...one of the most highly
regarded and expertly designed C++ library projects in the
world.
— Herb Sutter and Andrei
Alexandrescu, C++
Coding Standards
The library provides parsing and serialization algorithms to transform JSON
to and from the value
container as needed. This is accomplished through free functions and classes,
described as follows.
Parsing is the process where a serialized JSON is validated and decomposed into elements. The library provides these functions and types to assist with parsing:
Table 1.8. Parsing Functions and Types
Name |
Description |
---|---|
A SAX push parser implementation which converts a serialized JSON into a series of member function calls to a user provided handler. This allows custom behaviors to be implemented for representing the document in memory. |
|
A structure used to select which extensions are enabled during parsing. |
|
Parse a string containing a complete serialized JSON, and return
a |
|
A stateful DOM parser object which may be used to efficiently parse
a series of JSONs each contained in a single contiguous character
buffer, returning each result as a |
|
A stateful DOM parser object which may be used to efficiently parse
a series of JSONs incrementally, returning each result as a |
|
A low level building block used for efficiently building a |
The parse
function offers a simple interface for converting a serialized JSON text
to a value
in a single function call. This overload uses exceptions to indicate errors:
value jv = parse( "[1,2,3,4,5]" );
Alternatively, an error_code
can be used:
error_code ec; value jv = parse( "[1,2,3,4,5]", ec ); if( ec ) std::cout << "Parsing failed: " << ec.message() << "\n";
Even when using error codes, exceptions thrown from the underlying memory_resource
are still possible:
try { error_code ec; value jv = parse( "[1,2,3,4,5]", ec ); if( ec ) std::cout << "Parsing failed: " << ec.message() << "\n"; } catch( std::bad_alloc const& e) { std::cout << "Parsing failed: " << e.what() << "\n"; }
The value
returned in the preceding examples use the default memory resource. The following
code uses a monotonic_resource
, which results
in faster parsing. jv
is
marked const
to prevent subsequent
modification, because containers using a monotonic resource waste memory
when mutated.
{ monotonic_resource mr; value const jv = parse( "[1,2,3,4,5]", &mr ); }
Unless otherwise specified, the parser in this library is strict. It recognizes
only valid, standard JSON. The parser can be configured to allow certain
non-standard extensions by filling in a parse_options
structure and passing
it by value. By default all extensions are disabled:
parse_options opt; // all extensions default to off opt.allow_comments = true; // permit C and C++ style comments to appear in whitespace opt.allow_trailing_commas = true; // allow an additional trailing comma in object and array element lists opt.allow_invalid_utf8 = true; // skip utf-8 validation of keys and strings value jv = parse( "[1,2,3,] // comment ", storage_ptr(), opt );
When building with C++20 or later, the use of designated
initializers with parse_options
is possible:
value jv = parse( "[1,2,3,] // comment ", storage_ptr(), { .allow_comments = true, // permit C and C++ style comments to appear in whitespace .allow_trailing_commas = true, // allow a trailing comma in object and array lists .allow_invalid_utf8 = true // skip utf-8 validation of keys and strings });
Instances of parser
and stream_parser
offer functionality beyond what is available when using the parse
free functions:
The parser implementation uses temporary storage space to accumulate values
during parsing. When using the parse
free functions, this storage
is allocated and freed in each call. However, by declaring an instance of
parser
or stream_parser
,
this temporary storage can be reused when parsing more than one JSON, reducing
the total number of dynamic memory allocations.
To use the parser
,
declare an instance. Then call write
once with the buffer containing
representing the input JSON. Finally, call release
to take ownership of the
resulting value
upon success. This example persists the parser instance in a class member
to reuse across calls:
class connection { parser p_; // persistent data member public: void do_read( string_view s ) // called for each complete message from the network { p_.reset(); // start parsing a new JSON using the default resource p_.write( s ); // parse the buffer, using exceptions to indicate error do_rpc( p_.release() ); // process the command } void do_rpc( value jv ); };
Sometimes a protocol may have a JSON text followed by data that is in a different
format or specification. The JSON portion can still be parsed by using the
function write_some
. Upon success, the return
value will indicate the number of characters consumed from the input, which
will exclude the non-JSON characters:
stream_parser p; error_code ec; string_view s = "[1,2,3] %HOME%"; std::size_t n = p.write_some( s, ec ); assert( ! ec && p.done() && n == 8 ); s = s.substr( n ); value jv = p.release(); assert( s == "%HOME%" );
The parser instance may be constructed with parse options which allow some non-standard JSON extensions to be recognized:
parse_options opt; // All extensions default to off opt.allow_comments = true; // Permit C and C++ style comments to appear in whitespace opt.allow_trailing_commas = true; // Allow an additional trailing comma in object and array element lists opt.allow_invalid_utf8 = true; // Skip utf-8 validation of keys and strings stream_parser p( storage_ptr(), opt ); // The stream_parser will use the options
The stream_parser
implements a streaming
algorithm; it allows incremental processing of large JSON
inputs using one or more contiguous character buffers. The entire input JSON
does not need to be loaded into memory at once. A network server can use
the streaming interface to process incoming JSON in fixed-size amounts, providing
these benefits:
To use the stream_parser
, declare an instance.
Then call write
zero or more times with successive
buffers representing the input JSON. When there are no more buffers, call
finish
. The function done
returns true
after a successful call to write
or finish
if parsing is complete.
In the following example a JSON is parsed from standard input a line at a
time. Error codes are used instead. The function finish
is used to indicate the end
of the input:
value read_json( std::istream& is, error_code& ec ) { stream_parser p; std::string line; while( std::getline( is, line ) ) { p.write( line, ec ); if( ec ) return nullptr; } p.finish( ec ); if( ec ) return nullptr; return p.release(); }
After default construction, or after reset
is called with no arguments,
the value
produced after a successful parse operation uses the default memory resource.
To use a different memory resource, call reset
with the resource to use. Here we use a monotonic_resource
, which is optimized
for parsing but not subsequent modification:
{ monotonic_resource mr; stream_parser p; p.reset( &mr ); // Use mr for the resulting value p.write( "[1,2,3,4,5]" ); // Parse the input JSON value const jv = p.release(); // Retrieve the result assert( *jv.storage() == mr ); // Same memory resource }
To achieve performance and memory efficiency, the parser uses a temporary storage area to hold intermediate results. This storage is reused when parsing more than one JSON, reducing the total number of calls to allocate memory and thus improving performance. Upon construction, the memory resource used to perform allocations for this temporary storage area may be specified. Otherwise, the default memory resource is used. In addition to a memory resource, the parser can make use of a caller-owned buffer for temporary storage. This can help avoid dynamic allocations for small inputs. The following example uses a four kilobyte temporary buffer for the parser, and falls back to the default memory resource if needed:
unsigned char temp[ 4096 ]; // Declare our buffer stream_parser p( storage_ptr(), // Default memory resource parse_options{}, // Default parse options (strict parsing) temp); // Use our buffer for temporary storage
Through careful specification of buffers and memory resources, it is possible to eliminate all dynamic allocation completely when parsing JSON, for the case where the entire JSON is available in a single character buffer, as shown here:
/* Parse JSON and invoke the handler This function parses the JSON specified in `s` and invokes the handler, whose signature must be equivalent to: void( value const& jv ); The operation is guaranteed not to perform any dynamic memory allocations. However, some implementation-defined upper limits on the size of the input JSON and the size of the resulting value are imposed. Upon error, an exception is thrown. */ template< class Handler > void do_rpc( string_view s, Handler&& handler ) { unsigned char temp[ 4096 ]; // The parser will use this storage for its temporary needs parser p( // Construct a strict parser using the temp buffer and no dynamic memory get_null_resource(), // The null resource never dynamically allocates memory parse_options(), // Default constructed parse options allow only standard JSON temp ); unsigned char buf[ 16384 ]; // Now we need a buffer to hold the actual JSON values static_resource mr2( buf ); // The static resource is monotonic, using only a caller-provided buffer p.reset( &mr2 ); // Use the static resource for producing the value p.write( s ); // Parse the entire string we received from the network client // Retrieve the value and invoke the handler with it. // The value will use `buf` for storage. The handler // must not take ownership, since monotonic resources // are inefficient with mutation. handler( p.release() ); }
Users who wish to implement custom parsing strategies may create their own
handler to use with an instance of basic_parser
. The handler implements
the function signatures required by SAX event interface. In this example
we define the "null" parser, which does nothing with the parsed
results, to use in the implementation of a function that determines if a
JSON text is valid.
/* This example verifies that a file contains valid JSON. */ #include <boost/json.hpp> // This file must be manually included when // using basic_parser to implement a parser. #include <boost/json/basic_parser_impl.hpp> #include <iomanip> #include <iostream> #include "file.hpp" using namespace boost::json; // The null parser discards all the data class null_parser { struct handler { constexpr static std::size_t max_object_size = std::size_t(-1); constexpr static std::size_t max_array_size = std::size_t(-1); constexpr static std::size_t max_key_size = std::size_t(-1); constexpr static std::size_t max_string_size = std::size_t(-1); bool on_document_begin( error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_document_end( error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_object_begin( error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_object_end( std::size_t, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_array_begin( error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_array_end( std::size_t, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_key_part( string_view, std::size_t, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_key( string_view, std::size_t, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_string_part( string_view, std::size_t, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_string( string_view, std::size_t, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_number_part( string_view, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_int64( std::int64_t, string_view, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_uint64( std::uint64_t, string_view, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_double( double, string_view, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_bool( bool, error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_null( error_code& ) { return true; } bool on_comment_part(string_view, error_code&) { return true; } bool on_comment(string_view, error_code&) { return true; } }; basic_parser<handler> p_; public: null_parser() : p_(parse_options()) { } ~null_parser() { } std::size_t write( char const* data, std::size_t size, error_code& ec) { auto const n = p_.write_some( false, data, size, ec ); if(! ec && n < size) ec = error::extra_data; return n; } }; bool validate( string_view s ) { // Parse with the null parser and return false on error null_parser p; error_code ec; p.write( s.data(), s.size(), ec ); if( ec ) return false; // The string is valid JSON. return true; } int main(int argc, char** argv) { if(argc != 2) { std::cerr << "Usage: validate <filename>" << std::endl; return EXIT_FAILURE; } try { // Read the file into a string auto const s = read_file( argv[1] ); // See if the string is valid JSON auto const valid = validate( s ); // Print the result if( valid ) std::cout << argv[1] << " contains a valid JSON\n"; else std::cout << argv[1] << " does not contain a valid JSON\n"; } catch(std::exception const& e) { std::cerr << "Caught exception: " << e.what() << std::endl; return EXIT_FAILURE; } return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
Serialization is the process where a JSON document represented in memory
by a value
is turned into a sequence of characters. The library provides the following
free functions and types for serialization:
Table 1.9. Serialization Functions and Types
To facilitate debugging and ease of output, library container types may be written to standard output streams using the stream operator:
value jv = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }; std::cout << jv << "\n";
The serialize
function converts a value
into a std::string
:
value jv = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }; std::string s = serialize( jv );
In situations where serializing a value
in its entirety is inefficient
or even impossible, serializer
can be used to incrementally
serialize a value
incrementally. This may be done for a variety of reasons, such as to avoid
buffering the entire output, or to ensure that a fixed amount of work is
performed in each cycle. Instances of serializer
maintain an output state
using internal dynamically allocated structures, with an interface to retrieve
successive buffers of the serialized output into a caller provided buffer.
Here is an example, demonstrating how operator<<
may be implemented using a serializer
:
// Serialize a value into an output stream std::ostream& operator<<( std::ostream& os, value const& jv ) { // Create a serializer serializer sr; // Set the serializer up for our value sr.reset( &jv ); // Loop until all output is produced. while( ! sr.done() ) { // Use a local buffer to avoid allocation. char buf[ BOOST_JSON_STACK_BUFFER_SIZE ]; // Fill our buffer with serialized characters and write it to the output stream. os << sr.read( buf ); } return os; }
As with the parser, the serializer may be reused by calling serializer::reset
. This sets up the object to
serialize a new instance and retains previously allocated memory. This can
result in performance improvements when multiple variables are serialized.