src/libmj/libmj.3

.\" $NetBSD: libmj.3,v 1.3 2010/09/08 22:17:27 wiz Exp $
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.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Alistair Crooks <agc@NetBSD.org>
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.Dd August 5, 2010
.Dt LIBMJ 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm libmj
.Nd minimalist JSON lightweight data interchange library
.Sh LIBRARY
.Lb libmj
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In mj.h
.Ft int
.Fo mj_create
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "const char *text" "..."
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_parse
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "const char *text" "int *tokfrom" "int *tokto" "int *toktype"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_append
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "const char *text" "..."
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_append_field
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "const char *fieldname" "const char *text" "..."
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_deepcopy
.Fa "mj_t *dest" "mj_t *src"
.Fc
.Ft void
.Fo mj_delete
.Fa "mj_t *atom"
.Fc
.Pp
Access to objects and array entries is made using the following functions:
.Ft int
.Fo mj_arraycount
.Fa "mj_t *atom"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_object_find
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "const char *name" "const unsigned startpoint"
.Fa "const unsigned incr"
.Fc
.Ft mj_t *
.Fo mj_get_atom
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "..."
.Fc
.Pp
JSON object output functions:
.Ft int
.Fo mj_snprint
.Fa "char *buffer" "size_t size" "mj_t *atom"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_asprint
.Fa "char **buffer" "mj_t *atom"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_string_size
.Fa "mj_t *atom"
.Fc
.Ft int
.Fo mj_pretty
.Fa "mj_t *atom" "void *stream" "unsigned depth" "const char *trailer"
.Fc
.Sh DESCRIPTION
.Nm
is a small library interface to allow JSON text to be created and parsed.
JSON is the Java Script Object Notation,
a lightweight data-interchange format, standardised in the ECMA standard.
The library name
.Nm
is derived from a further acronym of
.Dq minimalist JSON .
.\" Hey, Mary!
.Pp
The
.Nm
library can be used to create a string in memory which contains a textual
representation of a number of objects, arbitrarily structured.
The library can also be used to reconstruct the structure.
Data can thus be serialised easily and efficiently, and data structures
rebuilt to produce the original structure of the data.
.Pp
JSON contains basic units called atoms, the two
basic atoms being strings and numbers.
Three other useful atomic values are provided,
.Dq null ,
.Dq false ,
and
.Dq true .
Atoms can be grouped together as key/value pairs in an
.Dq object ,
and as individual, ordered atoms, in an
.Dq array .
.Pp
To create a new object, the
.Fn mj_create
is used.
It can be deleted using the
.Fn mj_delete
function.
.Pp
Atoms, objects and arrays can be appended
to arrays and objects using the
.Fn mj_append
function.
.Pp
Objects can be printed out
by using the
.Fn mj_snprint
function.
The size of a string of JSON text can be calculated
using the
.Fn mj_string_size
function.
A utility function
.Fn mj_asprint
is provided which will allocate space dynamically,
using
.Xr calloc 3 ,
and the JSON serialised text is copied into it.
This memory can later be de-allocated using
.Xr free 3 .
For formatted output to a
.Dv FILE *
stream, the
.Fn mj_pretty
function is used.
The calling interface gives the ability to indent the
output to a given
.Fa depth
and for the formatted output to be followed by a
.Fa trailer
string, which is usually
.Dv NULL
for external calls, but can be any valid string.
Output is sent to the
.Fa stream
file stream.
.Pp
The
.Fa type
argument given to the
.Fn mj_create ,
.Fn mj_append ,
and
.Fn mj_append_field
functions is taken from a list of
.Dq false
.Dq true
.Dq null
.Dq number
.Dq integer
.Dq string
.Dq array
and
.Dq object
types.
An integer differs from a number in that it cannot take on
any floating point values.
It is implemented internally using a signed 64-bit integer type.
This restriction of values for an integer type may be removed at a later date.
.Pp
Within a JSON object, the key values can be iterated over using an integer
index to access the individual JSON objects.
The index can also be found using the
.Fn mj_object_find
function.
.Pp
The way objects arrays are implemented in
.Nm
is by using varying-sized arrays internally.
Objects have the field name as the even entry in this internal array,
with the value being the odd entry.
Arrays are implemented as a simple array.
Thus, to find an object in an array using
.Fn mj_object_find ,
a value of 1 should be used as the increment value.
This means that every entry in the internal array will be examined,
and the first match after the starting point will be returned.
For objects, an incremental value of 2 should be used,
and an even start value should be specified.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr calloc 3 ,
.Xr free 3
.Rs
.%Q Ecma International
.%D December 2009
.%T ECMA-262: ECMAScript Language Specification
.%U http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ecma-st/ECMA-262.pdf
.%O 5th Edition
.Re
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
library first appeared in
.Nx 6.0 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An Alistair Crooks Aq agc@NetBSD.org
wrote this implementation and manual page.