Weka in Java: Predict new samples using a precomputed and exported model object

Weka allows for exporting/saving computed models into a binary model file (usually having a “.model” file extension). On other machines (that e.g. don’t have access to training data or would lack the computational power for training the model themselves), those model files can be loaded and used to predict new samples. The following example in Java highlights two aspects of this process, which are a) loading such a model object and b) how to format a new, yet unclassified instance so that its target variable can be predicted using the loaded model:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

import weka.classifiers.Classifier;
import weka.core.Attribute;
import weka.core.DenseInstance;
import weka.core.Instances;

public class Main {

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		new Main().main();
	}

	public void main() {

		// we need those for creating new instances later
		final Attribute attributeSepalLength = new Attribute("sepallength");
		final Attribute attributeSepalWidth = new Attribute("sepalwidth");
		final Attribute attributePetalLength = new Attribute("petallength");
		final Attribute attributePetalWidth = new Attribute("petalwidth");
		final List<String> classes = new ArrayList<String>() {
			{
				add("Iris-setosa");
				add("Iris-versicolor");
				add("Iris-virginica");
			}
		};

		// Instances(...) requires ArrayList<> instead of List<>...
		ArrayList<Attribute> attributeList = new ArrayList<Attribute>(2) {
			{
				add(attributeSepalLength);
				add(attributeSepalWidth);
				add(attributePetalLength);
				add(attributePetalWidth);
				Attribute attributeClass = new Attribute("@@class@@", classes);
				add(attributeClass);
			}
		};
		// unpredicted data sets (reference to sample structure for new instances)
		Instances dataUnpredicted = new Instances("TestInstances",
				attributeList, 1);
		// last feature is target variable
		dataUnpredicted.setClassIndex(dataUnpredicted.numAttributes() - 1);

		// create new instance: this one should fall into the setosa domain
		DenseInstance newInstanceSetosa = new DenseInstance(dataUnpredicted.numAttributes()) {
			{
				setValue(attributeSepalLength, 5);
				setValue(attributeSepalWidth, 3.5);
				setValue(attributePetalLength, 2);
				setValue(attributePetalWidth, 0.4);
			}
		};
		// create new instance: this one should fall into the virginica domain
		DenseInstance newInstanceVirginica = new DenseInstance(dataUnpredicted.numAttributes()) {
			{
				setValue(attributeSepalLength, 7);
				setValue(attributeSepalWidth, 3);
				setValue(attributePetalLength, 6.8);
				setValue(attributePetalWidth, 2.1);
			}
		};

		// instance to use in prediction
		DenseInstance newInstance = newInstanceSetosa;
		// reference to dataset
		newInstance.setDataset(dataUnpredicted);

		// import ready trained model
		Classifier cls = null;
		try {
			cls = (Classifier) weka.core.SerializationHelper
					.read("/home/pirius/iris_model_logistic_allfeatures.model");
		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
		if (cls == null)
			return;

		// predict new sample
		try {
			double result = cls.classifyInstance(newInstance);
			System.out.println("Index of predicted class label: " + result + ", which corresponds to class: " + classes.get(new Double(result).intValue()));
		} catch (Exception e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
	}
}