C++ Serialization Code Generator in Python.
Generates Classes capable of Serialization/Deserialization using std::istream& and std::ostream&, see membuf.h to stream directly into a char array.
Will not work if you serialize and deserialize from little/big endian to big/little endian.
Simply run with python packet-gen.py <input file name> <client output file name> <server output file name> or python packet-gen.py --single <input file name> <client output file name>. see lower for details about the client/server mode vs the single mode.
For a full example, see example-definition.txt. So far, the only base cases supported are primitives defined in constants.py and arrays (transpiled into vectors).
Players
players
Player[]
Player
id
u16
name
str
friends
str[]
pos
PlayerPosition
...
The current version generates 2 headers by default since my use case is for serialization & deserialization of packets sent over TCP, see this repo for an integrated prototype with boost::asio::ip::tcp, a server and multiple client threads. The clients and server get different files because some packets are read only or write only from their point of view. Using C2S or S2C in the packet names to signify Client to Server or Server to Client, one can further specify how the classes will be generated.
A typed subscription system through a dispatcher is also generated, when deserializing, you always need to know what you are reading, so there are built-in functionalities for writing the length and type of each packet into the stream. The packet length is only to be trusted by the creator to know how many bytes to ask the socket to send. When receiving a packet, first read the length as the first 2 bytes of the message, then read bytes as the message and call Dispatcher::dispatch(...). The server and client differ on this point, the server requires an extra parameter for dispatching which is which Sender& is responsible for sending this packet. It is highly recommended checking out the repo mentionned above to understand how it integrates with the application, how to send and receive typed objects.
- Calculating the size of a packet before streaming it, allowing for allocating precisely the required array size.