… | |
… | |
26 | substr $many_cbor_strings, 0, $length, ""; # remove decoded cbor string |
26 | substr $many_cbor_strings, 0, $length, ""; # remove decoded cbor string |
27 | } |
27 | } |
28 | |
28 | |
29 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
29 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
30 | |
30 | |
31 | WARNING! THIS IS A PRE-ALPHA RELEASE! IT WILL CRASH, CORRUPT YOUR DATA |
31 | WARNING! This module is very new, and not very well tested (that's up to |
32 | AND EAT YOUR CHILDREN! (Actually, apart from being untested and a bit |
32 | you to do). Furthermore, details of the implementation might change freely |
33 | feature-limited, it might already be useful). |
33 | before version 1.0. And lastly, the object serialisation protocol depends |
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34 | on a pending IANA assignment, and until that assignment is official, this |
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35 | implementation is not interoperable with other implementations (even |
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36 | future versions of this module) until the assignment is done. |
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37 | |
|
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38 | You are still invited to try out CBOR, and this module. |
34 | |
39 | |
35 | This module converts Perl data structures to the Concise Binary Object |
40 | This module converts Perl data structures to the Concise Binary Object |
36 | Representation (CBOR) and vice versa. CBOR is a fast binary serialisation |
41 | Representation (CBOR) and vice versa. CBOR is a fast binary serialisation |
37 | format that aims to use a superset of the JSON data model, i.e. when you |
42 | format that aims to use a superset of the JSON data model, i.e. when you |
38 | can represent something in JSON, you should be able to represent it in |
43 | can represent something in JSON, you should be able to represent it in |
39 | CBOR. |
44 | CBOR. |
40 | |
45 | |
41 | This makes it a faster and more compact binary alternative to JSON, with |
46 | In short, CBOR is a faster and very compact binary alternative to JSON, |
42 | the added ability of supporting serialising of perl objects. |
47 | with the added ability of supporting serialisation of Perl objects. (JSON |
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48 | often compresses better than CBOR though, so if you plan to compress the |
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49 | data later you might want to compare both formats first). |
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50 | |
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51 | To give you a general idea about speed, with texts in the megabyte range, |
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52 | C<CBOR::XS> usually encodes roughly twice as fast as L<Storable> or |
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53 | L<JSON::XS> and decodes about 15%-30% faster than those. The shorter the |
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54 | data, the worse L<Storable> performs in comparison. |
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55 | |
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56 | As for compactness, C<CBOR::XS> encoded data structures are usually about |
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57 | 20% smaller than the same data encoded as (compact) JSON or L<Storable>. |
43 | |
58 | |
44 | The primary goal of this module is to be I<correct> and the secondary goal |
59 | The primary goal of this module is to be I<correct> and the secondary goal |
45 | is to be I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. |
60 | is to be I<fast>. To reach the latter goal it was written in C. |
46 | |
61 | |
47 | See MAPPING, below, on how CBOR::XS maps perl values to CBOR values and |
62 | See MAPPING, below, on how CBOR::XS maps perl values to CBOR values and |
… | |
… | |
51 | |
66 | |
52 | package CBOR::XS; |
67 | package CBOR::XS; |
53 | |
68 | |
54 | use common::sense; |
69 | use common::sense; |
55 | |
70 | |
56 | our $VERSION = 0.03; |
71 | our $VERSION = 0.08; |
57 | our @ISA = qw(Exporter); |
72 | our @ISA = qw(Exporter); |
58 | |
73 | |
59 | our @EXPORT = qw(encode_cbor decode_cbor); |
74 | our @EXPORT = qw(encode_cbor decode_cbor); |
60 | |
75 | |
61 | use Exporter; |
76 | use Exporter; |
… | |
… | |
221 | C<1> and C<0> (for true and false) or to throw an exception on access (for |
236 | C<1> and C<0> (for true and false) or to throw an exception on access (for |
222 | error). See the L<Types::Serialiser> manpage for details. |
237 | error). See the L<Types::Serialiser> manpage for details. |
223 | |
238 | |
224 | =item CBOR tag 256 (perl object) |
239 | =item CBOR tag 256 (perl object) |
225 | |
240 | |
226 | The tag value C<256> (TODO: pending iana registration) will be used to |
241 | The tag value C<256> (TODO: pending iana registration) will be used |
227 | deserialise a Perl object. |
242 | to deserialise a Perl object serialised with C<FREEZE>. See L<OBJECT |
228 | |
243 | SERIALISATION>, below, for details. |
229 | TODO For this to work, the class must be loaded and must have a |
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230 | C<FROM_CBOR> method. The decoder will then call the C<FROM_CBOR> method |
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231 | with the constructor arguments provided by the C<TO_CBOR> method (see |
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232 | below). |
|
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233 | |
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234 | The C<FROM_CBOR> method must return a single value that will then be used |
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235 | as the deserialised value. |
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236 | |
244 | |
237 | =item CBOR tag 55799 (magic header) |
245 | =item CBOR tag 55799 (magic header) |
238 | |
246 | |
239 | The tag 55799 is ignored (this tag implements the magic header). |
247 | The tag 55799 is ignored (this tag implements the magic header). |
240 | |
248 | |
… | |
… | |
283 | C<1>, which get turned into false and true in CBOR. |
291 | C<1>, which get turned into false and true in CBOR. |
284 | |
292 | |
285 | =item CBOR::XS::Tagged objects |
293 | =item CBOR::XS::Tagged objects |
286 | |
294 | |
287 | Objects of this type must be arrays consisting of a single C<[tag, value]> |
295 | Objects of this type must be arrays consisting of a single C<[tag, value]> |
288 | pair. The (numerical) tag will be encoded as a CBOR tag, the value will be |
296 | pair. The (numerical) tag will be encoded as a CBOR tag, the value will |
289 | encoded as appropriate for the value. |
297 | be encoded as appropriate for the value. You cna use C<CBOR::XS::tag> to |
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298 | create such objects. |
290 | |
299 | |
291 | =item Types::Serialiser::true, Types::Serialiser::false, Types::Serialiser::error |
300 | =item Types::Serialiser::true, Types::Serialiser::false, Types::Serialiser::error |
292 | |
301 | |
293 | These special values become CBOR true, CBOR false and CBOR undefined |
302 | These special values become CBOR true, CBOR false and CBOR undefined |
294 | values, respectively. You can also use C<\1>, C<\0> and C<\undef> directly |
303 | values, respectively. You can also use C<\1>, C<\0> and C<\undef> directly |
295 | if you want. |
304 | if you want. |
296 | |
305 | |
297 | =item blessed objects |
306 | =item other blessed objects |
298 | |
307 | |
299 | Other blessed objects currently need to have a C<TO_CBOR> method. It |
308 | Other blessed objects are serialised via C<TO_CBOR> or C<FREEZE>. See |
300 | will be called on every object that is being serialised, and must return |
309 | L<OBJECT SERIALISATION>, below, for details. |
301 | something that can be encoded in CBOR. |
|
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302 | |
310 | |
303 | =item simple scalars |
311 | =item simple scalars |
304 | |
312 | |
305 | TODO |
313 | TODO |
306 | Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most |
314 | Simple Perl scalars (any scalar that is not a reference) are the most |
… | |
… | |
344 | represent numerical values are supported, but might suffer loss of |
352 | represent numerical values are supported, but might suffer loss of |
345 | precision. |
353 | precision. |
346 | |
354 | |
347 | =back |
355 | =back |
348 | |
356 | |
|
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357 | =head2 OBJECT SERIALISATION |
349 | |
358 | |
|
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359 | This module knows two way to serialise a Perl object: The CBOR-specific |
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360 | way, and the generic way. |
|
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361 | |
|
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362 | Whenever the encoder encounters a Perl object that it cnanot serialise |
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363 | directly (most of them), it will first look up the C<TO_CBOR> method on |
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364 | it. |
|
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365 | |
|
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366 | If it has a C<TO_CBOR> method, it will call it with the object as only |
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367 | argument, and expects exactly one return value, which it will then |
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368 | substitute and encode it in the place of the object. |
|
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369 | |
|
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370 | Otherwise, it will look up the C<FREEZE> method. If it exists, it will |
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371 | call it with the object as first argument, and the constant string C<CBOR> |
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372 | as the second argument, to distinguish it from other serialisers. |
|
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373 | |
|
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374 | The C<FREEZE> method can return any number of values (i.e. zero or |
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375 | more). These will be encoded as CBOR perl object, together with the |
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376 | classname. |
|
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377 | |
|
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378 | If an object supports neither C<TO_CBOR> nor C<FREEZE>, encoding will fail |
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379 | with an error. |
|
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380 | |
|
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381 | Objects encoded via C<TO_CBOR> cannot be automatically decoded, but |
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382 | objects encoded via C<FREEZE> can be decoded using the following protocol: |
|
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383 | |
|
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384 | When an encoded CBOR perl object is encountered by the decoder, it will |
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385 | look up the C<THAW> method, by using the stored classname, and will fail |
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386 | if the method cannot be found. |
|
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387 | |
|
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388 | After the lookup it will call the C<THAW> method with the stored classname |
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389 | as first argument, the constant string C<CBOR> as second argument, and all |
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390 | values returned by C<FREEZE> as remaining arguments. |
|
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391 | |
|
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392 | =head4 EXAMPLES |
|
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393 | |
|
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394 | Here is an example C<TO_CBOR> method: |
|
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395 | |
|
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396 | sub My::Object::TO_CBOR { |
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397 | my ($obj) = @_; |
|
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398 | |
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399 | ["this is a serialised My::Object object", $obj->{id}] |
|
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400 | } |
|
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401 | |
|
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402 | When a C<My::Object> is encoded to CBOR, it will instead encode a simple |
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403 | array with two members: a string, and the "object id". Decoding this CBOR |
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404 | string will yield a normal perl array reference in place of the object. |
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405 | |
|
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406 | A more useful and practical example would be a serialisation method for |
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407 | the URI module. CBOR has a custom tag value for URIs, namely 32: |
|
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408 | |
|
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409 | sub URI::TO_CBOR { |
|
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410 | my ($self) = @_; |
|
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411 | my $uri = "$self"; # stringify uri |
|
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412 | utf8::upgrade $uri; # make sure it will be encoded as UTF-8 string |
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413 | CBOR::XS::tagged 32, "$_[0]" |
|
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414 | } |
|
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415 | |
|
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416 | This will encode URIs as a UTF-8 string with tag 32, which indicates an |
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417 | URI. |
|
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418 | |
|
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419 | Decoding such an URI will not (currently) give you an URI object, but |
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420 | instead a CBOR::XS::Tagged object with tag number 32 and the string - |
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421 | exactly what was returned by C<TO_CBOR>. |
|
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422 | |
|
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423 | To serialise an object so it can automatically be deserialised, you need |
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424 | to use C<FREEZE> and C<THAW>. To take the URI module as example, this |
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425 | would be a possible implementation: |
|
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426 | |
|
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427 | sub URI::FREEZE { |
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428 | my ($self, $serialiser) = @_; |
|
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429 | "$self" # encode url string |
|
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430 | } |
|
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431 | |
|
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432 | sub URI::THAW { |
|
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433 | my ($class, $serialiser, $uri) = @_; |
|
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434 | |
|
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435 | $class->new ($uri) |
|
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436 | } |
|
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437 | |
|
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438 | Unlike C<TO_CBOR>, multiple values can be returned by C<FREEZE>. For |
|
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439 | example, a C<FREEZE> method that returns "type", "id" and "variant" values |
|
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440 | would cause an invocation of C<THAW> with 5 arguments: |
|
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441 | |
|
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442 | sub My::Object::FREEZE { |
|
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443 | my ($self, $serialiser) = @_; |
|
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444 | |
|
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445 | ($self->{type}, $self->{id}, $self->{variant}) |
|
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446 | } |
|
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447 | |
|
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448 | sub My::Object::THAW { |
|
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449 | my ($class, $serialiser, $type, $id, $variant) = @_; |
|
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450 | |
|
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451 | $class-<new (type => $type, id => $id, variant => $variant) |
|
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452 | } |
|
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453 | |
|
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454 | |
350 | =head2 MAGIC HEADER |
455 | =head1 MAGIC HEADER |
351 | |
456 | |
352 | There is no way to distinguish CBOR from other formats |
457 | There is no way to distinguish CBOR from other formats |
353 | programmatically. To make it easier to distinguish CBOR from other |
458 | programmatically. To make it easier to distinguish CBOR from other |
354 | formats, the CBOR specification has a special "magic string" that can be |
459 | formats, the CBOR specification has a special "magic string" that can be |
355 | prepended to any CBOR string without changing it's meaning. |
460 | prepended to any CBOR string without changing it's meaning. |
… | |
… | |
358 | prepend this string tot he CBOR data it generates, but it will ignroe it |
463 | prepend this string tot he CBOR data it generates, but it will ignroe it |
359 | if present, so users can prepend this string as a "file type" indicator as |
464 | if present, so users can prepend this string as a "file type" indicator as |
360 | required. |
465 | required. |
361 | |
466 | |
362 | |
467 | |
|
|
468 | =head1 THE CBOR::XS::Tagged CLASS |
|
|
469 | |
|
|
470 | CBOR has the concept of tagged values - any CBOR value can be tagged with |
|
|
471 | a numeric 64 bit number, which are centrally administered. |
|
|
472 | |
|
|
473 | C<CBOR::XS> handles a few tags internally when en- or decoding. You can |
|
|
474 | also create tags yourself by encoding C<CBOR::XS::Tagged> objects, and the |
|
|
475 | decoder will create C<CBOR::XS::Tagged> objects itself when it hits an |
|
|
476 | unknown tag. |
|
|
477 | |
|
|
478 | These objects are simply blessed array references - the first member of |
|
|
479 | the array being the numerical tag, the second being the value. |
|
|
480 | |
|
|
481 | You can interact with C<CBOR::XS::Tagged> objects in the following ways: |
|
|
482 | |
|
|
483 | =over 4 |
|
|
484 | |
|
|
485 | =item $tagged = CBOR::XS::tag $tag, $value |
|
|
486 | |
|
|
487 | This function(!) creates a new C<CBOR::XS::Tagged> object using the given |
|
|
488 | C<$tag> (0..2**64-1) to tag the given C<$value> (which can be any Perl |
|
|
489 | value that can be encoded in CBOR, including serialisable Perl objects and |
|
|
490 | C<CBOR::XS::Tagged> objects). |
|
|
491 | |
|
|
492 | =item $tagged->[0] |
|
|
493 | |
|
|
494 | =item $tagged->[0] = $new_tag |
|
|
495 | |
|
|
496 | =item $tag = $tagged->tag |
|
|
497 | |
|
|
498 | =item $new_tag = $tagged->tag ($new_tag) |
|
|
499 | |
|
|
500 | Access/mutate the tag. |
|
|
501 | |
|
|
502 | =item $tagged->[1] |
|
|
503 | |
|
|
504 | =item $tagged->[1] = $new_value |
|
|
505 | |
|
|
506 | =item $value = $tagged->value |
|
|
507 | |
|
|
508 | =item $new_value = $tagged->value ($new_value) |
|
|
509 | |
|
|
510 | Access/mutate the tagged value. |
|
|
511 | |
|
|
512 | =back |
|
|
513 | |
|
|
514 | =cut |
|
|
515 | |
|
|
516 | sub tag($$) { |
|
|
517 | bless [@_], CBOR::XS::Tagged::; |
|
|
518 | } |
|
|
519 | |
|
|
520 | sub CBOR::XS::Tagged::tag { |
|
|
521 | $_[0][0] = $_[1] if $#_; |
|
|
522 | $_[0][0] |
|
|
523 | } |
|
|
524 | |
|
|
525 | sub CBOR::XS::Tagged::value { |
|
|
526 | $_[0][1] = $_[1] if $#_; |
|
|
527 | $_[0][1] |
|
|
528 | } |
|
|
529 | |
|
|
530 | =head2 EXAMPLES |
|
|
531 | |
|
|
532 | Here are some examples of C<CBOR::XS::Tagged> uses to tag objects. |
|
|
533 | |
|
|
534 | You can look up CBOR tag value and emanings in the IANA registry at |
|
|
535 | L<http://www.iana.org/assignments/cbor-tags/cbor-tags.xhtml>. |
|
|
536 | |
|
|
537 | Prepend a magic header (C<$CBOR::XS::MAGIC>): |
|
|
538 | |
|
|
539 | my $cbor = encode_cbor CBOR::XS::tag 55799, $value; |
|
|
540 | # same as: |
|
|
541 | my $cbor = $CBOR::XS::MAGIC . encode_cbor $value; |
|
|
542 | |
|
|
543 | Serialise some URIs and a regex in an array: |
|
|
544 | |
|
|
545 | my $cbor = encode_cbor [ |
|
|
546 | (CBOR::XS::tag 32, "http://www.nethype.de/"), |
|
|
547 | (CBOR::XS::tag 32, "http://software.schmorp.de/"), |
|
|
548 | (CBOR::XS::tag 35, "^[Pp][Ee][Rr][lL]\$"), |
|
|
549 | ]; |
|
|
550 | |
|
|
551 | Wrap CBOR data in CBOR: |
|
|
552 | |
|
|
553 | my $cbor_cbor = encode_cbor |
|
|
554 | CBOR::XS::tag 24, |
|
|
555 | encode_cbor [1, 2, 3]; |
|
|
556 | |
363 | =head2 CBOR and JSON |
557 | =head1 CBOR and JSON |
364 | |
558 | |
365 | CBOR is supposed to implement a superset of the JSON data model, and is, |
559 | CBOR is supposed to implement a superset of the JSON data model, and is, |
366 | with some coercion, able to represent all JSON texts (something that other |
560 | with some coercion, able to represent all JSON texts (something that other |
367 | "binary JSON" formats such as BSON generally do not support). |
561 | "binary JSON" formats such as BSON generally do not support). |
368 | |
562 | |