[][src]Crate zvariant

This crate provides API for encoding/decoding of data to/from D-Bus wire format. This binary wire format is simple and very efficient and hence useful outside of D-Bus context as well. A slightly modified form of this format, GVariant is also very common and will be supported by a future version of this crate.

The core traits are Encode and Decode, for (surprise surprise) encoding and decoding of data. All data types that can be encoded to wire-format, implement these traits. As decoding require allocation, one exception here is &str. It only implements Encode, while its owned sibling, String implements both traits.

All data types have a signature, which is a string denoting the type in question. These data types are divided into two groups, basic and container. Most of the basic types match 1-1 with all the primitive Rust types. The only two exceptions being, Signature and ObjectPath, which are really just strings. The marker trait, Basic, is implemented by all the basic types, except f64. There is also SimpleDecode trait, which is for types (mostly basic) whose signature is always the same.

For container types, we provide custom data types:

  • Array: An unordered collection of items of the same type. API is provided to transform this into, and from a Vec.
  • Structure: An ordered collection of items of arbitrary types.
  • DictEntry: A dictionary entry as a key-value pair. The key must be a basic type.
  • Dict: A dictionary as an Array of DictEntry. API is provided to transform this into, and from a HashMap.
  • Variant: A generic container, in the form of an enum that holds exactly one value of any of the other types.

Examples

Here are some simple encoding and decoding examples:

use zvariant::{Encode, EncodingFormat, SimpleDecode};

// Encode a string
let format = EncodingFormat::default();
let encoding = "Hello world!".encode(format);
assert!(encoding.len() == 17);

// and the decode it from the encoded form
let s = String::decode_simple(encoding, format).unwrap();
assert!(s == "Hello world!");
use zvariant::{Decode, Encode, EncodingFormat, Variant};

// Create a Variant from an i16
let v = i16::max_value().to_variant();
assert!(*i16::from_variant(&v).unwrap() == i16::max_value());
assert!(i16::is(&v));

// Encode it
let format = EncodingFormat::default();
let encoding = v.encode_value(format);
assert!(encoding.len() == 2);

// Decode it back
let v = Variant::from_data(encoding, v.value_signature(), format).unwrap();
assert!(i16::take_from_variant(v).unwrap() == i16::max_value());

And a complex example:

use core::convert::TryFrom;
use std::collections::HashMap;
use zvariant::{Array, Decode, Dict, Encode, EncodingFormat, Structure};

// We chould directly create an Array of DictEntry too
let mut map: HashMap<i64, &str> = HashMap::new();
map.insert(1, "123");
map.insert(2, "456");
let dict: Dict = map.into();
let array = Array::try_from(dict).unwrap();

// Create our not-so-simple structure
let s = Structure::new()
    .add_field(u8::max_value())
    .add_field(u32::max_value())
    .add_field(
        Structure::new()
        .add_field(i64::max_value())
        .add_field(true)
        .add_field(
            Structure::new()
            .add_field(i64::max_value())
            .add_field(std::f64::MAX),
        ),
    )
    .add_field("hello")
    .add_field(array);

// Encode the structure
let format = EncodingFormat::default();
let encoding = s.encode(format);
// The HashMap is unordered so we can't rely on items to be in a specific order during the
// transformation to Vec, and size depends on the order of items because of padding rules.
assert!(encoding.len() == 88 || encoding.len() == 92);

// Then we decode the structure from the encoded value
let s = Structure::decode(encoding, s.signature(), format).unwrap();
assert!(s.signature() == "(yu(xb(xd))sa{xs})");

// Check all the fields are as expected
let fields = s.fields();
assert!(u8::is(&fields[0]));
assert!(*u8::from_variant(&fields[0]).unwrap() == u8::max_value());
assert!(u32::is(&fields[1]));
assert!(*u32::from_variant(&fields[1]).unwrap() == u32::max_value());

assert!(Structure::is(&fields[2]));
let inner = Structure::from_variant(&fields[2]).unwrap();
let inner_fields = inner.fields();
assert!(i64::is(&inner_fields[0]));
assert!(*i64::from_variant(&inner_fields[0]).unwrap() == i64::max_value());
assert!(bool::is(&inner_fields[1]));
assert!(*bool::from_variant(&inner_fields[1]).unwrap());

assert!(String::is(&fields[3]));
assert!(String::from_variant(&fields[3]).unwrap() == "hello");

Structs

Array

An unordered collection of items of the same type.

Dict

A dictionary as an Array of DictEntry.

DictEntry

A dictionary entry as a key-value pair.

ObjectPath

String that identifies objects at a given destination on the D-Bus bus.

SharedData

Immutable slice of an underlying byte buffer.

Signature

String that identifies the type of an encoded value.

Structure

An ordered collection of items of arbitrary types.

Enums

EncodingFormat

The encoding format.

Variant

A generic container, in the form of an enum that holds exactly one value of any of the other types.

VariantError

Traits

Basic

Marker trait for basic types.

Decode

Trait for decoding of varius types from encoded form.

Encode

Trait for encoding of varius types.

SimpleDecode

Simpler sibling of Decode.