Adding apex plugins/plugins-context modules

Change-Id: I36fc295ffbd22661bf8bd091bfb20ebf6dcc7f5e
Issue-ID: POLICY-862
Signed-off-by: waqas.ikram <waqas.ikram@ericsson.com>

13 files changed, 1361 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroArrayObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroArrayObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..56d84251f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroArrayObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericData.Array;
+
+/**
+ * Object mapper for arrays, uses default behaviour except for a specific default constructor
+ * implementation.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroArrayObjectMapper extends AvroDirectObjectMapper {
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#createNewinstance(org.
+     * apache.avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        return new Array(0, avroSchema);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroBytesObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroBytesObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc281a52b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroBytesObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.ContextRuntimeException;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLogger;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * This class does string mapping from the Avro BYTES type to a Java byte array.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroBytesObjectMapper implements AvroObjectMapper {
+    // Get a reference to the logger
+    private static final XLogger LOGGER = XLoggerFactory.getXLogger(AvroBytesObjectMapper.class);
+
+    // The user keyAvro type for direct mapping
+    private AxKey userKey;
+    private Type avroType;
+
+    // The Apex compatible class
+    private final Class<Byte[]> schemaClass = Byte[].class;
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#getJavaClass()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Class<?> getJavaClass() {
+        return schemaClass;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#setAvroType(org.apache.
+     * avro. Schema.Type)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public void init(final AxKey intUserKey, final Type initAvroType) {
+        this.userKey = intUserKey;
+        this.avroType = initAvroType;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#createNewinstance(org.
+     * apache. avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        // By default, we do not create an instance, normal Java object creation for byte arrays is
+        // sufficient
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#getAvroType()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Type getAvroType() {
+        return avroType;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#mapFromAvro(java.lang.
+     * Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapFromAvro(final Object avroObject) {
+        // The Avro object should be a Utf8 object
+        if (!(avroObject instanceof ByteBuffer)) {
+            final String returnString =
+                    userKey.getID() + ": object \"" + avroObject + "\" of class \"" + avroObject.getClass()
+                            + "\" cannot be decoded to an object of class \"" + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        // Cast the byte buffer object so we get access to its methods
+        final ByteBuffer byteBufferAvroObject = (ByteBuffer) avroObject;
+
+        // read the byte buffer into a byte array
+        final byte[] byteArray = new byte[byteBufferAvroObject.remaining()];
+        byteBufferAvroObject.get(byteArray);
+
+        return byteArray;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#mapToAvro(java.lang.Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapToAvro(final Object object) {
+        if (object == null) {
+            final String returnString = userKey.getID() + ": cannot encode a null object of class \""
+                    + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        // The incoming object should be a byte array
+        if (!(object instanceof byte[])) {
+            final String returnString = userKey.getID() + ": object \"" + object + "\" of class \"" + object.getClass()
+                    + "\" cannot be decoded to an object of class \"" + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        // Create a ByteBuffer object to serialize the bytes
+        final ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.wrap((byte[]) object);
+
+        return byteBuffer;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroDirectObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroDirectObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..acf64c3c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroDirectObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.TreeMap;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericData;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.ContextRuntimeException;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLogger;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * This class does direct mapping from Avro classes to Java classes, used for Avro primitive types
+ * that directly produce Java objects.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroDirectObjectMapper implements AvroObjectMapper {
+    // Get a reference to the logger
+    private static final XLogger LOGGER = XLoggerFactory.getXLogger(AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+
+    // Map for Avro primitive types to Java primitive types
+    private static final Map<Schema.Type, Class<?>> AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP = new TreeMap<>();
+
+    // @formatter:off
+    // Initialize the mapping
+    static {
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.ARRAY,   GenericData.Array.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.BOOLEAN, Boolean.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.DOUBLE,  Double.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.ENUM,    GenericData.EnumSymbol.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.FIXED,   GenericData.Fixed.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.FLOAT,   Float.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.INT,     Integer.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.LONG,    Long.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.MAP,     HashMap.class);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.NULL,    null);
+        AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.put(Schema.Type.RECORD,  GenericData.Record.class);
+    }
+    // @formatter:on
+
+    // The user keyAvro type for direct mapping
+    private AxKey userKey;
+    private Type avroType;
+
+    // The Apex compatible class
+    private Class<?> schemaClass;
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#getJavaClass()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Class<?> getJavaClass() {
+        return schemaClass;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#setAvroType(org.apache.
+     * avro. Schema.Type)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public void init(final AxKey initUserKey, final Type initAvroType) {
+        this.userKey = initUserKey;
+        this.avroType = initAvroType;
+        schemaClass = AVRO_JAVA_TYPE_MAP.get(avroType);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#createNewinstance(org.
+     * apache. avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        // By default, we do not create an instance, normal Java object creation is sufficient
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#getAvroType()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Type getAvroType() {
+        return avroType;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#mapFromAvro(java.lang.
+     * Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapFromAvro(final Object avroObject) {
+        // Always return null if the schema is a null schema
+        if (schemaClass == null) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        // It is legal for the schema class to be null, if the Avro schema has a "null" type then
+        // the decoded object is always returned as a null
+        if (!schemaClass.isAssignableFrom(avroObject.getClass())) {
+            final String returnString =
+                    userKey.getID() + ": object \"" + avroObject + "\" of class \"" + avroObject.getClass()
+                            + "\" cannot be decoded to an object of class \"" + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        return avroObject;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#mapToAvro(java.lang.Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapToAvro(final Object object) {
+        // Null values are only allowed if the schema class is null
+        if (object == null) {
+            if (schemaClass != null) {
+                final String returnString = userKey.getID() + ": cannot encode a null object of class \""
+                        + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+                LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+                throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // For direct mappings, just work directly with the Java objects
+        return object;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroEnumObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroEnumObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ec84450d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroEnumObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericData.EnumSymbol;
+
+/**
+ * Object mapper for enums, uses default behaviour except for a specific default constructor
+ * implementation.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroEnumObjectMapper extends AvroDirectObjectMapper {
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#createNewinstance(org.
+     * apache.avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        // Initialize the ENUM to the first ENUM symbol on the list
+        final List<String> enumSymbols = avroSchema.getEnumSymbols();
+
+        // Check if any ENUM symbols have been defined
+        if (enumSymbols == null || enumSymbols.isEmpty()) {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return new EnumSymbol(avroSchema, enumSymbols.get(0));
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroNullableMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroNullableMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ff8806c86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroNullableMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.ApexRuntimeException;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+
+/**
+ * The Class AvroNullableMapper handles Avro null mappings to Java null values.
+ *
+ * @author John Keeney (john.keeney@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroNullableMapper extends AvroDirectObjectMapper {
+    // The wrapped mapper for nullables
+    private final AvroObjectMapper wrappedMapper;
+
+    /**
+     * The Constructor.
+     *
+     * @param wrappedMapper the wrapped mapper
+     */
+    public AvroNullableMapper(final AvroObjectMapper wrappedMapper) {
+        this.wrappedMapper = wrappedMapper;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroDirectObjectMapper#getJavaClass()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Class<?> getJavaClass() {
+        return wrappedMapper.getJavaClass();
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroDirectObjectMapper#init(org.onap.policy.
+     * apex. model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey, org.apache.avro.Schema.Type)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public void init(final AxKey userKey, final Type avroType) {
+        wrappedMapper.init(userKey, avroType);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroDirectObjectMapper#createNewInstance(
+     * org. apache.avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        return wrappedMapper.createNewInstance(avroSchema);
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroDirectObjectMapper#getAvroType()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Type getAvroType() {
+        return Schema.Type.UNION;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroDirectObjectMapper#mapFromAvro(java.
+     * lang. Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapFromAvro(final Object avroObject) {
+        if (avroObject == null) {
+            return null;
+        } else {
+            return wrappedMapper.mapFromAvro(avroObject);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroDirectObjectMapper#mapToAvro(java.lang.
+     * Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapToAvro(final Object object) {
+        if (object == null) {
+            return null;
+        } else {
+            throw new ApexRuntimeException("Unions/Nullable is not supported in output event ... Coming soon!");
+        }
+
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..77de5928e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+
+/**
+ * This interface is used to allow mapping of Avro object to and from Java objects.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public interface AvroObjectMapper {
+    /**
+     * Get the Java class produced and consumed by this mapper.
+     *
+     * @return the Java class
+     */
+    Class<?> getJavaClass();
+
+    /**
+     * Initialize the mapper is working with.
+     *
+     * @param userKey the user key
+     * @param avroType the avro type
+     */
+    void init(AxKey userKey, Type avroType);
+
+    /**
+     * Create a new instance of the java object the Avro schema maps to.
+     *
+     * @param avroSchema the Avro schema to use to create the new instance
+     * @return a new instance of the object
+     */
+    Object createNewInstance(Schema avroSchema);
+
+    /**
+     * Set the Avro type the mapper is working with.
+     *
+     * @return the avro type
+     */
+    Type getAvroType();
+
+    /**
+     * Map the Avro object to an object Apex can handler.
+     *
+     * @param avroObject the Avro object to map
+     * @return the Apex-compatible object
+     */
+    Object mapFromAvro(Object avroObject);
+
+    /**
+     * Map the Apex object to an Avro object.
+     *
+     * @param object the Apex-compatible object
+     * @return the Avro object
+     */
+    Object mapToAvro(Object object);
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroObjectMapperFactory.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroObjectMapperFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dd55f447d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroObjectMapperFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.TreeMap;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.ContextRuntimeException;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLogger;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * This class maps between Avro types to Java types. This class is thread safe.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroObjectMapperFactory {
+    // Get a reference to the logger
+    private static final XLogger LOGGER = XLoggerFactory.getXLogger(AvroObjectMapperFactory.class);
+
+    // Map for Avro primitive types to Java primitive types
+    private static final Map<Schema.Type, Class<? extends AvroObjectMapper>> AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP = new TreeMap<>();
+
+    // @formatter:off
+    // Initialize the mapping
+    static {
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.ARRAY, AvroArrayObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.BOOLEAN, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.BYTES, AvroBytesObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.DOUBLE, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.ENUM, AvroEnumObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.FIXED, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.FLOAT, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.INT, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.LONG, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.MAP, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.NULL, AvroDirectObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.RECORD, AvroRecordObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.STRING, AvroStringObjectMapper.class);
+        AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.put(Schema.Type.UNION, null);
+    }
+    // @formatter:on
+
+    /**
+     * Gets the Avro object mapper to use for an artifact with the given key and schema.
+     *
+     * @param userKey the key of the artifact
+     * @param incomingSchema the incoming schema
+     * @return the avro object mapper
+     */
+    public AvroObjectMapper get(final AxKey userKey, final Schema incomingSchema) {
+        Schema schema = incomingSchema;
+        boolean isnullable = false;
+        if (Schema.Type.UNION.equals(schema.getType())) {
+
+            final List<Schema> types = schema.getTypes();
+            // TODO: properly support UNIONS
+            // currently only support unions with 2 types, one of which is NULL
+            final Schema nullschema = Schema.create(Schema.Type.NULL);
+            if (types.size() != 2 || !types.contains(nullschema)) {
+                final String resultSting = userKey.getID()
+                        + ": Apex currently only supports UNION schemas with 2 options, one must be NULL";
+                LOGGER.warn(resultSting);
+                throw new ContextRuntimeException(resultSting);
+            }
+            isnullable = true;
+            // get the non-null schema given for the union so it can be wrapped
+            schema = types.get(0);
+            if (Schema.Type.NULL.equals(schema.getType())) {
+                schema = types.get(1);
+            }
+            if (Schema.Type.NULL.equals(schema.getType()) || Schema.Type.NULL.equals(schema.getType())) {
+                final String resultSting = userKey.getID()
+                        + ": Apex currently only supports UNION schema2 with 2 options, only one can be NULL, and the other cannot be another UNION";
+                LOGGER.warn(resultSting);
+                throw new ContextRuntimeException(resultSting);
+            }
+        }
+
+        final Schema.Type avroType = schema.getType();
+
+        // Check that there is a definition for the mapper for this type
+        if (!AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.containsKey(avroType) || AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.get(avroType) == null) {
+            final String resultSting =
+                    userKey.getID() + ": no Avro object mapper defined for Avro type \"" + avroType + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(resultSting);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(resultSting);
+        }
+
+        // Create a mapper
+        AvroObjectMapper avroObjectMapper;
+        try {
+            avroObjectMapper = AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.get(avroType).newInstance();
+            if (isnullable) {
+                avroObjectMapper = new AvroNullableMapper(avroObjectMapper);
+            }
+
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
+            final String resultSting = userKey.getID() + ": could not create an Avro object mapper of type \""
+                    + AVRO_OBJECT_MAPPER_MAP.get(avroType) + "\" for Avro type \"" + avroType + "\" : " + e;
+            LOGGER.warn(resultSting, e);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(resultSting, e);
+        }
+
+        // Set the type and return
+        avroObjectMapper.init(userKey, avroType);
+
+        return avroObjectMapper;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroRecordObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroRecordObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9d24a9a86
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroRecordObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericData.Record;
+
+/**
+ * Object mapper for records, uses default behaviour except for a specific default constructor
+ * implementation.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroRecordObjectMapper extends AvroDirectObjectMapper {
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#createNewinstance(org.
+     * apache. avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        return new Record(avroSchema);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaHelper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaHelper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2543dd154
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaHelper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,239 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumReader;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericDatumWriter;
+import org.apache.avro.generic.GenericRecord;
+import org.apache.avro.io.DatumWriter;
+import org.apache.avro.io.DecoderFactory;
+import org.apache.avro.io.EncoderFactory;
+import org.apache.avro.io.JsonDecoder;
+import org.apache.avro.io.JsonEncoder;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.ContextRuntimeException;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.impl.schema.AbstractSchemaHelper;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.contextmodel.concepts.AxContextSchema;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLogger;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLoggerFactory;
+
+import com.google.gson.Gson;
+import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
+import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
+
+/**
+ * This class is the implementation of the {@link org.onap.policy.apex.context.SchemaHelper}
+ * interface for Avro schemas.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroSchemaHelper extends AbstractSchemaHelper {
+    // Get a reference to the logger
+    private static final XLogger LOGGER = XLoggerFactory.getXLogger(AvroSchemaHelper.class);
+
+    // The Avro schema for this context schema
+    private Schema avroSchema;
+
+    // The mapper that translates between Java and Avro objects
+    private AvroObjectMapper avroObjectMapper;
+
+    @Override
+    public void init(final AxKey userKey, final AxContextSchema schema) throws ContextRuntimeException {
+        super.init(userKey, schema);
+
+        // Configure the Avro schema
+        try {
+            avroSchema = new Schema.Parser().parse(schema.getSchema());
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
+            final String resultSting = userKey.getID() + ": avro context schema \"" + schema.getID()
+                    + "\" schema is invalid: " + e.getMessage() + ", schema: " + schema.getSchema();
+            LOGGER.warn(resultSting);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(resultSting);
+        }
+
+        // Get the object mapper for the schema type to a Java class
+        avroObjectMapper = new AvroObjectMapperFactory().get(userKey, avroSchema);
+
+        // Get the Java type for this schema, if it is a primitive type then we can do direct
+        // conversion to JAva
+        setSchemaClass(avroObjectMapper.getJavaClass());
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Getter to get the Avro schema.
+     *
+     * @return the Avro schema
+     */
+    public Schema getAvroSchema() {
+        return avroSchema;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object getSchemaObject() {
+        return avroSchema;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance() {
+        // Create a new instance using the Avro object mapper
+        final Object newInstance = avroObjectMapper.createNewInstance(avroSchema);
+
+        // If no new instance is created, use default schema handler behavior
+        if (newInstance != null) {
+            return newInstance;
+        } else {
+            return super.createNewInstance();
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final String stringValue) {
+        return unmarshal(stringValue);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final JsonElement jsonElement) {
+        final Gson gson = new GsonBuilder().serializeNulls().create();
+        final String elementJsonString = gson.toJson(jsonElement);
+
+        return createNewInstance(elementJsonString);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public Object unmarshal(final Object object) {
+        // If an object is already in the correct format, just carry on
+        if (passThroughObject(object)) {
+            return object;
+        }
+
+        // Check that the incoming object is a string, the incoming object must be a string
+        // containing Json
+        String objectString;
+        try {
+            if (object == null) {
+                objectString = null;
+            }
+            if (object != null && avroSchema.getType().equals(Schema.Type.STRING)) {
+                objectString = object.toString().trim();
+                if (objectString.length() == 0) {
+                    objectString = "\"\"";
+                } else if (objectString.length() == 1) {
+                    objectString = "\"" + objectString + "\"";
+                } else {
+                    // All strings must be quoted for decoding
+                    if (objectString.charAt(0) != '"') {
+                        objectString = '"' + objectString;
+                    }
+                    if (objectString.charAt(objectString.length() - 1) != '"') {
+                        objectString += '"';
+                    }
+                }
+            } else {
+                objectString = (String) object;
+            }
+        } catch (final ClassCastException e) {
+            final String returnString = getUserKey().getID() + ": object \"" + object.toString() + "\" of type \""
+                    + object.getClass().getCanonicalName() + "\" must be assignable to \""
+                    + getSchemaClass().getCanonicalName()
+                    + "\" or be a Json string representation of it for Avro unmarshalling";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        // Translate illegal characters in incoming JSON keys to legal Avro values
+        objectString = AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities.translateIllegalKeys(objectString, false);
+
+        // Decode the object
+        Object decodedObject;
+        try {
+            final JsonDecoder jsonDecoder = DecoderFactory.get().jsonDecoder(avroSchema, objectString);
+            decodedObject = new GenericDatumReader<GenericRecord>(avroSchema).read(null, jsonDecoder);
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
+            final String returnString = getUserKey().getID() + ": object \"" + objectString
+                    + "\" Avro unmarshalling failed: " + e.getMessage();
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString, e);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString, e);
+        }
+
+        // Now map the decoded object into something we can handle
+        return avroObjectMapper.mapFromAvro(decodedObject);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public String marshal2Json(final Object object) {
+        // Condition the object for Avro encoding
+        final Object conditionedObject = avroObjectMapper.mapToAvro(object);
+
+        final ByteArrayOutputStream output = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
+        try {
+            final DatumWriter<Object> writer = new GenericDatumWriter<>(avroSchema);
+            final JsonEncoder jsonEncoder = EncoderFactory.get().jsonEncoder(avroSchema, output, true);
+            writer.write(conditionedObject, jsonEncoder);
+            jsonEncoder.flush();
+            output.close();
+        } catch (final Exception e) {
+            final String returnString =
+                    getUserKey().getID() + ": object \"" + object + "\" Avro marshalling failed: " + e.getMessage();
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString, e);
+        }
+
+        return AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities.translateIllegalKeys(new String(output.toByteArray()), true);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public JsonElement marshal2JsonElement(final Object schemaObject) {
+        // Get the object as a Json string
+        final String schemaObjectAsString = marshal2Json(schemaObject);
+
+        // Get a Gson instance to convert the Json string to an object created by Json
+        final Gson gson = new Gson();
+
+        // Convert the Json string into an object
+        final Object schemaObjectAsObject = gson.fromJson(schemaObjectAsString, Object.class);
+
+        return gson.toJsonTree(schemaObjectAsObject);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Check if we can pass this object straight through encoding or decoding, is it an object
+     * native to the schema.
+     *
+     * @param object the object to check
+     * @return true if it's a straight pass through
+     */
+    private boolean passThroughObject(final Object object) {
+        if (object == null || getSchemaClass() == null) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // All strings must be mapped
+        if (object instanceof String) {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // Now, check if the object is native
+        return getSchemaClass().isAssignableFrom(object.getClass());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaHelperParameters.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaHelperParameters.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5a8fac404
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaHelperParameters.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.parameters.SchemaHelperParameters;
+
+/**
+ * Schema helper parameter class for the Avro schema helper.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroSchemaHelperParameters extends SchemaHelperParameters {
+    /**
+     * The Default Constructor sets the {@link AvroSchemaHelper} as the schema helper class for Avro
+     * schemas.
+     */
+    public AvroSchemaHelperParameters() {
+        this.setSchemaHelperPluginClass(AvroSchemaHelper.class.getCanonicalName());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..dc3770a43
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities.java
@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import java.util.Map.Entry;
+
+import com.google.gson.GsonBuilder;
+import com.google.gson.JsonArray;
+import com.google.gson.JsonElement;
+import com.google.gson.JsonObject;
+
+/**
+ * This static final class contains utility methods for Avro schemas.
+ * 
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public final class AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities {
+    // Constants for key replacements
+    private static final String DOT_STRING = "\\.";
+    private static final String DOT_STRING_REPLACEMENT = "_DoT_";
+    private static final String DASH_STRING = "-";
+    private static final String DASH_STRING_REPLACEMENT = "_DasH_";
+
+    /**
+     * Default constructor to avoid subclassing.
+     */
+    private AvroSchemaKeyTranslationUtilities() {}
+
+    /**
+     * Translate characters in JSON keys to values that are legal in Avro. Avro names must start
+     * with [A-Za-z_] and subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
+     *
+     * @param jsonString The JSON string to translate
+     * @param revert True if we want to revert the field names to their original values
+     * @return the translated JSON string
+     */
+    public static String translateIllegalKeys(final String jsonString, final boolean revert) {
+        if (jsonString == null) {
+            return jsonString;
+        }
+
+        // Create a JSON element for the incoming JSON string
+        final JsonElement jsonElement =
+                new GsonBuilder().serializeNulls().create().fromJson(jsonString, JsonElement.class);
+
+        final JsonElement translatedJsonElement = translateIllegalKeys(jsonElement, revert);
+
+        return new GsonBuilder().serializeNulls().create().toJson(translatedJsonElement);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Translate characters in JSON keys to values that are legal in Avro. Avro names must start
+     * with [A-Za-z_] and subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
+     *
+     * @param jsonElement The JSON element to translate
+     * @param revert True if we want to revert the field names to their original values
+     * @return the translated JSON element
+     */
+    public static JsonElement translateIllegalKeys(final JsonElement jsonElement, final boolean revert) {
+        // We only act on JSON objects and arrays
+        if (jsonElement.isJsonObject()) {
+            return translateIllegalKeys(jsonElement.getAsJsonObject(), revert);
+        } else if (jsonElement.isJsonArray()) {
+            return translateIllegalKeys(jsonElement.getAsJsonArray(), revert);
+        } else {
+            return jsonElement;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Translate characters in JSON keys to values that are legal in Avro. Avro names must start
+     * with [A-Za-z_] and subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
+     *
+     * @param jsonObject The JSON object to translate
+     * @param revert True if we want to revert the field names to their original values
+     * @return the translated JSON element
+     */
+    public static JsonElement translateIllegalKeys(final JsonObject jsonObject, final boolean revert) {
+        final JsonObject newJsonObject = new JsonObject();
+
+        for (final Entry<String, JsonElement> jsonObjectEntry : jsonObject.entrySet()) {
+            newJsonObject.add(translateIllegalKey(jsonObjectEntry.getKey(), revert),
+                    translateIllegalKeys(jsonObjectEntry.getValue(), revert));
+        }
+
+        return newJsonObject;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Translate characters in JSON keys to values that are legal in Avro. Avro names must start
+     * with [A-Za-z_] and subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
+     *
+     * @param jsonArray The JSON array to translate
+     * @param revert True if we want to revert the field names to their original values
+     * @return the translated JSON element
+     */
+    public static JsonElement translateIllegalKeys(final JsonArray jsonArray, final boolean revert) {
+        final JsonArray newJsonArray = new JsonArray();
+
+        for (int i = 0; i < jsonArray.size(); i++) {
+            newJsonArray.add(translateIllegalKeys(jsonArray.get(i), revert));
+        }
+
+        return newJsonArray;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Translate characters in a single JSON key to values that are legal in Avro. Avro names must
+     * start with [A-Za-z_] and subsequently contain only [A-Za-z0-9_]
+     *
+     * @param key The key to translate
+     * @param revert True if we want to revert the field names to their original values
+     * @return the translated key
+     */
+    private static String translateIllegalKey(final String key, final boolean revert) {
+        if (revert) {
+            return key.replaceAll(DOT_STRING_REPLACEMENT, DOT_STRING).replaceAll(DASH_STRING_REPLACEMENT, DASH_STRING);
+        } else {
+            return key.replaceAll(DOT_STRING, DOT_STRING_REPLACEMENT).replaceAll(DASH_STRING, DASH_STRING_REPLACEMENT);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroStringObjectMapper.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroStringObjectMapper.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb3625f31
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/AvroStringObjectMapper.java
@@ -0,0 +1,130 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;
+
+import org.apache.avro.Schema;
+import org.apache.avro.Schema.Type;
+import org.apache.avro.util.Utf8;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.context.ContextRuntimeException;
+import org.onap.policy.apex.model.basicmodel.concepts.AxKey;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLogger;
+import org.slf4j.ext.XLoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * This class does string mapping from the Avro Utf8 class to the Java String class.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+public class AvroStringObjectMapper implements AvroObjectMapper {
+    // Get a reference to the logger
+    private static final XLogger LOGGER = XLoggerFactory.getXLogger(AvroStringObjectMapper.class);
+
+    // The user keyAvro type for direct mapping
+    private AxKey userKey;
+    private Type avroType;
+
+    // The Apex compatible class
+    private final Class<String> schemaClass = String.class;
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#getJavaClass()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Class<?> getJavaClass() {
+        return schemaClass;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#setAvroType(org.apache.
+     * avro. Schema.Type)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public void init(final AxKey initUserKey, final Type initAvroType) {
+        this.userKey = initUserKey;
+        this.avroType = initAvroType;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#createNewinstance(org.
+     * apache. avro.Schema)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object createNewInstance(final Schema avroSchema) {
+        // By default, we do not create an instance, normal Java object creation for strings is
+        // sufficient
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#getAvroType()
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Type getAvroType() {
+        return avroType;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#mapFromAvro(java.lang.
+     * Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapFromAvro(final Object avroObject) {
+        // The Avro object should be a Utf8 object
+        if (!(avroObject instanceof Utf8)) {
+            final String returnString =
+                    userKey.getID() + ": object \"" + avroObject + "\" of class \"" + avroObject.getClass()
+                            + "\" cannot be decoded to an object of class \"" + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        return avroObject.toString();
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * (non-Javadoc)
+     *
+     * @see
+     * org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro.AvroObjectMapper#mapToAvro(java.lang.Object)
+     */
+    @Override
+    public Object mapToAvro(final Object object) {
+        if (object == null) {
+            final String returnString = userKey.getID() + ": cannot encode a null object of class \""
+                    + schemaClass.getCanonicalName() + "\"";
+            LOGGER.warn(returnString);
+            throw new ContextRuntimeException(returnString);
+        }
+
+        return object;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/package-info.java b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/package-info.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..93f4943d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins/plugins-context/context-schema/context-schema-avro/src/main/java/org/onap/policy/apex/plugins/context/schema/avro/package-info.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/*-
+ * ============LICENSE_START=======================================================
+ *  Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Ericsson. All rights reserved.
+ * ================================================================================
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ * 
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ * 
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ * 
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * ============LICENSE_END=========================================================
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Implements <a href="https://avro.apache.org/">Avro</a> schem handling for use in event fields and
+ * context albums in APEX.
+ *
+ * @author Liam Fallon (liam.fallon@ericsson.com)
+ */
+package org.onap.policy.apex.plugins.context.schema.avro;