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. Increases stack
18 usage 1 byte per every 8 fields. Compiler warning will tell if you need this.
19 PB_FIELD_16BIT Add support for tag numbers > 255 and fields larger than 255 bytes or 255 array entries.
20 Increases code size 3 bytes per each field. Compiler error will tell if you need this.
21 PB_FIELD_32BIT Add support for tag numbers > 65535 and fields larger than 65535 bytes or 65535 array entries.
22 Increases code size 9 bytes per each field. Compiler error will tell if you need this.
23 PB_NO_ERRMSG Disables the support for error messages; only error information is the true/false return value.
24 Decreases the code size by a few hundred bytes.
25 PB_BUFFER_ONLY Disables the support for custom streams. Only supports encoding to memory buffers.
26 Speeds up execution and decreases code size slightly.
27 PB_OLD_CALLBACK_STYLE Use the old function signature (void\* instead of void\*\*) for callback fields. This was the
28 default until nanopb-0.2.1.
29 ============================ ================================================================================================
31 The PB_MAX_REQUIRED_FIELDS, PB_FIELD_16BIT and PB_FIELD_32BIT settings allow raising some datatype limits to suit larger messages.
32 Their need is recognized automatically by C-preprocessor #if-directives in the generated .pb.h files. The default setting is to use
33 the smallest datatypes (least resources used).
40 Defines the encoder/decoder behaviour that should be used for a field. ::
42 typedef uint8_t pb_type_t;
44 The low-order nibble of the enumeration values defines the function that can be used for encoding and decoding the field data:
46 ==================== ===== ================================================
47 LTYPE identifier Value Storage format
48 ==================== ===== ================================================
49 PB_LTYPE_VARINT 0x00 Integer.
50 PB_LTYPE_SVARINT 0x01 Integer, zigzag encoded.
51 PB_LTYPE_FIXED32 0x02 32-bit integer or floating point.
52 PB_LTYPE_FIXED64 0x03 64-bit integer or floating point.
53 PB_LTYPE_BYTES 0x04 Structure with *size_t* field and byte array.
54 PB_LTYPE_STRING 0x05 Null-terminated string.
55 PB_LTYPE_SUBMESSAGE 0x06 Submessage structure.
56 ==================== ===== ================================================
58 The bits 4-5 define whether the field is required, optional or repeated:
60 ==================== ===== ================================================
61 HTYPE identifier Value Field handling
62 ==================== ===== ================================================
63 PB_HTYPE_REQUIRED 0x00 Verify that field exists in decoded message.
64 PB_HTYPE_OPTIONAL 0x10 Use separate *has_<field>* boolean to specify
65 whether the field is present.
66 (Unless it is a callback)
67 PB_HTYPE_REPEATED 0x20 A repeated field with preallocated array.
68 Separate *<field>_count* for number of items.
69 (Unless it is a callback)
70 ==================== ===== ================================================
72 The bits 6-7 define the how the storage for the field is allocated:
74 ==================== ===== ================================================
75 ATYPE identifier Value Allocation method
76 ==================== ===== ================================================
77 PB_ATYPE_STATIC 0x00 Statically allocated storage in the structure.
78 PB_ATYPE_CALLBACK 0x40 A field with dynamic storage size. Struct field
79 actually contains a pointer to a callback
81 ==================== ===== ================================================
86 Describes a single structure field with memory position in relation to others. The descriptions are usually autogenerated. ::
88 typedef struct _pb_field_t pb_field_t;
99 :tag: Tag number of the field or 0 to terminate a list of fields.
100 :type: LTYPE, HTYPE and ATYPE of the field.
101 :data_offset: Offset of field data, relative to the end of the previous field.
102 :size_offset: Offset of *bool* flag for optional fields or *size_t* count for arrays, relative to field data.
103 :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.
104 :array_size: Maximum number of entries in an array, if it is an array type.
105 :ptr: Pointer to default value for optional fields, or to submessage description for PB_LTYPE_SUBMESSAGE.
107 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_FIELD_16BIT*.
111 An byte array with a field for storing the length::
118 In an actual array, the length of *bytes* may be different.
122 Part of a message structure, for fields with type PB_HTYPE_CALLBACK::
124 typedef struct _pb_callback_t pb_callback_t;
125 struct _pb_callback_t {
127 bool (*decode)(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void **arg);
128 bool (*encode)(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void * const *arg);
134 A pointer to the *arg* is passed to the callback when calling. It can be used to store any information that the callback might need.
136 Previously the function received just the value of *arg* instead of a pointer to it. This old behaviour can be enabled by defining *PB_OLD_CALLBACK_STYLE*.
138 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.
142 Protocol Buffers wire types. These are used with `pb_encode_tag`_. ::
154 pb_ostream_from_buffer
155 ----------------------
156 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. ::
158 pb_ostream_t pb_ostream_from_buffer(uint8_t *buf, size_t bufsize);
160 :buf: Memory buffer to write into.
161 :bufsize: Maximum number of bytes to write.
162 :returns: An output stream.
164 After writing, you can check *stream.bytes_written* to find out how much valid data there is in the buffer.
168 Writes data to an output stream. Always use this function, instead of trying to call stream callback manually. ::
170 bool pb_write(pb_ostream_t *stream, const uint8_t *buf, size_t count);
172 :stream: Output stream to write to.
173 :buf: Pointer to buffer with the data to be written.
174 :count: Number of bytes to write.
175 :returns: True on success, false if maximum length is exceeded or an IO error happens.
177 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.
181 Encodes the contents of a structure as a protocol buffers message and writes it to output stream. ::
183 bool pb_encode(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], const void *src_struct);
185 :stream: Output stream to write to.
186 :fields: A field description array, usually autogenerated.
187 :src_struct: Pointer to the data that will be serialized.
188 :returns: True on success, false on IO error, on detectable errors in field description, or if a field encoder returns false.
190 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.
192 .. sidebar:: Encoding fields manually
194 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.
196 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.
198 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.
202 Starts a field in the Protocol Buffers binary format: encodes the field number and the wire type of the data. ::
204 bool pb_encode_tag(pb_ostream_t *stream, pb_wire_type_t wiretype, int field_number);
206 :stream: Output stream to write to. 1-5 bytes will be written.
207 :wiretype: PB_WT_VARINT, PB_WT_64BIT, PB_WT_STRING or PB_WT_32BIT
208 :field_number: Identifier for the field, defined in the .proto file. You can get it from field->tag.
209 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
211 pb_encode_tag_for_field
212 -----------------------
213 Same as `pb_encode_tag`_, except takes the parameters from a *pb_field_t* structure. ::
215 bool pb_encode_tag_for_field(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field);
217 :stream: Output stream to write to. 1-5 bytes will be written.
218 :field: Field description structure. Usually autogenerated.
219 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or unknown field type.
221 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.
223 Wire type mapping is as follows:
225 ========================= ============
227 ========================= ============
228 VARINT, SVARINT PB_WT_VARINT
230 STRING, BYTES, SUBMESSAGE PB_WT_STRING
232 ========================= ============
236 Encodes a signed or unsigned integer in the varint_ format. Works for fields of type `bool`, `enum`, `int32`, `int64`, `uint32` and `uint64`::
238 bool pb_encode_varint(pb_ostream_t *stream, uint64_t value);
240 :stream: Output stream to write to. 1-10 bytes will be written.
241 :value: Value to encode. Just cast e.g. int32_t directly to uint64_t.
242 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
244 .. _varint: http://code.google.com/apis/protocolbuffers/docs/encoding.html#varints
248 Encodes a signed integer in the 'zig-zagged' format. Works for fields of type `sint32` and `sint64`::
250 bool pb_encode_svarint(pb_ostream_t *stream, int64_t value);
252 (parameters are the same as for `pb_encode_varint`_
256 Writes the length of a string as varint and then contents of the string. Works for fields of type `bytes` and `string`::
258 bool pb_encode_string(pb_ostream_t *stream, const uint8_t *buffer, size_t size);
260 :stream: Output stream to write to.
261 :buffer: Pointer to string data.
262 :size: Number of bytes in the string. Pass `strlen(s)` for strings.
263 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
267 Writes 4 bytes to stream and swaps bytes on big-endian architectures. Works for fields of type `fixed32`, `sfixed32` and `float`::
269 bool pb_encode_fixed32(pb_ostream_t *stream, const void *value);
271 :stream: Output stream to write to.
272 :value: Pointer to a 4-bytes large C variable, for example `uint32_t foo;`.
273 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
277 Writes 8 bytes to stream and swaps bytes on big-endian architecture. Works for fields of type `fixed64`, `sfixed64` and `double`::
279 bool pb_encode_fixed64(pb_ostream_t *stream, const void *value);
281 :stream: Output stream to write to.
282 :value: Pointer to a 8-bytes large C variable, for example `uint64_t foo;`.
283 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
287 Encodes a submessage field, including the size header for it. Works for fields of any message type::
289 bool pb_encode_submessage(pb_ostream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], const void *src_struct);
291 :stream: Output stream to write to.
292 :fields: Pointer to the autogenerated field description array for the submessage type, e.g. `MyMessage_fields`.
293 :src: Pointer to the structure where submessage data is.
294 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors, pb_encode errors or if submessage size changes between calls.
296 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.
298 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.
303 pb_istream_from_buffer
304 ----------------------
305 Helper function for creating an input stream that reads data from a memory buffer. ::
307 pb_istream_t pb_istream_from_buffer(uint8_t *buf, size_t bufsize);
309 :buf: Pointer to byte array to read from.
310 :bufsize: Size of the byte array.
311 :returns: An input stream ready to use.
315 Read data from input stream. Always use this function, don't try to call the stream callback directly. ::
317 bool pb_read(pb_istream_t *stream, uint8_t *buf, size_t count);
319 :stream: Input stream to read from.
320 :buf: Buffer to store the data to, or NULL to just read data without storing it anywhere.
321 :count: Number of bytes to read.
322 :returns: True on success, false if *stream->bytes_left* is less than *count* or if an IO error occurs.
324 End of file is signalled by *stream->bytes_left* being zero after pb_read returns false.
328 Read and decode all fields of a structure. Reads until EOF on input stream. ::
330 bool pb_decode(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], void *dest_struct);
332 :stream: Input stream to read from.
333 :fields: A field description array. Usually autogenerated.
334 :dest_struct: Pointer to structure where data will be stored.
335 :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.
337 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.
339 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.
341 For optional fields, this function applies the default value and sets *has_<field>* to false if the field is not present.
345 Same as `pb_decode`_, except does not apply the default values to fields. ::
347 bool pb_decode_noinit(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t fields[], void *dest_struct);
349 (parameters are the same as for `pb_decode`_.)
351 The destination structure should be filled with zeros before calling this function. Doing a *memset* manually can be slightly faster than using `pb_decode`_ if you don't need any default values.
355 Skip a varint_ encoded integer without decoding it. ::
357 bool pb_skip_varint(pb_istream_t *stream);
359 :stream: Input stream to read from. Will read 1 byte at a time until the MSB is clear.
360 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
364 Skip a varint-length-prefixed string. This means skipping a value with wire type PB_WT_STRING. ::
366 bool pb_skip_string(pb_istream_t *stream);
368 :stream: Input stream to read from.
369 :returns: True on success, false on IO error or length exceeding uint32_t.
373 Decode the tag that comes before field in the protobuf encoding::
375 bool pb_decode_tag(pb_istream_t *stream, pb_wire_type_t *wire_type, int *tag, bool *eof);
377 :stream: Input stream to read from.
378 :wire_type: Pointer to variable where to store the wire type of the field.
379 :tag: Pointer to variable where to store the tag of the field.
380 :eof: Pointer to variable where to store end-of-file status.
381 :returns: True on success, false on error or EOF.
383 When the message (stream) ends, this function will return false and set *eof* to true. On other
384 errors, *eof* will be set to false.
388 Remove the data for a field from the stream, without actually decoding it::
390 bool pb_skip_field(pb_istream_t *stream, pb_wire_type_t wire_type);
392 :stream: Input stream to read from.
393 :wire_type: Type of field to skip.
394 :returns: True on success, false on IO error.
396 .. sidebar:: Decoding fields manually
398 The functions with names beginning with *pb_decode_* 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_decode`_ will call your callback function repeatedly, which can then store the values into e.g. filesystem in the order received in.
400 For decoding numeric (including enumerated and boolean) values, use `pb_decode_varint`_, `pb_decode_svarint`_, `pb_decode_fixed32`_ and `pb_decode_fixed64`_. They take a pointer to a 32- or 64-bit C variable, which you may then cast to smaller datatype for storage.
402 For decoding strings and bytes fields, the length has already been decoded. You can therefore check the total length in *stream->bytes_left* and read the data using `pb_read`_.
404 Finally, for decoding submessages in a callback, simply use `pb_decode`_ and pass it the *SubMessage_fields* descriptor array.
408 Read and decode a varint_ encoded integer. ::
410 bool pb_decode_varint(pb_istream_t *stream, uint64_t *dest);
412 :stream: Input stream to read from. 1-10 bytes will be read.
413 :dest: Storage for the decoded integer. Value is undefined on error.
414 :returns: True on success, false if value exceeds uint64_t range or an IO error happens.
418 Similar to `pb_decode_varint`_, except that it performs zigzag-decoding on the value. This corresponds to the Protocol Buffers *sint32* and *sint64* datatypes. ::
420 bool pb_decode_svarint(pb_istream_t *stream, int64_t *dest);
422 (parameters are the same as `pb_decode_varint`_)
426 Decode a *fixed32*, *sfixed32* or *float* value. ::
428 bool pb_decode_fixed32(pb_istream_t *stream, void *dest);
430 :stream: Input stream to read from. 4 bytes will be read.
431 :dest: Pointer to destination *int32_t*, *uint32_t* or *float*.
432 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors.
434 This function reads 4 bytes from the input stream.
435 On big endian architectures, it then reverses the order of the bytes.
436 Finally, it writes the bytes to *dest*.
440 Decode a *fixed64*, *sfixed64* or *double* value. ::
442 bool pb_dec_fixed(pb_istream_t *stream, const pb_field_t *field, void *dest);
444 :stream: Input stream to read from. 8 bytes will be read.
446 :dest: Pointer to destination *int64_t*, *uint64_t* or *double*.
447 :returns: True on success, false on IO errors.
449 Same as `pb_decode_fixed32`_, except this reads 8 bytes.
451 pb_make_string_substream
452 ------------------------
453 Decode the length for a field with wire type *PB_WT_STRING* and create a substream for reading the data. ::
455 bool pb_make_string_substream(pb_istream_t *stream, pb_istream_t *substream);
457 :stream: Original input stream to read the length and data from.
458 :substream: New substream that has limited length. Filled in by the function.
459 :returns: True on success, false if reading the length fails.
461 This function uses `pb_decode_varint`_ to read an integer from the stream. This is interpreted as a number of bytes, and the substream is set up so that its `bytes_left` is initially the same as the length, and its callback function and state the same as the parent stream.
463 pb_close_string_substream
464 -------------------------
465 Close the substream created with `pb_make_string_substream`_. ::
467 void pb_close_string_substream(pb_istream_t *stream, pb_istream_t *substream);
469 :stream: Original input stream to read the length and data from.
470 :substream: Substream to close
472 This function copies back the state from the substream to the parent stream.
473 It must be called after done with the substream.