brief overview of `avro`'s API:

+ [What is a `Type`?](#what-is-a-type)
+ [How do I get a `Type`?](#how-do-i-get-a-type)
+ [What about Avro files?](#what-about-avro-files)
+ [Next steps](#next-steps)


## What is a `Type`?

Each Avro type maps to a corresponding JavaScript [`Type`](API#class-type):

+ `int` maps to `IntType`.
+ `array`s map to `ArrayType`s.
+ `record`s map to `RecordType`s.
+ etc.

An instance of a `Type` knows how to [`decode`](Api#typedecodebuf-pos-resolver)
and [`encode`](Api#typeencodeval-buf-pos) and its corresponding objects. For
example the `StringType` knows how to handle JavaScript strings:

```javascript
var stringType = new avro.types.StringType();
var buf = stringType.toBuffer('Hi'); // Buffer containing 'Hi''s Avro encoding.
var str = stringType.fromBuffer(buf); // === 'Hi'
```

The [`toBuffer`](API#typetobufferval) and
[`fromBuffer`](API#typefrombufferval-resolver-nocheck) methods above are
convenience functions which encode and decode a single object into/from a
standalone buffer.

Each `type` also provides other methods which can be useful. Here are a few
(refer to the [API documentation](API#avro-types) for the full list):

+ JSON-encoding:

  ```javascript
  var jsonString = type.toString('Hi'); // === '"Hi"'
  var str = type.fromString(jsonString); // === 'Hi'
  ```

+ Validity checks:

  ```javascript
  var b1 = stringType.isValid('hello'); // === true ('hello' is a valid string.)
  var b2 = stringType.isValid(-2); // === false (-2 is not.)
  ```

+ Random object generation:

  ```javascript
  var s = stringType.random(); // A random string.
  ```


## How do I get a `Type`?

It is possible to instantiate types directly by calling their constructors
(available in the `avro.types` namespace; this is what we used earlier), but in
the vast majority of use-cases they will be automatically generated by parsing
an existing schema.

`avro` exposes a [`parse`](Api#parseschema-opts) method to do the
heavy lifting:

```javascript
// Equivalent to what we did earlier.
var stringType = avro.parse({type: 'string'});

// A slightly more complex type.
var mapType = avro.parse({type: 'map', values: 'long'});

// The sky is the limit!
var personType = avro.parse({
  name: 'Person',
  type: 'record',
  fields: [
    {name: 'name', type: 'string'},
    {name: 'phone', type: ['null', 'string'], default: null},
    {name: 'address', type: {
      name: 'Address',
      type: 'record',
      fields: [
        {name: 'city', type: 'string'},
        {name: 'zip', type: 'int'}
      ]
    }}
  ]
});
```

Of course, all the `type` methods are available. For example:

```javascript
personType.isValid({
  name: 'Ann',
  phone: null,
  address: {city: 'Cambridge', zip: 02139}
}); // === true

personType.isValid({
  name: 'Bob',
  phone: {string: '617-000-1234'},
  address: {city: 'Boston'}
}); // === false (Missing the zip code.)
```

Since schemas are often stored in separate files, passing a path to `parse`
will attempt to load a JSON-serialized schema from there:

```javascript
var couponType = avro.parse('./Coupon.avsc');
```

For advanced use-cases, `parse` also has a few options which are detailed the
API documentation.


## What about Avro files?

Avro files (meaning [Avro object container files][object-container]) hold
serialized Avro records along with their schema. Reading them is as simple as
calling [`createFileDecoder`](Api#createfiledecoderpath-opts):

```javascript
var personStream = avro.createFileDecoder('./persons.avro');
```

`personStream` is a [readable stream][rstream] of decoded records, which we can
for example use as follows:

```javascript
personStream.on('data', function (person) {
  if (person.address.city === 'San Francisco') {
    doSomethingWith(person);
  }
});
```

In case we need the records' `type` or the file's codec, they are available by
listening to the `'metadata'` event:

```javascript
personStream.on('metadata', function (type, codec) { /* Something useful. */ });
```

To access a file's header synchronously, there also exists an
[`extractFileHeader`](Api#extractfileheaderpath-opts) method:

```javascript
var header = avro.extractFileHeader('persons.avro');
```

Writing to an Avro container file is possible using
[`createFileEncoder`](Api#createfileencoderpath-type-opts):

```javascript
var encoder = avro.createFileEncoder('./processed.avro', type);
```


## Next steps

The [API documentation](Api) provides a comprehensive list of available
functions and their options. The [Advanced usage section](Advanced-usage) goes
through a few examples to show how the API can be used.



[object-container]: https://avro.apache.org/docs/current/spec.html#Object+Container+Files
[rstream]: https://nodejs.org/api/stream.html#stream_class_stream_readable
