text_format, MessageToString and Merge functions

[ryanrhymes]

Hi @mransan

There is a text_format module in protobuf which allows the message conversion between its binary representation and ascii representation (by calling MessageToString and Merge functions). May I ask whether the similar functions have been implemented in ocaml-protoc?

Many thanks!

ref: https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/python/google.protobuf.text_format-module

[mransan]

Yes! If no mode is specified when invoking ocaml-protoc it will by default generate files called <proto_file_name>_pp.{ml|mli}. Those file contains formatter function which can be used with the ocaml Format module:

For instance:

Format.fprintf Format.std_formatter "%a" Example02_pb.pp_person person 

Note however that there is decoding functionality for that format and there are no formal specification for the output. It should therefore be used only for debugging/logging purposes. If you want formally defined human readable encoding you can use proto3 JSON encoding.

[mransan]

Note as well that you can tweak which files get generated with command line arguments! (ie -binary -pp etc...)

[ryanrhymes]

OK, I see. This is really helpful, many thanks for the detailed answer. 👍