## Summary
This updates the Java API reference to close the documentation gaps that
can be fixed from the current Java source and generated namespace API.
The patch adds an empty table example, shows how to wrap returned Arrow
IPC query bytes in a reusable `ArrowFileReader` helper, and documents
the Java index operations that are currently exposed by the namespace
client: vector indexes, scalar indexes, full text search indexes, and
listing indexes.
## Issue Links
Fixes https://github.com/lancedb/docs/issues/157
Fixes https://github.com/lancedb/docs/issues/160
Partially addresses https://github.com/lancedb/docs/issues/159 by
documenting the index parameters currently exposed by Java. The
requested `num_partitions` example is still blocked because
`CreateTableIndexRequest` does not expose IVF training parameters yet.
Not included: https://github.com/lancedb/docs/issues/158. The current
Java docs and source remain remote namespace oriented, so local DB
connection documentation should wait until the Java local DB API is
available and can be verified.
## Validation
- Built the Java core module with OpenJDK 17:
`./mvnw -pl lancedb-core -am -DskipTests compile`
- Checked the Markdown diff:
`git diff --check -- docs/src/java/java.md`
The Java build succeeds. It still reports pre-existing checkstyle
warnings in the namespace client builder, but the Maven build is green.
The 0.29 release happened on a branch because the main line had already
moved past the 6.0.0 stable lance release. As a result the version bump
commits ended up on the branch. This merges those commits back into
main.
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Co-authored-by: Lance Release <lance-dev@lancedb.com>
1. Refactored every client (Rust core, Python, Node/TypeScript) so
“namespace” usage is explicit: code now keeps namespace paths
(namespace_path) separate from namespace clients (namespace_client).
Connections propagate the client, table creation routes through it, and
managed versioning defaults are resolved from namespace metadata. Python
gained LanceNamespaceDBConnection/async counterparts, and the
namespace-focused tests were rewritten to match the clarified API
surface.
2. Synchronized the workspace with Lance 5.0.0-beta.3 (see
https://github.com/lance-format/lance/pull/6186 for the upstream
namespace refactor), updating Cargo/uv lockfiles and ensuring all
bindings align with the new namespace semantics.
3. Added a namespace-backed code path to lancedb.connect() via new
keyword arguments (namespace_client_impl, namespace_client_properties,
plus the existing pushdown-ops flag). When those kwargs are supplied,
connect() delegates to connect_namespace, so users can opt into
namespace clients without changing APIs. (The async helper will gain
parity in a later change)
Prashanth Rao
Lance Release
Weston Pace
Jack Ye