valq

valq provides macros for querying semi-structured ("JSON-ish") data with the JavaScript-like syntax.

Look & Feel:

let obj: serde_json::Value = ...;

// without valq: tedious and_then() chain...
let deep = obj
    .get("path")
    .and_then(|v| v.get("to"))
    .and_then(|v| v.get("value"))
    .and_then(|v| v.get("at"))
    .and_then(|v| v.get("deep"));

// with valq: very concise and readable!
use valq::query_value;
let deep = query_value!(obj.path.to.value.at.deep);

Installation

Add this to the Cargo.toml in your project:

[dependencies]
valq = "*"

What's provided

The principal macro provided by this crate is query_value!. There is also a Result-returning variant of query_value!, called query_value_reosult!.

`query_value!` macro

A macro for querying, extracting and converting inner value of semi-structured data.

Basic Queries

// get field `foo` from JSON object `obj`
let foo = query_value!(obj.foo);

// get the first item of the nested JSON array `arr` in `obj`
let head = query_value!(obj.arr[0]);

// more complex query, just works!
let abyss = query_value!(obj.path.to.matrix[0][1].abyss);

Extracting Mutable Reference to Inner Value

use serde_json::{json, Value}

let mut obj = json!({"foo": { "bar": { "x": 1, "y": 2 }}});
{
    // prefixed `mut` means extracting mutable reference
    let bar: &mut Value = query_value!(mut obj.foo.bar).unwrap();
    *bar = json!({"x": 100, "y": 200});
}
// with `->` syntax, you can cast `Value` as typed value (see below)
assert_eq!(query_value!(obj.foo.bar.x -> u64), Some(100));
assert_eq!(query_value!(obj.foo.bar.y -> u64), Some(200));

Casting & Deserializing to Specified Type

// try to cast the queried value into `u64` using `as_u64()` method on that value.
// results in `None` in case of type mismatch
let foo_u64: Option<u64> = query_value!(obj.foo -> u64);

// in the context of mutable reference extraction (see below), `as_xxx_mut()` method is used instead.
let arr_vec: Option<&mut Vec<Value>> = query_value!(mut obj.arr -> array);

use serde::Deserialize;
use serde_json::json;
use valq::query_value;

#[derive(Deserialize)]
struct Person {
    name: String,
    age: u8,
}

let j = json!({"author": {"name": "jiftechnify", "age": 31}});

// try to deserialize the queried value into a value of type `Person`.
let author: Option<Person> = query_value!(j.author >> (Person));

Unwrapping Query Results with Default Values

use serde_json::json;
use valq::query_value;

let obj = json!({"foo": {"bar": "not a number"}});
assert_eq!(query_value!(obj.foo.bar -> str ?? "failed!"), "not a number");
assert_eq!(query_value!(obj.foo.bar -> u64 ?? 42), 42); // explicitly provided default
assert_eq!(query_value!(obj.foo.bar -> u64 ?? default), 0u64); // using u64::default()

`query_value_result!` macro

A variant of query_value! that returns Result<T, valq::Error> instead of Option<T>.

use serde::Deserialize;
use serde_json::json;
use valq::{query_value_result, Error};

let obj = json!({"foo": {"bar": 42}});

// Error::ValueNotFoundAtPath: querying non-existent path
let result = query_value_result!(obj.foo.baz);
assert!(matches!(result, Err(Error::ValueNotFoundAtPath(_))));

// Error::AsCastFailed: type casting failure
let result = query_value_result!(obj.foo.bar -> str);
assert!(matches!(result, Err(Error::AsCastFailed(_))));

// Error::DeserializationFailed: deserialization failure
let result = query_value_result!(obj.foo >> (Vec<u8>));
assert!(matches!(result, Err(Error::DeserializationFailed(_))));

Helper: `transpose_tuple!` macro

Transposes a tuple of Options/Results into an Option/Result of a tuple. This is meant to be used with query_value!/query_value_result! macros, for "cherry-picking" deep value from data.

use serde_json::json;
use valq::{query_value, transpose_tuple};

let data = json!({"name": "valq", "version": "0.2.0"});

// Combine multiple Option results into Option<tuple>
let picks = transpose_tuple!(
    query_value!(data.name -> str),
    query_value!(data.version -> str),
);
assert_eq!(picks, Some(("valq", "0.2.0")));

// For Result variant, "Result;" prefix is needed
let picks = transpose_tuple!(
    Result;
    query_value_result!(data.name -> str),
    query_value_result!(data.version -> str),
);
assert!(picks.is_ok());

Compatibility

The query_value! macro can be used with arbitrary data structure(to call, Value) that supports get(&self, idx) -> Option<&Value> method that retrieves a value at idx.

Extracting mutable reference is also supported if your Value supports get_mut(&mut self, idx) -> Option<&Value>.

Instances of compatible data structures:

valq 0.3.1