msgpack

A pure Pony implementation of the MessagePack serialization format.

Status

msgpack is currently beta software. It provides compact encoding/decoding methods that automatically select the smallest wire format, format-specific primitives for explicit control, and a streaming-safe decoder for incremental data sources.

Installation

• Install corral
• corral add github.com/seantallen-org/msgpack.git --version 0.3.1
• corral fetch to fetch your dependencies
• use "msgpack" to include this package
• corral run -- ponyc to compile your application

Usage

Encoding and Decoding

MessagePackEncoder and MessagePackDecoder provide compact methods that automatically select the smallest wire format for a given value. Encode values into a Writer, transfer the bytes to a Reader, then decode in the same order.

use "msgpack"
use "buffered"

// Encode — compact methods pick the smallest wire format
let w: Writer ref = Writer
MessagePackEncoder.nil(w)
MessagePackEncoder.bool(w, true)
MessagePackEncoder.uint(w, 42)           // positive_fixint (1 byte)
MessagePackEncoder.str(w, "hello")?      // fixstr (6 bytes)

// Transfer encoded bytes to the reader
let r: Reader ref = Reader
for bs in w.done().values() do
  r.append(bs)
end

// Decode — compact methods accept any format in the family
MessagePackDecoder.nil(r)?
MessagePackDecoder.bool(r)?   // true
MessagePackDecoder.uint(r)?   // 42
MessagePackDecoder.str(r)?    // "hello"

Format-specific methods (uint_8, uint_32, fixstr, str_8, bin_8, fixext_1, ext_8, etc.) are available when you need explicit control over the wire format:

// Compact — accepts any string wire format:
MessagePackDecoder.str(reader)?

// Format-specific — decodes str_8 only, errors on other formats:
MessagePackDecoder.str_8(reader)?

Streaming Decoder

MessagePackStreamingDecoder is designed for use with data that arrives incrementally. It peeks at format bytes and length fields before consuming any data. If insufficient data is available, it returns NotEnoughData with zero bytes consumed, allowing the caller to append more data and retry.

use "msgpack"

let sd = MessagePackStreamingDecoder
sd.append(chunk)

match sd.next()
| let v: U32 => // got a value
| let s: String val => // got a string
| let t: MessagePackTimestamp => // got a timestamp
| let a: MessagePackArray => // array header; read a.size elements
| let m: MessagePackMap => // map header; read m.size key-value pairs
| NotEnoughData => // append more data and retry
| InvalidData => // stream is corrupt
end

See the examples/ directory for runnable demos.

API Documentation

https://seantallen-org.github.io/msgpack/