Serialize & deserialize back and forth between u8 and i32

A Rust library that safely converts, back and forward, between u8 and i32

Example usage

Consider you have the following custom image object, in your code (a struct with raw pixels as well as width and height).

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Debug)]
struct PhotonImage {
    raw_pixels: Vec<u8>,
    width: u32,
    height: u32,
}

Your main.rs might look something like this

use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
fn main() {
    let photon_image = PhotonImage {
        raw_pixels: vec![
            134, 122, 131, 255, 131, 131, 139, 255, 135, 134, 137, 255, 138, 134, 130, 255, 126,
            125, 119, 255, 131, 134, 129, 255, 137, 134, 132, 255, 130, 126, 130, 255, 132, 125,
            132, 255, 122, 142, 129, 255, 134, 135, 128, 255, 138, 120, 125, 255, 125, 134, 110,
            255, 121, 122, 137, 255, 141, 140, 141, 255, 125, 144, 120, 255,
        ],
        width: 4,
        height: 4,
    };

Your dependencies might look like this

[dependencies]
serde = { version = "1.0.104", features = ["derive"] }

Why serialize as i32 integers?

There are applications like SecondState's Rust Storage Interface Library, that let you store and load objects as i32. This crate allows you to serialize your data to i32 so that you can take advantge of these storage opportunities.

Serializing

Add bincode = "^1.2" and serialize_deserialize_u8_i32 = "^0.1" to your dependencies. They will not look like this.

[dependencies]
bincode = "^1.2"
serialize_deserialize_u8_i32 = "^0.1"
serde = { version = "1.0.104", features = ["derive"] }

Add the following code to your main function to serialize to u8

let mut encoded: Vec<u8> = bincode::serialize(&photon_image).unwrap();

This will result in the following data structure

[64, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 134, 122, 131, 255, 131, 131, 139, 255, 135, 134, 137, 255, 138, 134, 130, 255, 126, 125, 119, 255, 131, 134, 129, 255, 137, 134, 132, 255, 130, 126, 130, 255, 132, 125, 132, 255, 122, 142, 129, 255, 134, 135, 128, 255, 138, 120, 125, 255, 125, 134, 110, 255, 121, 122, 137, 255, 141, 140, 141, 255, 125, 144, 120, 255, 4, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0]

The also add the following code to your main function to serialize to i32

#TODO import library via use statement

#TODO demonstrate how to call library serialize

#TODO show data output

Why deserialize i32 to u8?

This crate also allows you to load your i32 data from SecondState's Rust Storage Interface Library and turn it back into your original high level Rust object.

Serializing

#TODO demonstrate how to call library deserialize

#TODO show data output