saved_model_cli_bug.md

The saved model CLI can't handle string input w/ the input_examples flag RE: tensorflow/tensorflow#27662 :

saved_model_cli run \
--dir . \
--tag_set serve \
--signature_def predict \
--input_examples 'examples=[{"menu_item":["this is a sentence"]}]'

File .../saved_model_cli.py", line 489, in _create_example_string feature_list)
TypeError: 'this is a sentence' has type str, but expected one of: bytes

Here is a hack which builds the proto string manually (what input_examples SHOULD do):

import tensorflow as tf

def serialize_example_string(strings):

  serialized_examples = []
  for s in strings:
    try:
      value = [bytes(s, "utf-8")]
    except TypeError:  # python 2
      value = [bytes(s)]

    example = tf.train.Example(
                features=tf.train.Features(
                  feature={
                    "menu_item": tf.train.Feature(bytes_list=tf.train.BytesList(value=value))
                  }
                )
              )
    serialized_examples.append(example.SerializeToString())

  return "examples=" + repr(serialized_examples).replace("'", "\"")
  
strings=["kouign amann", "pot a feu", "truffles"]
print(serialize_example_string(strings))

This outputs a list of string encoded Example protos:

examples=[b"\n\x1f\n\x1d\n\tmenu_item\x12\x10\n\x0e\n\x0ckouign amann", b"\n\x1c\n\x1a\n\tmenu_item\x12\r\n\x0b\n\tpot a feu", b"\n\x1b\n\x19\n\tmenu_item\x12\x0c\n\n\n\x08truffles"]

Since you built the protos by hand you can use the input_exprs flag instead:

saved_model_cli run \
--dir . \
--tag_set serve \
--signature_def predict \
--input_exprs='examples=[b"\n\x1f\n\x1d\n\tmenu_item\x12\x10\n\x0e\n\x0ckouign amann", b"\n\x1c\n\x1a\n\tmenu_item\x12\r\n\x0b\n\tpot a feu", b"\n\x1b\n\x19\n\tmenu_item\x12\x0c\n\n\n\x08truffles"]'