11 The following options can be specified using -D switch given to the C compiler:
13 ============================ ==============================================================================================
14 __BIG_ENDIAN__ Set this if your platform stores integers and floats in big-endian format.
15 Mixed-endian systems (different layout for ints and floats) are currently not supported.
16 NANOPB_INTERNALS Set this to expose the field encoder functions that are hidden since nanopb-0.1.3.
17 PB_MAX_REQUIRED_FIELDS Maximum number of required fields to check for presence. Default value is 64.
18 PB_MANY_FIELDS Add support for tag numbers > 255 and fields larger than 255 bytes or 255 array entries.
19 Increases code size 9 bytes per each field. Compiler error will tell if you need this.
20 ============================ ==============================================================================================
27 Defines the encoder/decoder behaviour that should be used for a field. ::
29 typedef enum { ... } pb_type_t;
31 The low-order byte of the enumeration values defines the function that can be used for encoding and decoding the field data:
33 ==================== ===== ================================================
34 LTYPE identifier Value Storage format
35 ==================== ===== ================================================
36 PB_LTYPE_VARINT 0x00 Integer.
37 PB_LTYPE_SVARINT 0x01 Integer, zigzag encoded.
38 PB_LTYPE_FIXED 0x02 Integer or floating point.
39 PB_LTYPE_BYTES 0x03 Structure with *size_t* field and byte array.
40 PB_LTYPE_STRING 0x04 Null-terminated string.
41 PB_LTYPE_SUBMESSAGE 0x05 Submessage structure.
42 ==================== ===== ================================================
44 The high-order byte defines whether the field is required, optional, repeated or callback:
46 ==================== ===== ================================================
47 HTYPE identifier Value Field handling
48 ==================== ===== ================================================
49 PB_HTYPE_REQUIRED 0x00 Verify that field exists in decoded message.
50 PB_HTYPE_OPTIONAL 0x10 Use separate *has_<field>* boolean to specify
51 whether the field is present.
52 PB_HTYPE_ARRAY 0x20 A repeated field with preallocated array.
53 Separate *<field>_count* for number of items.
54 PB_HTYPE_CALLBACK 0x30 A field with dynamic storage size, data is
55 actually a pointer to a structure containing a
57 ==================== ===== ================================================
61 Describes a single structure field with memory position in relation to others. The descriptions are usually autogenerated. ::
63 typedef struct _pb_field_t pb_field_t;
74 :tag: Tag number of the field or 0 to terminate a list of fields.
75 :type: LTYPE and HTYPE of the field.
76 :data_offset: Offset of field data, relative to the end of the previous field.
77 :size_offset: Offset of *bool* flag for optional fields or *size_t* count for arrays, relative to field data.
78 :data_size: Size of a single data entry, in bytes. For PB_LTYPE_BYTES, the size of the byte array inside the containing structure. For PB_HTYPE_CALLBACK, size of the C data type if known.
79 :array_size: Maximum number of entries in an array, if it is an array type.
80 :ptr: Pointer to default value for optional fields, or to submessage description for PB_LTYPE_SUBMESSAGE.
82 The *uint8_t* datatypes limit the maximum size of a single item to 255 bytes and arrays to 255 items. Compiler will give error if the values are too large. The types can be changed to larger ones by defining *PB_MANY_FIELDS*.
86 An byte array with a field for storing the length::
93 In an actual array, the length of *bytes* may be different.
97 Part of a message structure, for fields with type PB_HTYPE_CALLBACK::
99 typedef struct _pb_callback_t pb_callback_t;
100 struct _pb_callback_t {
102 bool (*decode)(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *arg);
103 bool (*encode)(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, const void *arg);
109 The *arg* is passed to the callback when calling. It can be used to store any information that the callback might need.
111 When calling `pb_encode`_, *funcs.encode* is used, and similarly when calling `pb_decode`_, *funcs.decode* is used. The function pointers are stored in the same memory location but are of incompatible types. You can set the function pointer to NULL to skip the field.
115 Protocol Buffers wire types. These are used with `pb_encode_tag`_. ::
127 pb_ostream_from_buffer
128 ----------------------
129 Constructs an output stream for writing into a memory buffer. This is just a helper function, it doesn't do anything you couldn't do yourself in a callback function. It uses an internal callback that stores the pointer in stream *state* field. ::
131 pb_ostream_t pb_ostream_from_buffer(uint8_t *buf, size_t bufsize);
133 :buf: Memory buffer to write into.
134 :bufsize: Maximum number of bytes to write.
135 :returns: An output stream.
137 After writing, you can check *stream.bytes_written* to find out how much valid data there is in the buffer.
141 Writes data to an output stream. Always use this function, instead of trying to call stream callback manually. ::
143 bool pb_write(pb_ostream_t *stream, const uint8_t *buf, size_t count);
145 :stream: Output stream to write to.
146 :buf: Pointer to buffer with the data to be written.
147 :count: Number of bytes to write.
148 :returns: True on success, false if maximum length is exceeded or an IO error happens.
150 If an error happens, *bytes_written* is not incremented. Depending on the callback used, calling pb_write again after it has failed once may be dangerous. Nanopb itself never does this, instead it returns the error to user application. The builtin pb_ostream_from_buffer is safe to call again after failed write.
154 Encodes the contents of a structure as a protocol buffers message and writes it to output stream. ::
156 bool pb_encode(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], const void *src_struct);
158 :stream: Output stream to write to.
159 :fields: A field description array, usually autogenerated.
160 :src_struct: Pointer to the data that will be serialized.
161 :returns: True on success, false on IO error, on detectable errors in field description, or if a field encoder returns false.
163 Normally pb_encode simply walks through the fields description array and serializes each field in turn. However, submessages must be serialized twice: first to calculate their size and then to actually write them to output. This causes some constraints for callback fields, which must return the same data on every call.
165 .. sidebar:: Encoding fields manually
167 The functions with names *pb_encode_\** are used when dealing with callback fields. The typical reason for using callbacks is to have an array of unlimited size. In that case, `pb_encode`_ will call your callback function, which in turn will call *pb_encode_\** functions repeatedly to write out values.
169 The tag of a field must be encoded separately with `pb_encode_tag_for_field`_. After that, you can call exactly one of the content-writing functions to encode the payload of the field. For repeated fields, you can repeat this process multiple times.
171 Writing packed arrays is a little bit more involved: you need to use `pb_encode_tag` and specify `PB_WT_STRING` as the wire type. Then you need to know exactly how much data you are going to write, and use `pb_encode_varint`_ to write out the number of bytes before writing the actual data. Substreams can be used to determine the number of bytes beforehand; see `pb_encode_submessage`_ source code for an example.
175 Starts a field in the Protocol Buffers binary format: encodes the field number and the wire type of the data. ::
177 bool pb_encode_tag(pb_ostream_t *stream, pb_wire_type_t wiretype, int field_number);
179 :stream: Output stream to write to. 1-5 bytes will be written.
180 :wiretype: PB_WT_VARINT, PB_WT_64BIT, PB_WT_STRING or PB_WT_32BIT
181 :field_number: Identifier for the field, defined in the .proto file. You can get it from field->tag.
182 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
184 pb_encode_tag_for_field
185 -----------------------
186 Same as `pb_encode_tag`_, except takes the parameters from a *pb_field_t* structure. ::
188 bool pb_encode_tag_for_field(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field);
190 :stream: Output stream to write to. 1-5 bytes will be written.
191 :field: Field description structure. Usually autogenerated.
192 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or unknown field type.
194 This function only considers the LTYPE of the field. You can use it from your field callbacks, because the source generator writes correct LTYPE also for callback type fields.
196 Wire type mapping is as follows:
198 ========================= ============
200 ========================= ============
201 VARINT, SVARINT PB_WT_VARINT
203 STRING, BYTES, SUBMESSAGE PB_WT_STRING
205 ========================= ============
209 Encodes a signed or unsigned integer in the varint_ format. Works for fields of type `bool`, `enum`, `int32`, `int64`, `uint32` and `uint64`::
211 bool pb_encode_varint(pb_ostream_t *stream, uint64_t value);
213 :stream: Output stream to write to. 1-10 bytes will be written.
214 :value: Value to encode. Just cast e.g. int32_t directly to uint64_t.
215 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
217 .. _varint: http://code.google.com/apis/protocolbuffers/docs/encoding.html#varints
221 Encodes a signed integer in the 'zig-zagged' format. Works for fields of type `sint32` and `sint64`::
223 bool pb_encode_svarint(pb_ostream_t *stream, int64_t value);
225 (parameters are the same as for `pb_encode_varint`_
229 Writes the length of a string as varint and then contents of the string. Works for fields of type `bytes` and `string`::
231 bool pb_encode_string(pb_ostream_t *stream, const uint8_t *buffer, size_t size);
233 :stream: Output stream to write to.
234 :buffer: Pointer to string data.
235 :size: Number of bytes in the string. Pass `strlen(s)` for strings.
236 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
240 Writes 4 bytes to stream and swaps bytes on big-endian architectures. Works for fields of type `fixed32`, `sfixed32` and `float`::
242 bool pb_encode_fixed32(pb_ostream_t *stream, const void *value);
244 :stream: Output stream to write to.
245 :value: Pointer to a 4-bytes large C variable, for example `uint32_t foo;`.
246 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
250 Writes 8 bytes to stream and swaps bytes on big-endian architecture. Works for fields of type `fixed64`, `sfixed64` and `double`::
252 bool pb_encode_fixed64(pb_ostream_t *stream, const void *value);
254 :stream: Output stream to write to.
255 :value: Pointer to a 8-bytes large C variable, for example `uint64_t foo;`.
256 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
260 Encodes a submessage field, including the size header for it. Works for fields of any message type::
262 bool pb_encode_submessage(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], const void *src_struct);
264 :stream: Output stream to write to.
265 :fields: Pointer to the autogenerated field description array for the submessage type, e.g. `MyMessage_fields`.
266 :src: Pointer to the structure where submessage data is.
267 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors, pb_encode errors or if submessage size changes between calls.
269 In Protocol Buffers format, the submessage size must be written before the submessage contents. Therefore, this function has to encode the submessage twice in order to know the size beforehand.
271 If the submessage contains callback fields, the callback function might misbehave and write out a different amount of data on the second call. This situation is recognized and *false* is returned, but garbage will be written to the output before the problem is detected.
276 pb_istream_from_buffer
277 ----------------------
278 Helper function for creating an input stream that reads data from a memory buffer. ::
280 pb_istream_t pb_istream_from_buffer(uint8_t *buf, size_t bufsize);
282 :buf: Pointer to byte array to read from.
283 :bufsize: Size of the byte array.
284 :returns: An input stream ready to use.
288 Read data from input stream. Always use this function, don't try to call the stream callback directly. ::
290 bool pb_read(pb_istream_t *stream, uint8_t *buf, size_t count);
292 :stream: Input stream to read from.
293 :buf: Buffer to store the data to, or NULL to just read data without storing it anywhere.
294 :count: Number of bytes to read.
295 :returns: True on success, false if *stream->bytes_left* is less than *count* or if an IO error occurs.
297 End of file is signalled by *stream->bytes_left* being zero after pb_read returns false.
301 Read and decode all fields of a structure. Reads until EOF on input stream. ::
303 bool pb_decode(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], void *dest_struct);
305 :stream: Input stream to read from.
306 :fields: A field description array. Usually autogenerated.
307 :dest_struct: Pointer to structure where data will be stored.
308 :returns: True on success, false on IO error, on detectable errors in field description, if a field encoder returns false or if a required field is missing.
310 In Protocol Buffers binary format, EOF is only allowed between fields. If it happens anywhere else, pb_decode will return *false*. If pb_decode returns false, you cannot trust any of the data in the structure.
312 In addition to EOF, the pb_decode implementation supports terminating a message with a 0 byte. This is compatible with the official Protocol Buffers because 0 is never a valid field tag.
314 For optional fields, this function applies the default value and sets *has_<field>* to false if the field is not present.
318 Read and decode a varint_ encoded integer. ::
320 bool pb_decode_varint(pb_istream_t *stream, uint64_t *dest);
322 :stream: Input stream to read from. 1-10 bytes will be read.
323 :dest: Storage for the decoded integer. Value is undefined on error.
324 :returns: True on success, false if value exceeds uint64_t range or an IO error happens.
328 Skip a varint_ encoded integer without decoding it. ::
330 bool pb_skip_varint(pb_istream_t *stream);
332 :stream: Input stream to read from. Will read 1 byte at a time until the MSB is clear.
333 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
337 Skip a varint-length-prefixed string. This means skipping a value with wire type PB_WT_STRING. ::
339 bool pb_skip_string(pb_istream_t *stream);
341 :stream: Input stream to read from.
342 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or length exceeding uint32_t.
346 Decode the tag that comes before field in the protobuf encoding::
348 bool pb_decode_tag(pb_istream_t *stream, pb_wire_type_t *wire_type, int *tag, bool *eof);
350 :stream: Input stream to read from.
351 :wire_type: Pointer to variable where to store the wire type of the field.
352 :tag: Pointer to variable where to store the tag of the field.
353 :eof: Pointer to variable where to store end-of-file status.
354 :returns: True on success, false on error or EOF.
356 When the message (stream) ends, this function will return false and set *eof* to true. On other
357 errors, *eof* will be set to false.
361 Remove the data for a field from the stream, without actually decoding it::
363 bool pb_skip_field(pb_istream_t *stream, pb_wire_type_t wire_type);
365 :stream: Input stream to read from.
366 :wire_type: Type of field to skip.
367 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
369 .. sidebar:: Field decoders
371 The functions with names beginning with *pb_dec_* are called field decoders. Each PB_LTYPE has an own field decoder, which handles translating from Protocol Buffers data to C data.
373 Each field decoder reads and decodes a single value. For arrays, the decoder is called repeatedly.
375 You can use the decoders from your callbacks. Just be aware that the pb_field_t passed to the callback is not directly compatible
376 with the *varint* field decoders. Instead, you must create a new pb_field_t structure and set the data_size according to the data type
377 you pass to *dest*, e.g. *field.data_size = sizeof(int);*. Other fields in the *pb_field_t* don't matter.
379 The field decoder interface is a bit messy as a result of the interface required inside the nanopb library.
380 Eventually they may be replaced by separate wrapper functions with a more friendly interface.
384 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_VARINT. ::
386 bool pb_dec_varint(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest)
388 :stream: Input stream to read from. 1-10 bytes will be read.
389 :field: Field description structure. Only *field->data_size* matters.
390 :dest: Pointer to destination integer. Must have size of *field->data_size* bytes.
391 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors or if `pb_decode_varint`_ fails.
393 This function first calls `pb_decode_varint`_. It then copies the first bytes of the 64-bit result value to *dest*, or on big endian architectures, the last bytes.
397 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_SVARINT. Similar to `pb_dec_varint`_, except that it performs zigzag-decoding on the value. ::
399 bool pb_dec_svarint(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest);
401 (parameters are the same as `pb_dec_varint`_)
405 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_FIXED32. ::
407 bool pb_dec_fixed32(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest);
409 :stream: Input stream to read from. 4 bytes will be read.
411 :dest: Pointer to destination *int32_t*, *uint32_t* or *float*.
412 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors.
414 This function reads 4 bytes from the input stream.
415 On big endian architectures, it then reverses the order of the bytes.
416 Finally, it writes the bytes to *dest*.
420 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_FIXED64. ::
422 bool pb_dec_fixed(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest);
424 :stream: Input stream to read from. 8 bytes will be read.
426 :dest: Pointer to destination *int64_t*, *uint64_t* or *double*.
427 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors.
429 Same as `pb_dec_fixed32`_, except this reads 8 bytes.
433 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_BYTES. Reads a length-prefixed block of bytes. ::
435 bool pb_dec_bytes(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest);
437 **Note:** This is an internal function that is not useful in decoder callbacks. To read bytes fields in callbacks, use
438 *stream->bytes_left* and `pb_read`_.
440 :stream: Input stream to read from.
441 :field: Field description structure. Only *field->data_size* matters.
442 :dest: Pointer to a structure similar to pb_bytes_array_t.
443 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or if length exceeds the array size.
445 This function expects a pointer to a structure with a *size_t* field at start, and a variable sized byte array after it. It will deduce the maximum size of the array from *field->data_size*.
449 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_STRING. Reads a length-prefixed string. ::
451 bool pb_dec_string(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest);
453 **Note:** This is an internal function that is not useful in decoder callbacks. To read string fields in callbacks, use
454 *stream->bytes_left* and `pb_read`_.
456 :stream: Input stream to read from.
457 :field: Field description structure. Only *field->data_size* matters.
458 :dest: Pointer to a character array of size *field->data_size*.
459 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or if length exceeds the array size.
461 This function null-terminates the string when successful. On error, the contents of the destination array is undefined.
465 Field decoder for PB_LTYPE_SUBMESSAGE. Calls `pb_decode`_ to perform the actual decoding. ::
467 bool pb_dec_submessage(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest)
469 **Note:** This is an internal function that is not useful in decoder callbacks. To read submessage fields in callbacks, use
470 `pb_decode`_ directly.
472 :stream: Input stream to read from.
473 :field: Field description structure. Only *field->ptr* matters.
474 :dest: Pointer to the destination structure.
475 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or if `pb_decode`_ fails.
477 The *field->ptr* should be a pointer to *pb_field_t* array describing the submessage.