code: public static String readString(final DataInput in) throws IOException {
  
  		if (in.readBoolean()) {
  			final int length = in.readInt();
  			if (length < 0) {
  				throw new IOException("length of StringRecord is " + length);
  			}
  
  			final byte[] bytes = new byte[length];
  			in.readFully(bytes, 0, length);
  			return decode(bytes);
  		}
  
  		return null;
  	}
docs: Read a UTF8 encoded string from in