set a conf value in mapper - get it in run method - hadoop

Question

In the run method of the Driver class, I want to fetch a String value (from the mapper function) and want to write it to a file. I used the following code, but null was returned. Please help
Mapper
public void map(LongWritable key, Text value, Context context)
throws IOException, InterruptedException {
context.getConfiguration().set("feedName", feedName);
}
Driver Class
#Override
public int run(String[] args) throws Exception {
String lineVal = conf.get("feedName")
}

Answer 1

Configuration is one way.
If you want to pass non-counter types of values back to the driver, you can utilize HDFS for that.
Either write to your main output context (key and values) that you emit from your job.
Or alternatively use MultipleOutputs, if you do not want to mess with your standard job output.
For example, you can write any kind of properties as Text keys and Text values from your mappers or reducers.
Once control is back to your driver, simply read from HDFS. For example you can store your name/values to the Configuration object to be used by the next job in your sequence:
public void load(Configuration targetConf, Path src, FileSystem fs) throws IOException {
InputStream is = fs.open(src);
try {
Properties props = new Properties();
props.load(new InputStreamReader(is, "UTF8"));
for (Map.Entry prop : props.entrySet()) {
String name = (String)prop.getKey();
String value = (String)prop.getValue();
targetConf.set(name, value);
}
} finally {
is.close();
}
}
Note that if you have multiple mappers or reducers where you write to MultipleOutputs, you will end up with multiple {name}-m-##### or {name}-r-##### files.
In that case, you will need to either read from every output file or run a single reducer job to combine your outputs into one and then just read from one file as shown above.

Answer 2

Using configuration you can only do the viceversa.
You can set values in Driver class
public int run(String[] args) throws Exception {
conf.set("feedName",value);
}
and set get those in Mapper class
public void map(LongWritable key, Text value, Context context) throws IOException, InterruptedException {
Configuration conf = context.getConfiguration();
String lineVal = conf.get("feedName");
}
UPDATE
One option to your question is write data to a file and store it in HDFS, and then access them in Driver class. These files can be treated as "Intermediate Files".
Just try it and see.