NanoPb C++

Extends C++ support for the nanopb and protobuf.

Project is designed to map structures generated by nanopb and C++ models for easy encoding/decode complicated types like variable-length strings, arrays, maps, oneof(union) messages, etc.

Features

• Written to support C++ 11 standard.
• One-line call encode/decode for complicated messages.
• Reusable converters for inner messages.
• Template-based classes with static methods for converters.

Supported scalar types:

All scalar types are defined in NanoPb::Type namespace.

Base scalar types:

• Int32
• SInt32
• UInt32
• Fixed32
• SFixed32
• Float
• Bool
• String
• Bytes

64 bit scalar types, supported only if definition PB_WITHOUT_64BIT was not set:

• Int64
• SInt64
• UInt64
• Fixed64
• SFixed64
• Double

Converters

Base converter classes:

• CallbackConverter - Converter for callback fields.

  TODO: describe

• EnumConverter - Converter for enum

  TODO: describe

• MessageConverter - Converter for message.

  TODO: describe

Helper converters:

• UnionMessageConverter - Converter for union (oneof) messages. Derived from MessageConverter.

Scalar converters:

All scalar converters are derived from CallbackConverter class.

Base scalar converters:

• Int32Converter
• SInt32Converter
• UInt32Converter
• Fixed32Converter
• SFixed32Converter
• FloatConverter
• BoolConverter
• StringConverter
• BytesConverter

64 bit scalar types, supported only if definition PB_WITHOUT_64BIT was not set:

• Int64Converter
• SInt64Converter
• UInt64Converter
• Fixed64Converter
• SFixed64Converter
• DoubleConverter

Container converters:

All container converters are derived from CallbackConverter class.

• ArrayConverter - Array converter for std::vector<xxx> or std::list<xxx>.
• MapConverter - Map with any type of the key and value.

CMake install

• Use add subdirectory() or CPMAddPackage() from CPM to add nanopb_cpp to your CMake project.
• Set NANOPB_VERSION cmake variable to use custom nanopb version/git tag.
• nanopb will be downloaded via CPM. Set CPM_lib_nanopb_SOURCE cmake variable to use your own nanopb location if you want to skip download.
• Use target_link_libraries(YOUR_TARGET nanopb_cpp) to add dependency.

CPM example:

set(NANOPB_CPP_VERSION master)
CPMAddPackage(NAME lib_nanopb_cpp GITHUB_REPOSITORY nanopb/nanopb_cpp GIT_TAG ${NANOPB_CPP_VERSION})

NOTE: You can add DOWNLOAD_ONLY YES to CPMAddPackage() to prevent calling add_subdirectory(). Project will be just downloaded in this case and you should add sources to your target manually.

Manual install

• Install nanopb. Generate code from it.
• Add nanopb_cpp.cpp to your project sources.

PlatformIO install

PlatformIO package: https://registry.platformio.org/packages/libraries/nanopb/Nanopb_Cpp

Usage

• Use #include nanopb_cpp.h in your code.
• Define C++ class/struct for each protobuf message generated by nanopb.
• Define converter for each local/protobuf structs, inherit from MessageConverter.
• Define callback converters for callback fields, inherit from CallbackConverter.
• Use other converters depending on your protobuf structures.

Examples

• See examples folder for the examples.
• See tests folder. (NOTE: copy constructors are disabled just for test reasons. You don't need to disable them actually.)

Basic string example:

Protobuf:

syntax = "proto3";

package PROTO;

message TestMessage {
  string str = 1;
}

C++ local model:

struct TestMessage {
    std::string str;

    TestMessage() = default;
    TestMessage(const TestMessage&) = delete;
    TestMessage(TestMessage&&) = default;
};

Converter:

using namespace NanoPb::Converter;

class TestMessageConverter : public MessageConverter<
        TestMessageConverter,
        TestMessage,
        PROTO_TestMessage,
        &PROTO_TestMessage_msg>
{
public:
    static ProtoType encoderInit(const LocalType& local) {
        return ProtoType{
                .str = StringConverter::encoderCallbackInit(local.str)
        };
    }

    static ProtoType decoderInit(LocalType& local){
        return ProtoType{
                .str = StringConverter::decoderCallbackInit(local.str)
        };
    }

    static bool decoderApply(const ProtoType& proto, LocalType& local){
        return true;
    }
};

Usage:

const TestMessage original(
        {"My super string"}
        );

// Define output stream. 
NanoPb::StringOutputStream outputStream;

// Encode
if (!NanoPb::encode<TestMessageConverter>(outputStream, original)){
    // encode error
}

// Define input stream
auto inputStream = NanoPb::StringInputStream(outputStream.release());

TestMessage decoded;

/// Decode message
if (!NanoPb::decode<TestMessageConverter>(inputStream, decoded)){
    // decode error
}

Limitations

• All C++ classes should have default constructor
• All C++ classes should have copy constructor or move constructor
• ArrayConverter can't work with std::vector<bool>, because it has specific implementation which is not compatible with standard behavior.