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Revision 1.92 by root, Fri Mar 21 21:47:43 2008 UTC vs.
Revision 1.100 by root, Sun Mar 30 09:27:16 2008 UTC

103 103
104package JSON::XS; 104package JSON::XS;
105 105
106use strict; 106use strict;
107 107
108our $VERSION = '2.1'; 108our $VERSION = '2.2';
109our @ISA = qw(Exporter); 109our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
110 110
111our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json); 111our @EXPORT = qw(encode_json decode_json to_json from_json);
112 112
113sub to_json($) { 113sub to_json($) {
462Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>, 462Example, encode a Perl scalar as JSON value with enabled C<allow_nonref>,
463resulting in an invalid JSON text: 463resulting in an invalid JSON text:
464 464
465 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!") 465 JSON::XS->new->allow_nonref->encode ("Hello, World!")
466 => "Hello, World!" 466 => "Hello, World!"
467
468=item $json = $json->allow_unknown ([$enable])
469
470=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_unknown
471
472If C<$enable> is true (or missing), then C<encode> will I<not> throw an
473exception when it encounters values it cannot represent in JSON (for
474example, filehandles) but instead will encode a JSON C<null> value. Note
475that blessed objects are not included here and are handled separately by
476c<allow_nonref>.
477
478If C<$enable> is false (the default), then C<encode> will throw an
479exception when it encounters anything it cannot encode as JSON.
480
481This option does not affect C<decode> in any way, and it is recommended to
482leave it off unless you know your communications partner.
467 483
468=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable]) 484=item $json = $json->allow_blessed ([$enable])
469 485
470=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed 486=item $enabled = $json->get_allow_blessed
471 487
681 => ([], 3) 697 => ([], 3)
682 698
683=back 699=back
684 700
685 701
702=head1 INCREMENTAL PARSING
703
704[This section and the API it details is still EXPERIMENTAL]
705
706In some cases, there is the need for incremental parsing of JSON
707texts. While this module always has to keep both JSON text and resulting
708Perl data structure in memory at one time, it does allow you to parse a
709JSON stream incrementally. It does so by accumulating text until it has
710a full JSON object, which it then can decode. This process is similar to
711using C<decode_prefix> to see if a full JSON object is available, but is
712much more efficient (JSON::XS will only attempt to parse the JSON text
713once it is sure it has enough text to get a decisive result, using a very
714simple but truly incremental parser).
715
716The following two methods deal with this.
717
718=over 4
719
720=item [void, scalar or list context] = $json->incr_parse ([$string])
721
722This is the central parsing function. It can both append new text and
723extract objects from the stream accumulated so far (both of these
724functions are optional).
725
726If C<$string> is given, then this string is appended to the already
727existing JSON fragment stored in the C<$json> object.
728
729After that, if the function is called in void context, it will simply
730return without doing anything further. This can be used to add more text
731in as many chunks as you want.
732
733If the method is called in scalar context, then it will try to extract
734exactly I<one> JSON object. If that is successful, it will return this
735object, otherwise it will return C<undef>. If there is a parse error,
736this method will croak just as C<decode> would do (one can then use
737C<incr_skip> to skip the errornous part). This is the most common way of
738using the method.
739
740And finally, in list context, it will try to extract as many objects
741from the stream as it can find and return them, or the empty list
742otherwise. For this to work, there must be no separators between the JSON
743objects or arrays, instead they must be concatenated back-to-back. If
744an error occurs, an exception will be raised as in the scalar context
745case. Note that in this case, any previously-parsed JSON texts will be
746lost.
747
748=item $lvalue_string = $json->incr_text
749
750This method returns the currently stored JSON fragment as an lvalue, that
751is, you can manipulate it. This I<only> works when a preceding call to
752C<incr_parse> in I<scalar context> successfully returned an object. Under
753all other circumstances you must not call this function (I mean it.
754although in simple tests it might actually work, it I<will> fail under
755real world conditions). As a special exception, you can also call this
756method before having parsed anything.
757
758This function is useful in two cases: a) finding the trailing text after a
759JSON object or b) parsing multiple JSON objects separated by non-JSON text
760(such as commas).
761
762=item $json->incr_skip
763
764This will reset the state of the incremental parser and will remove the
765parsed text from the input buffer. This is useful after C<incr_parse>
766died, in which case the input buffer and incremental parser state is left
767unchanged, to skip the text parsed so far and to reset the parse state.
768
769=back
770
771=head2 LIMITATIONS
772
773All options that affect decoding are supported, except
774C<allow_nonref>. The reason for this is that it cannot be made to
775work sensibly: JSON objects and arrays are self-delimited, i.e. you can concatenate
776them back to back and still decode them perfectly. This does not hold true
777for JSON numbers, however.
778
779For example, is the string C<1> a single JSON number, or is it simply the
780start of C<12>? Or is C<12> a single JSON number, or the concatenation
781of C<1> and C<2>? In neither case you can tell, and this is why JSON::XS
782takes the conservative route and disallows this case.
783
784=head2 EXAMPLES
785
786Some examples will make all this clearer. First, a simple example that
787works similarly to C<decode_prefix>: We want to decode the JSON object at
788the start of a string and identify the portion after the JSON object:
789
790 my $text = "[1,2,3] hello";
791
792 my $json = new JSON::XS;
793
794 my $obj = $json->incr_parse ($text)
795 or die "expected JSON object or array at beginning of string";
796
797 my $tail = $json->incr_text;
798 # $tail now contains " hello"
799
800Easy, isn't it?
801
802Now for a more complicated example: Imagine a hypothetical protocol where
803you read some requests from a TCP stream, and each request is a JSON
804array, without any separation between them (in fact, it is often useful to
805use newlines as "separators", as these get interpreted as whitespace at
806the start of the JSON text, which makes it possible to test said protocol
807with C<telnet>...).
808
809Here is how you'd do it (it is trivial to write this in an event-based
810manner):
811
812 my $json = new JSON::XS;
813
814 # read some data from the socket
815 while (sysread $socket, my $buf, 4096) {
816
817 # split and decode as many requests as possible
818 for my $request ($json->incr_parse ($buf)) {
819 # act on the $request
820 }
821 }
822
823Another complicated example: Assume you have a string with JSON objects
824or arrays, all separated by (optional) comma characters (e.g. C<[1],[2],
825[3]>). To parse them, we have to skip the commas between the JSON texts,
826and here is where the lvalue-ness of C<incr_text> comes in useful:
827
828 my $text = "[1],[2], [3]";
829 my $json = new JSON::XS;
830
831 # void context, so no parsing done
832 $json->incr_parse ($text);
833
834 # now extract as many objects as possible. note the
835 # use of scalar context so incr_text can be called.
836 while (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
837 # do something with $obj
838
839 # now skip the optional comma
840 $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* , //x;
841 }
842
843Now lets go for a very complex example: Assume that you have a gigantic
844JSON array-of-objects, many gigabytes in size, and you want to parse it,
845but you cannot load it into memory fully (this has actually happened in
846the real world :).
847
848Well, you lost, you have to implement your own JSON parser. But JSON::XS
849can still help you: You implement a (very simple) array parser and let
850JSON decode the array elements, which are all full JSON objects on their
851own (this wouldn't work if the array elements could be JSON numbers, for
852example):
853
854 my $json = new JSON::XS;
855
856 # open the monster
857 open my $fh, "<bigfile.json"
858 or die "bigfile: $!";
859
860 # first parse the initial "["
861 for (;;) {
862 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
863 or die "read error: $!";
864 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
865
866 # Exit the loop once we found and removed(!) the initial "[".
867 # In essence, we are (ab-)using the $json object as a simple scalar
868 # we append data to.
869 last if $json->incr_text =~ s/^ \s* \[ //x;
870 }
871
872 # now we have the skipped the initial "[", so continue
873 # parsing all the elements.
874 for (;;) {
875 # in this loop we read data until we got a single JSON object
876 for (;;) {
877 if (my $obj = $json->incr_parse) {
878 # do something with $obj
879 last;
880 }
881
882 # add more data
883 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
884 or die "read error: $!";
885 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
886 }
887
888 # in this loop we read data until we either found and parsed the
889 # separating "," between elements, or the final "]"
890 for (;;) {
891 # first skip whitespace
892 $json->incr_text =~ s/^\s*//;
893
894 # if we find "]", we are done
895 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^\]//) {
896 print "finished.\n";
897 exit;
898 }
899
900 # if we find ",", we can continue with the next element
901 if ($json->incr_text =~ s/^,//) {
902 last;
903 }
904
905 # if we find anything else, we have a parse error!
906 if (length $json->incr_text) {
907 die "parse error near ", $json->incr_text;
908 }
909
910 # else add more data
911 sysread $fh, my $buf, 65536
912 or die "read error: $!";
913 $json->incr_parse ($buf); # void context, so no parsing
914 }
915
916This is a complex example, but most of the complexity comes from the fact
917that we are trying to be correct (bear with me if I am wrong, I never ran
918the above example :).
919
920
921
686=head1 MAPPING 922=head1 MAPPING
687 923
688This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and 924This section describes how JSON::XS maps Perl values to JSON values and
689vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most 925vice versa. These mappings are designed to "do the right thing" in most
690circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics 926circumstances automatically, preserving round-tripping characteristics
929proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world. 1165proper subset of most 8-bit and multibyte encodings in use in the world.
930 1166
931=back 1167=back
932 1168
933 1169
934=head1 COMPARISON
935
936As already mentioned, this module was created because none of the existing
937JSON modules could be made to work correctly. First I will describe the
938problems (or pleasures) I encountered with various existing JSON modules,
939followed by some benchmark values. JSON::XS was designed not to suffer
940from any of these problems or limitations.
941
942=over 4
943
944=item JSON 2.xx
945
946A marvellous piece of engineering, this module either uses JSON::XS
947directly when available (so will be 100% compatible with it, including
948speed), or it uses JSON::PP, which is basically JSON::XS translated to
949Pure Perl, which should be 100% compatible with JSON::XS, just a bit
950slower.
951
952You cannot really lose by using this module, especially as it tries very
953hard to work even with ancient Perl versions, while JSON::XS does not.
954
955=item JSON 1.07
956
957Slow (but very portable, as it is written in pure Perl).
958
959Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling (how JSON handles Unicode values is
960undocumented. One can get far by feeding it Unicode strings and doing
961en-/decoding oneself, but Unicode escapes are not working properly).
962
963No round-tripping (strings get clobbered if they look like numbers, e.g.
964the string C<2.0> will encode to C<2.0> instead of C<"2.0">, and that will
965decode into the number 2.
966
967=item JSON::PC 0.01
968
969Very fast.
970
971Undocumented/buggy Unicode handling.
972
973No round-tripping.
974
975Has problems handling many Perl values (e.g. regex results and other magic
976values will make it croak).
977
978Does not even generate valid JSON (C<{1,2}> gets converted to C<{1:2}>
979which is not a valid JSON text.
980
981Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
982getting fixed).
983
984=item JSON::Syck 0.21
985
986Very buggy (often crashes).
987
988Very inflexible (no human-readable format supported, format pretty much
989undocumented. I need at least a format for easy reading by humans and a
990single-line compact format for use in a protocol, and preferably a way to
991generate ASCII-only JSON texts).
992
993Completely broken (and confusingly documented) Unicode handling (Unicode
994escapes are not working properly, you need to set ImplicitUnicode to
995I<different> values on en- and decoding to get symmetric behaviour).
996
997No round-tripping (simple cases work, but this depends on whether the scalar
998value was used in a numeric context or not).
999
1000Dumping hashes may skip hash values depending on iterator state.
1001
1002Unmaintained (maintainer unresponsive for many months, bugs are not
1003getting fixed).
1004
1005Does not check input for validity (i.e. will accept non-JSON input and
1006return "something" instead of raising an exception. This is a security
1007issue: imagine two banks transferring money between each other using
1008JSON. One bank might parse a given non-JSON request and deduct money,
1009while the other might reject the transaction with a syntax error. While a
1010good protocol will at least recover, that is extra unnecessary work and
1011the transaction will still not succeed).
1012
1013=item JSON::DWIW 0.04
1014
1015Very fast. Very natural. Very nice.
1016
1017Undocumented Unicode handling (but the best of the pack. Unicode escapes
1018still don't get parsed properly).
1019
1020Very inflexible.
1021
1022No round-tripping.
1023
1024Does not generate valid JSON texts (key strings are often unquoted, empty keys
1025result in nothing being output)
1026
1027Does not check input for validity.
1028
1029=back
1030
1031
1032=head2 JSON and YAML 1170=head2 JSON and YAML
1033 1171
1034You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass 1172You often hear that JSON is a subset of YAML. This is, however, a mass
1035hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing), 1173hysteria(*) and very far from the truth (as of the time of this writing),
1036so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure 1174so let me state it clearly: I<in general, there is no way to configure
1092 1230
1093First comes a comparison between various modules using 1231First comes a comparison between various modules using
1094a very short single-line JSON string (also available at 1232a very short single-line JSON string (also available at
1095L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>). 1233L<http://dist.schmorp.de/misc/json/short.json>).
1096 1234
1097 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1", "we were just talking"], \ 1235 {"method": "handleMessage", "params": ["user1",
1098 "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7, true, false]} 1236 "we were just talking"], "id": null, "array":[1,11,234,-5,1e5,1e7,
1237 true, false]}
1099 1238
1100It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses 1239It shows the number of encodes/decodes per second (JSON::XS uses
1101the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface 1240the functional interface, while JSON::XS/2 uses the OO interface
1102with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables 1241with pretty-printing and hashkey sorting enabled, JSON::XS/3 enables
1103shrink). Higher is better: 1242shrink). Higher is better:
1233 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 }, 1372 "--" => sub { $_[0] = ${$_[0]} - 1 },
1234 fallback => 1; 1373 fallback => 1;
1235 1374
12361; 13751;
1237 1376
1377=head1 SEE ALSO
1378
1379The F<json_xs> command line utility for quick experiments.
1380
1238=head1 AUTHOR 1381=head1 AUTHOR
1239 1382
1240 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de> 1383 Marc Lehmann <schmorp@schmorp.de>
1241 http://home.schmorp.de/ 1384 http://home.schmorp.de/
1242 1385

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