I have a requirement in which I am retrieving values in one Reader of the Step using SQL statements and doing the same request in next reader.
I do not want to make another request if the data is already fetched in the First reader and pass that collection (possibly a HashMap) to next step. For this I have gone through the following link on SO : How can we share data between the different steps of a Job in Spring Batch?
In many of the comments it is mentioned that 'data must be short'.
Also it is mentioned in one response that: these contexts are good to share strings or simple values, but not for sharing collections or huge amounts of data.
By passing that HashMap, I believe it automatically infers that the reference of the HashMap will be passed.
It would be good to know the possible consequences of passing it before hand and any better alternative approach.