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spotify-json API

The spotify-json API is designed to make it very easy to turn C++ objects into JSON and vice versa. It is not a streaming style API like yajl or SAX, and it is not a DOM-style API that constructs an abstract syntax tree of a JSON document. Instead, it parses directly into, and writes directly from, the C++ objects defined and used by the application.

encode, decode and try_decode

The actual encoding and decoding of JSON is performed by the functions encode, decode and try_decode. They come in a few varieties, for different use cases:

encode

/**
 * Using a specified codec, encode object to an std::string.
 *
 * @throws encode_exception if the JSON encoding fails, e.g., trying to encode
 * a NaN number or a null pointer.
 */
template <typename Codec>
std::string encode(
    const Codec &codec,
    const typename Codec::object_type &object);

/**
 * Using the default_codec<Value>() codec, encode value to an std::string.
 *
 * This function is a shorthand for: encode(default_codec<Value>(), value)
 *
 * @throws encode_exception if the JSON encoding fails, e.g., trying to encode
 * a NaN number or a null pointer.
 */
template <typename Value>
std::string encode(const Value &value);

decode

/**
 * Using a specified codec, decode the JSON in string.
 *
 * @throws decode_exception if the JSON parsing fails.
 * @return The parsed object.
 */
template <typename Codec>
typename Codec::object_type decode(
    const Codec &codec,
    const std::string &string);

/**
 * Using a specified codec, decode the JSON in the C style char array data that
 * is size bytes long (not including a \0 at the end).
 *
 * @throws decode_exception if the JSON parsing fails.
 * @return The parsed object.
 */
template <typename Codec>
typename Codec::object_type decode(
    const Codec &codec,
    const char *data,
    size_t size);

/**
 * Using the default_codec<Value>() codec, decode the JSON in string.
 *
 * @throws decode_exception if the JSON parsing fails.
 * @return The parsed object.
 */
template <typename Value>
Value decode(const std::string &string);

/**
 * Using the default_codec<Value>() codec, decode the JSON in the C style char
 * array data that is size bytes long (not including a \0 at the end).
 *
 * @throws decode_exception if the JSON parsing fails.
 * @return The parsed object.
 */
template <typename Value>
Value decode(const char *data, size_t size);

try_decode

/**
 * Using a specified codec, decode the JSON in string.
 *
 * If the parsing succeeds, the result is assigned to object.
 *
 * @return true if the parsing succeeds.
 */
template <typename Codec>
bool try_decode(
    typename Codec::object_type &object,
    const Codec &codec,
    const std::string &string);

/**
 * Using a specified codec, decode the JSON in the C style char array data that
 * is size bytes long (not including a \0 at the end).
 *
 * If the parsing succeeds, the result is assigned to object.
 *
 * @return true if the parsing succeeds.
 */
template <typename Codec>
bool try_decode(
    typename Codec::object_type &object,
    const Codec &codec,
    const char *data,
    size_t size);

/**
 * Using the default_codec<Value>() codec, decode the JSON in string.
 *
 * If the parsing succeeds, the result is assigned to object.
 *
 * @return true if the parsing succeeds.
 */
template <typename Value>
bool try_decode(Value &object, const std::string &string);

/**
 * Using the default_codec<Value>() codec, decode the JSON in the C style char
 * array data that is size bytes long (not including a \0 at the end).
 *
 * If the parsing succeeds, the result is assigned to object.
 *
 * @return true if the parsing succeeds.
 */
template <typename Value>
bool try_decode(Value &object, const char *data, size_t size);

/**
 * Using a specified codec, decode the JSON in context. Unlike try_decode, this
 * function allows stray characters after the end of the parsed JSON object.
 *
 * If the parsing succeeds, the result is assigned to object.
 *
 * @return true if the parsing succeeds.
 */
template <typename Codec>
bool try_decode_partial(
    typename Codec::object_type &object,
    const Codec &codec,
    const decode_context &context);

decode_exception

Exception that is thrown when encoding fails. For more info, see decode_exception.hpp

encode_exception

Exception that is thrown when serialization fails, for example when serializing a value that has no JSON representation, like NaN floating point numbers. For more info, see encode_exception.hpp

Handling missing, empty, null and invalid values

By default, spotify-json is rather strict in what input it accepts. When parsing an object of a given type, only JSON input with that type is accepted. For example, when spotify-json encounters null when it expects a string, a number or an object it fails the parse.

Furthermore, by default spotify-json always encodes fields of objects, even when they are empty.

This behavior is sometimes not desirable, so spotify-json allows for configuring it:

  • object_t allows the user to declare a field as optional. This allows the parsing to succeed when a field declared for that object is not present. This modifies decoding behavior only.
  • one_of_t makes it possible to permit null or invalid values in the input without affecting serialization. This modifies decoding behavior only.
  • empty_as_t can be used to encode empty values as null (empty_as_null, modifies encoding and decoding behavior) and to omit empty values, for example strings or arrays (empty_as_omit, modifies encoding behavior only).

The codec

The main entity of the spotify-json library is the codec. Like iterators in the C++ STL, there is no codec class that all codecs inherit: codec is a concept. All codecs must expose an object_type typedef and encode and decode methods. The exact interface is specified in codec_interface.hpp.

Codecs are highly composable objects. When using the spotify-json library, you will combine the basic codecs into increasingly complex ones, until it can parse the JSON objects that your application works with. The library defines a number of codecs that are available to the user of the library:

For example, boolean_t is a codec that is capable only of parsing booleans:

// Create a boolean_t codec
const boolean_t bool_codec;
// Parse a boolean
const bool value = decode(bool_codec, "true");
// Attempting to parse something else, for example
//   const bool value = decode(bool_codec, "{}");
// fails with a parse error: boolean_t can *only* parse booleans.

array_t is a more complex codec that is for parsing arrays. It does now know how to parse the elements that the array contains, so its constructor takes a codec, which it uses to parse each element of the array.

The type of array_codec in the example below is array_t<std::vector<bool>, boolean_t>, which is quite a mouthful. codec types often become quite involved. auto and decltype really help when using this library.

const auto array_codec = array<std::vector<bool>>(boolean());
const auto value = decode(array_codec, "[true,false,false]");

Following the same principle, codecs can be combined to form complex combinations:

using my_type = std::map<std::string,std::unique_ptr<std::string>>;
// Construct a codec for a map from string to unique_ptr of strings,
// where, if an unexpected type is encountered in the value of the map,
// it is treated as an empty string instead of failing the parse.
const auto my_codec =
    map<my_type>(unique_ptr(one_of(string(), ignore<std::string>())));
const my_type value = decode(my_codec, R"({ "a": null, "b": "hey" })");

Codecs have value semantics and can be both copied and moved; complex codecs, in particular ones containing one or more object_t, can be relatively expensive to copy.

default_codec_t

In some cases, it is important to specify exactly how to work with the JSON, but in many cases there aren't many options: An std::map<std::string, std::string> has one obvious interpretation in JSON, as does bool and so on.

As a convenience, spotify-json provies an easy way to get a "reasonable default" codec for a given type. It is used as follows:

const auto string_codec = default_codec<std::string>();

const auto array_of_bools_codec = default_codec<std::vector<bool>>();

// The types can be arbitrarily deeply nested:
const auto array_of_map_of_array_of_bools_codec = default_codec<
    std::vector<std::map<std::string, std::deque<bool>>>>();

It is possible to add support for application specific types to default_codec. This is a common pattern and is the recommended way to use spotify-json for the types that don't require customized behavior depending on the usage. For example, in the Spotify client, basic types such as ContextTrack and Context can be encoded using default_codec, while ContextPlayerState, which in certain use cases has to be truncated, has a custom means of getting codec for it.

In order to add support for custom types to default_codec, the template spotify::json::default_codec_t should be specialized. Here is an example of what it usually looks like:

struct Point {
  int x;
  int y;
}

namespace spotify {
namespace json {

template <>
struct default_codec_t<Point> {
  static object_t<Point> codec() {
    auto codec = object<Point>();
    codec.required("x", &Point::x);
    codec.required("y", &Point::y);
    return codec;
  }
};

}  // namespace json
}  // namespace spotify

Codecs

any_codec_t

any_codec_t is a special codec. Its purpose is to erase the type of an underlying codec. This is useful in places where you need to have a codec that encodes and decodes a specific type of objects, but you cannot know exactly what codec will be used.

// A primitive example of the use of any_codec_t:
const string_t string_codec = string();
const eq_t<string_t> strict_codec = eq("x");

// string_t and eq_t<string_t> have separate types, so it's not possible
// to just assign one or the other to another variable. However, both
// string_t and eq_t<string_t> can be turned into any_codec_t<std::string>
// objects, which can then be assigned to a variable of that type.
const any_codec_t<std::string> one_or_the_other = strict ?
    any_codec(strict_codec) : any_codec(string_codec);

The example above is a bit contrived. A more realistic case where use of any_codec_t is required is in pure virtual classes:

class my_interface {
  virtual ~my_interface() = default;

  /**
   * Use this codec to encode and decode the my_interface object.
   */
  virtual any_codec_t<std::shared_ptr<my_interface>> codec() = 0;
}

In the example above, it is impossible to assign a concrete codec type to the return type of my_interface::codec, since the codec for each implementation of my_interface will have a different type.

Usually in spotify-json, there are no virtual method calls. However, any_codec_t introduces one virtual method for each encode and decode call.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::any_codec_t<ObjectType>, where ObjectType is the type of the objects that the codec encodes and decodes.
  • Supported types: ObjectType
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::any_codec(InnerCodec)
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly. Unless you know that you need to use this codec, there probably is no need to do it.

any_value_t

any_value_t is a codec that does not actually decode or encode but instead deals with opaque JSON values, which can later be decoded by someone else.

When decoding, this codec yields a spotify::json::encoded_value_ref, whose data() points to the first character of the value (i.e. { for a JSON object or t for the value true) and whose size() is the size of the entire encoded value string up to and including the last character (i.e. } for a JSON object or e for the value true). The data() points into the original data passed to the code so only keep this value around while you can ensure that the data will outlive the encoded_value_ref. If you need the decoded value to live even when the original JSON has been deleted, store the decoded value in a spotify::json::encoded_value instead (it can be directly assigned from the spotify::json::encoded_value_ref). This should be the default unless you have special performance requirements and want to take on the extra complexity of carefully managing the lifetime of the source JSON data.

This codec is useful as it allows you to defer the decoding of certain parts of your data when decoding. To actually parse the value, use one of the regular spotify::decode functions, passing the encoded_value.

array_t

array_t is a codec for arrays of other values.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::array_t<ArrayType, InnerCodec>, where ArrayType is the type of the array, for example std::vector<int> or std::list<std::string>, and InnerCodec is the type of the codec that's used for the values inside of the array, for example integer_t or string_t.
  • Supported types: The array-like containers in the STL: std::array<T, Size>, std::vector<T>, std::list<T>, std::deque<T>, std::set<T>, std::unordered_set<T>. (When parsing into set types, duplicate values are dropped.)
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::array<T>(InnerCodec), where T is the array type. For example spotify::json::codec::array<std::vector<int>>(integer()) or or spotify::json::codec::array<std::set<int>>(integer()). If no custom inner codec is required, default_codec is more convenient.
  • default_codec support: default_codec<std::array<T, Size>>(), default_codec<std::vector<T>>(), default_codec<std::list<T>>(), default_codec<std::deque<T>>(), default_codec<std::set<T>>(), default_codec<std::unordered_set<T>>()

boolean_t

boolean_t is a codec for bools.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::bool_t
  • Supported types: Only bool
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::boolean()
  • default_codec support: default_codec<bool>()

cast_t

cast_t is a codec that does std::dynamic_pointer_cast on its values. It is a rather specialized codec that is useful mainly together with any_codec_t.

The use of cast_t is not type safe! It is an error to ask a cast_t<T, InnerCodec> codec to encode an object of any other type than InnerCodec::object_type, even if the object is a T. When RTTI is enabled, doing so will throw an std::bad_cast. Otherwise, the behavior is undefined.

Continuing the example given in the documentation for any_codec_t, where there is an interface my_interface like this:

class my_interface {
 public:
  virtual ~my_interface() = default;

  /**
   * Use this codec to encode and decode the my_interface object.
   */
  virtual any_codec_t<std::shared_ptr<my_interface>> codec() = 0;
}

An implementation of this interface might look like:

class my_interface_impl : public my_interface {
 public:
  virtual any_codec_t<std::shared_ptr<my_interface>> codec() override {
    auto codec = object<my_interface_impl>();
    codec.required("value", &my_interface_impl::_value);
    return any_codec(cast<my_interface>(shared_ptr(codec)));
  }

 private:
  int _value;
};

In the code above, the use of cast_t is required because when the user of my_interface asks my_interface_impl's codec to encode an std::shared_ptr<my_interface> that pointer has to be cast down to a std::shared_ptr<my_interface_impl>

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::cast_t<T, InnerCodec>, where T is the type that the cast_t codec exposes, and InnerCodec is the codec that is used for the actual object. When encoding, the T is std::dynamic_pointer_cast to InnerCodec::object_type.
  • Supported types: std::shared_ptr<T>
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::cast<T>(InnerCodec)
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

empty_as_t

By default, spotify-json never encodes empty smart pointers, boost::optional or arrays as null. It also does not accept null when decoding unless it has been explicitly allowed. In many cases, this behavior is fine and expected, but in some cases it is desirable to be more permissive when parsing, or even required to emit null instead of nothing when an object is missing.

empty_as_t is a codec that allows for control over how default constructed (empty) objects are encoded and decoded. It wraps an inner codec, which does most of the heavy lifting, and a "default codec", which is used when the object to be encoded is empty (equal to a default constructed object of that type).

It is most commonly used with the null_t and omit_t codecs, and there are convenience functions for those two cases: empty_as_null and empty_as_omit.

empty_as_null causes empty objects to be encoded as null, and causes null to be parsed to a default constructed object. For example, empty_as_null(default_codec<std::shared_ptr<std::string>>()) is a codec for a shared_ptr<string> that encodes a nullptr shared_ptr to null. Without the empty_as_null wrapper, null would be disallowed both when encoding and when decoding.

const auto codec = empty_as_null(default_codec<std::shared_ptr<std::string>>());
encode(codec, std::shared_ptr<std::string>()) == "null";
encode(codec, std::make_shared<std::string>("abc")) == "\"abc\"";

empty_as_omit causes empty objects to be omitted from the output. For example, empty_as_omit(string()) is a codec that, when embedded in for example an object_t codec, causes the field to be omitted if it's empty. This can be useful for decluttering the JSON if the object has many fields that are usually not set.

struct Val {
  std::string a;
  std::string b;
};

// ...

auto codec = object<Val>();
codec.optional("a", &Val::a);
codec.optional("b", &Val::b, empty_as_omit(string()));

encode(codec, Val()) == "{\"a\":\"\"}";  // no "b"
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::default_t<DefaultCodec, InnerCodec>, where DefaultCodec is the type of the codec that's used for empty values and InnerCodec is the type of the codec that's used otherwise.
  • Supported types: Any default constructible type.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::empty_as_null(inner_codec), spotify::json::codec::empty_as_omit(inner_codec), or spotify::json::codec::empty_as(default_codec, inner_codec) to use any other codec as default codec.
  • default_codec support: default_codec<null_type>()

enumeration_t

enumeration_t is a codec that is capable of encoding and decoding a specific pre-defined set of values. It is useful for enums.

enum class Test {
  A,
  B
};

void useEnumeration() {
  using namespace spotify::json;
  using namespace spotify::json::codec;

  const auto codec = enumeration<Test, std::string>({
      { Test::A, "A" },
      { Test::B, "B" } });
  assert(encode(codec, Test::A) == "\"A\"");
  assert(decode(codec, "\"B\"") == Test::B);
}
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::enumeration_t<OuterObject, InnerCodec>, where InnerCodec is the type of the codec that actually codes the value and OuterObject is the type of objects that the codec exposes, often an enum type.
  • Supported types: Any type.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::enumeration<OuterType>(InnerCodec, ListOfValues), which uses the provided inner codec object with a mapping specified by ListOfValues. For an example please refer to the example above. spotify::json::codec::enumeration<OuterType, InnerType>(ListOfValues), like above but uses default_codec to create the inner codec.
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

eq_t

eq_t is a codec that only supports encoding and decoding one specific value. For example, eq("Hello!") is a codec that will fail unless the input is exactly "Hello!".

The most common use case for the eq_t codec is to enforce that a version field in the JSON object has a specific value. It can be combined with one_of_t to construct a codec that supports parsing more than one version of the object.

struct metadata_response {
  std::string name;
}

namespace spotify {
namespace json {

template <>
struct default_codec_t<metadata_response> {
  static one_of_t<object_t<metadata_response>, object_t<metadata_response>> codec() {
    object_t<metadata_response> codec_v1;
    codec_v1.required("n", &metadata_response::name);

    object_t<metadata_response> codec_v2;
    codec_v2.required("version", eq(2));
    codec_v2.required("name", &metadata_response::name);

    return one_of(codec_v2, codec_v1);
  }
};

}  // namespace json
}  // namespace spotify
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::eq_t<InnerCodec>, where InnerCodec is the type of the codec that actually codes the value.
  • Supported types: Any type that the underlying codec supports.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::eq(InnerCodec, Value), which uses the provided inner codec object, and spotify::json::codec::eq(Value), which uses default_codec<Value>() as the inner codec.
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

ignore_t

ignore_t is a primitive codec that just skips over the input JSON and returns a default constructed object when decoding and that asks to not be encoded. It can be used for requiring an object to be there when the information in it is not relevant.

ignore_t can be used with the one_of_t codec in order to not fail the parse even if the object does not follow the specified schema. The documentation for one_of_t has examples for how to do this.

omit_t is similar to ignore_t. The difference is that ignore_t always succeeds decoding (if the input is valid JSON) and returns a default initialized object always fails decoding, while omit_t always fails decoding.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::ignore_t<T>, where T is the type that is default constructed and returned on decoding.
  • Supported types: Any copyable type.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::ignore<T>(), spotify::json::codec::ignore(value).
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

map_t

map_t is a codec for maps from string to other values. It only supports std::string keys because that's how JSON is specified. The map_t codec is suitable for maps that contain arbitrary string values as keys. When there is a pre-defined set of keys that are interesting and any other keys can be discarded, object_t is more suitable, since it parses the keys directly into a C++ object in a type-safe way.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::map_t<MapType, InnerCodec>, where MapType is the type of the array, for example std::map<std::string, int> or std::unordered_map<std::string, bool>, and InnerCodec is the type of the codec that's used for the values inside of the object, for example integer_t or boolean_t. The key type of MapType must be std::string.
  • Supported types: The map containers in the STL: std::map<std::string, T> and std::unordered_map<std::string, T>. If boost extensions are included, also boost::container::flat_map<std::string, T>
  • Convenience builder: For example spotify::json::codec::map<std::map<std::string, int>>(integer()). If no custom inner codec is required, default_codec is even more convenient.
  • default_codec support: default_codec<std::map<std::string, T>>(), default_codec<std::unordered_map<std::string, T>>().

null_t

null_t is a codec that is only capable of parsing and writing the JSON value null. By default it encodes to and from spotify::json::null_type, which is an empty struct class, but it can be used with other types as well.

The null_t codec can be used with the empty_as_t codec in order to encode nullptr smart pointers or other empty objects (empty boost::optional or even empty arrays) as null in JSON. The documentation for empty_as_t has examples for how to do this.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::null_t<T> where T is the type that is created when the codec successfully decodes a JSON null.
  • Supported types: Any copyable type. spotify::json::null_type is used by default.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::null(), spotify::json::codec::null(value); or spotify::json::codec::null<T>() to use a type other than null_type.
  • default_codec support: default_codec<null_type>()

number_t

number_t is a codec for numbers, both floating point and integers. Like the rest of the spotify-json library, it uses the double-conversion library for parsing and writing of floats, which means numbers don't drift when being serialized and then parsed.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::number_t<T>, where T is an integral or floating point type.
  • Supported types: float, double and integral types such as int and size_t.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::number<T>()
  • default_codec support: default_codec<float>(), default_codec<double>(), default_codec<int>(), default_codec<size_t>() etc.

object_t

object_t is arguably the most important codec in spotify-json. It is the codec that parses and writes JSON to and from specific C++ classes and structs. Unlike the other codecs, object_t codecs aren't created by simply calling a factory function such as string() or number<float>(). Instead, an object_t<T> is created, and then the object is configured for the different fields that exist in T.

For example:

struct Point {
  int x;
  int y;
}

...

auto codec = object<Point>();
codec.required("x", &Point::x);
codec.required("y", &Point::y);

object_t<T> objects have two methods: required and optional. They have the exact same method signature. The difference is that fields that were registered with required are required: When an object is being decoded and a required field is missing from the input, the decoding fails.

For the required and optional methods, the following overloads exist:

  • optional/required("field_name", &Type::member_pointer, codec): Use the given codec for encoding and decoding, and the provided member pointer to get and assign the value. codec may be omitted in which case default_codec<T>() for the type of the member variable is used.
  • optional/required("field_name", &Type::get_value, &Type::set_value, codec): Use the given codec for encoding and decoding and the provided member getter and setter pointers to get/set the value. codec may be omitted in which case default_codec<T>() is used where T is deduced from the getter.
  • optional/required("field_name", getter, setter, codec): Uses a pair of callables that act as a custom getter and setter, respectively. The getter will be called with the object as a single argument and should return the value. The setter will be called with the object as an lvalue for the first argument and the value to set as the second (rvalue) argument. codec may be omitted in which case default_codec<T>() is used where T is deduced from the getter.
  • optional/required("field_name", codec): When decoding, don't save the results anywhere, just make sure that the codec accepts the input. When encoding, use a default constructed value of the given type. This is mainly useful for verification purposes, for example required("version", eq(5))

Calls to optional and required() have no effect when the same "field_name" was already used in a previous call to either method.

Each field that object_t encodes and decodes uses one virtual method call.

When encoding, object_t writes fields in the order that they were registered.

It is possible to use object_t for types that are not default constructible, or when the default constructor does not do the right thing for the use case at hand. For that, pass in a functor that constructs an object for use in decoding.

struct Point {
  Point(int x, int y) : x(x), y(y) {}
  int x;
  int y;
}

...

auto codec = object<Point>([]{ return point(0, 0); });
codec.required("x", &Point::x);
codec.required("y", &Point::y);
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::object_t
  • Supported types: Any movable type.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::object
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

omit_t

omit_t is a primitive codec that cannot decode any value and that asks to not be encoded. It indicates that the object should be omitted from the JSON output. This codec is typically used with the empty_as_t codec. The documentation for empty_as_t has usage examples.

ignore_t is similar to omit_t. The difference is that omit_t always fails decoding, while ignore_t always succeeds decoding (if the input is valid JSON) and returns a default initialized object.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::omit_t<T>, where T is the type that would have been encoded and decoded if the codec actually did code anything.
  • Supported types: Any type.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::omit<T>()
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

one_of_t

one_of_t is a codec that takes one or more inner codecs. When decoding, it tries the inner codecs one by one until one succeeds to decode. For encoding, it always uses the first inner codec.

one_of_t is useful when there are different versions of the JSON format and each version has its own codec. A nice pattern is to use eq_t in the version-specific codecs to enforce that they only parse JSON it understands. An example of that can be found on the documentation for the eq_t codec.

one_of_t can also be used with null_t or ignore_t to make the decoding more permissive:

struct Val {
  std::string require_string;
  std::string allow_null;
  std::string allow_anything;
};

// ...

auto codec = object<Val>();
codec.required("require_string", &Val::require_string);
// If parsing the value as a string fails, try parsing null
codec.required("allow_null", &Val::b, one_of(string(), null<std::string>()));
// If parsing the value as a string fails, try skipping over
// one JSON value in the input and parse as "".
codec.required("allow_anything", &Val::b, one_of(string(), ignore<std::string>()));

const auto val = decode<Val>(
    "{\"require_string\":\"a\",\"allow_null\":null,\"allow_anything\":123}");
val.require_string == "a";
val.allow_null == "";
val.allow_anything == "";
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::one_of_t<Codec...>, where Codec... is a list of the codec types that will be used for encoding and decoding. All provided codec types must have the same object_type. (It is for example illegal to create a one_of_t<string_t, boolean_t>).
  • Supported types: Any type that the underlying codecs support.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::one_of(Codec...)
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

shared_ptr_t

shared_ptr_t is a codec that wraps and unwraps values in a std::shared_ptr. Like the other "container" codecs, it doesn't know how to code what it contains; that is done by a codec inside it.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::shared_ptr_t<InnerCodec>, where InnerCodec is the type of the codec that actually codes the value.
  • Supported types: std::shared_ptr<T>, where T is move or copy constructible.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::shared_ptr(InnerCodec)
  • default_codec support: default_codec<shared_ptr<T>>()

string_t

string_t is a codec for strings. Note that decoding a string does not check whether the string is a valid UTF-8 byte sequence.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::string_t
  • Supported types: Only std::string
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::string()
  • default_codec support: default_codec<std::string>()

unique_ptr_t

unique_ptr_t is a codec that wraps and unwraps values in a std::unique_ptr. Like the other "container" codecs, it doesn't know how to code what it contains; that is done by a codec inside it.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::unique_ptr_t<InnerCodec>, where InnerCodec is the type of the codec that actually codes the value.
  • Supported types: std::unique_ptr<T>, where T is move or copy constructible.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::unique_ptr(InnerCodec)
  • default_codec support: default_codec<unique_ptr<T>>()

transform_t

There are types that spotify-json doesn't have built-in support for that aren't objects that should be encoded as JSON objects (this case is handled by object_t). For these types, transform_t can be used. transform_t codecs are created with a pair of conversion functions: One that transforms an object that is about to be encoded into a type that another encoder can handle, and another that transforms an object that has just been decoded back to the outwards facing type.

This can be used for example when encoding a SHA1 hash which is encoded in JSON as a string.

For example:

struct my_type {
  std::string value;
};

...
// Codec is for my_type C++ objects and encodes/decodes them as JSON strings.
const auto codec = transform(
    [](const my_type &object) {
      return object.value;
    },
    [](const std::string &value) {
      return my_type{ value };
    });
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::transform_t< InnerCodec, EncodeTransform, DecodeTransform>, where InnerCodec is the type of the codec that actually codes the value, EncodeTransform is the type of a function or functor that takes an object of a type (call it T) and returns an InnerCodec::object_type, and DecodeTransform is the type of a function or functor that takes an InnerCodec::object_type and returns a T.
  • Supported types: Any type that is move or copy constructible.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::transform(InnerCodec, EncodeTransform, DecodeTransform), and spotify::json::codec::transform(EncodeTransform, DecodeTransform), which uses the default codec for the inner type.
  • default_codec support: No; the convenience builder must be used explicitly.

tuple_t

tuple_t is a codec for std::pair and std::tuple. It encodes the object as fixed-size JSON arrays. It can be used for JSON arrays where the type of all the objects are not the same.

Examples:

const auto coord = decode<std::tuple<int, int, int>>("[1,3,2]");
struct Command {
  // ...
};

const auto command_with_sequence_number =
    decode<std::pair<size_t, Command>>("[1337,{}]");
struct Point {
  Point() = default;
  Point(int x, int y) : x(x), y(y) {}

  int x = 0;
  int y = 0;
};

auto codec = transform(
    pair(number<int>(), number<int>()),
    [](const Point &p) { return make_pair(p.x, p.y); },
    [](const std::pair<int, int> &p) { return Point(p.first, p.second); });

const auto point = decode(codec, "[1,3]");
  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::tuple_t< T, Codec...>, where T is the type of the encoded pair or tuple, Codec... is a list of the codec types that will be used for encoding and decoding.
  • Supported types: std::pair and std::tuple
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::pair(CodecA, CodecB) and spotify::json::codec::tuple(Codec...).
  • default_codec support: default_codec<std::pair<A, B>>() and default_codec<std::tuple<T...>>()

optional_t

optional_t is a codec for strings for boost::optional<T>. Uninitialized values (equivalent to boost::none) are not encoded at all (should_encode() returns false). To encode boost::none as null, use the empty_as_t codec, e.g., spotify::json::empty_as_null().

This codec is in header <spotify/json/boost.hpp>.

  • Complete class name: spotify::json::codec::optional_t
  • Supported types: std::optional<T>
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::optional
  • default_codec support: default_codec<boost::optional<T>>()

chrono

spotify-json provides support for duration and time_point types of std::chrono and boost::chrono. They are implemented using transform_t, so they don't have *_t classes like many of the other codecs.

For boost::chrono, include header <spotify/json/boost.hpp>.

  • Complete class name: N/A. See above.
  • Supported types: All std::chrono::duration, std::chrono::time_point, boost::chrono::duration and boost::chrono::time_point types, including std::chrono::system_clock::duration, std::chrono::system_clock::time_point etc.
  • Convenience builder: spotify::json::codec::duration<Duration>() and spotify::json::codec::time_point<TimePoint>()
  • default_codec support: default_codec<std::chrono::duration<Rep, Period>>(), default_codec<boost::chrono::duration<Rep, Period>>(), default_codec<std::chrono::time_point<Clock, Duration>>(), default_codec<boost::chrono::time_point<Clock, Duration>>()