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author | Romain Forlot <romain.forlot@iot.bzh> | 2017-06-20 10:24:05 +0000 |
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committer | Romain Forlot <romain.forlot@iot.bzh> | 2017-06-20 10:24:05 +0000 |
commit | 32e25cbca210a359b09768537b6f443fe90a3070 (patch) | |
tree | 3309794c15d8a8f8e9c1c08cad072ee1378813ba /CAN-binder/libs/nanopb/docs/index.rst | |
parent | 76c43dec62b2e21cd6446360c00d4fe6b437533f (diff) |
Separation Generator to a dedicated repo
Change-Id: Id94831651c3266861435272a6e36c7884bef2c45
Signed-off-by: Romain Forlot <romain.forlot@iot.bzh>
Diffstat (limited to 'CAN-binder/libs/nanopb/docs/index.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | CAN-binder/libs/nanopb/docs/index.rst | 127 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 127 deletions
diff --git a/CAN-binder/libs/nanopb/docs/index.rst b/CAN-binder/libs/nanopb/docs/index.rst deleted file mode 100644 index afc7ee4f..00000000 --- a/CAN-binder/libs/nanopb/docs/index.rst +++ /dev/null @@ -1,127 +0,0 @@ -============================================= -Nanopb: Protocol Buffers with small code size -============================================= - -.. include :: menu.rst - -Nanopb is an ANSI-C library for encoding and decoding messages in Google's `Protocol Buffers`__ format with minimal requirements for RAM and code space. -It is primarily suitable for 32-bit microcontrollers. - -__ https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/overview - -Overall structure -================= - -For the runtime program, you always need *pb.h* for type declarations. -Depending on whether you want to encode, decode, or both, you also need *pb_encode.h/c* or *pb_decode.h/c*. - -The high-level encoding and decoding functions take an array of *pb_field_t* structures, which describes the fields of a message structure. Usually you want these autogenerated from a *.proto* file. The tool script *nanopb_generator.py* accomplishes this. - -.. image:: generator_flow.png - -So a typical project might include these files: - -1) Nanopb runtime library: - - pb.h - - pb_common.h and pb_common.c (always needed) - - pb_decode.h and pb_decode.c (needed for decoding messages) - - pb_encode.h and pb_encode.c (needed for encoding messages) -2) Protocol description (you can have many): - - person.proto (just an example) - - person.pb.c (autogenerated, contains initializers for const arrays) - - person.pb.h (autogenerated, contains type declarations) - -Features and limitations -======================== - -**Features** - -#) Pure C runtime -#) Small code size (2–10 kB depending on processor, plus any message definitions) -#) Small ram usage (typically ~300 bytes, plus any message structs) -#) Allows specifying maximum size for strings and arrays, so that they can be allocated statically. -#) No malloc needed: everything can be allocated statically or on the stack. Optional malloc support available. -#) You can use either encoder or decoder alone to cut the code size in half. -#) Support for most protobuf features, including: all data types, nested submessages, default values, repeated and optional fields, oneofs, packed arrays, extension fields. -#) Callback mechanism for handling messages larger than can fit in available RAM. -#) Extensive set of tests. - -**Limitations** - -#) Some speed has been sacrificed for code size. -#) Encoding is focused on writing to streams. For memory buffers only it could be made more efficient. -#) The deprecated Protocol Buffers feature called "groups" is not supported. -#) Fields in the generated structs are ordered by the tag number, instead of the natural ordering in .proto file. -#) Unknown fields are not preserved when decoding and re-encoding a message. -#) Reflection (runtime introspection) is not supported. E.g. you can't request a field by giving its name in a string. -#) Numeric arrays are always encoded as packed, even if not marked as packed in .proto. -#) Cyclic references between messages are supported only in callback and malloc mode. - -Getting started -=============== - -For starters, consider this simple message:: - - message Example { - required int32 value = 1; - } - -Save this in *message.proto* and compile it:: - - user@host:~$ protoc -omessage.pb message.proto - user@host:~$ python nanopb/generator/nanopb_generator.py message.pb - -You should now have in *message.pb.h*:: - - typedef struct { - int32_t value; - } Example; - - extern const pb_field_t Example_fields[2]; - -Now in your main program do this to encode a message:: - - Example mymessage = {42}; - uint8_t buffer[10]; - pb_ostream_t stream = pb_ostream_from_buffer(buffer, sizeof(buffer)); - pb_encode(&stream, Example_fields, &mymessage); - -After that, buffer will contain the encoded message. -The number of bytes in the message is stored in *stream.bytes_written*. -You can feed the message to *protoc --decode=Example message.proto* to verify its validity. - -For a complete example of the simple case, see *example/simple.c*. -For a more complex example with network interface, see the *example/network_server* subdirectory. - -Compiler requirements -===================== -Nanopb should compile with most ansi-C compatible compilers. It however -requires a few header files to be available: - -#) *string.h*, with these functions: *strlen*, *memcpy*, *memset* -#) *stdint.h*, for definitions of *int32_t* etc. -#) *stddef.h*, for definition of *size_t* -#) *stdbool.h*, for definition of *bool* - -If these header files do not come with your compiler, you can use the -file *extra/pb_syshdr.h* instead. It contains an example of how to provide -the dependencies. You may have to edit it a bit to suit your custom platform. - -To use the pb_syshdr.h, define *PB_SYSTEM_HEADER* as *"pb_syshdr.h"* (including the quotes). -Similarly, you can provide a custom include file, which should provide all the dependencies -listed above. - -Running the test cases -====================== -Extensive unittests and test cases are included under the *tests* folder. - -To build the tests, you will need the `scons`__ build system. The tests should -be runnable on most platforms. Windows and Linux builds are regularly tested. - -__ http://www.scons.org/ - -In addition to the build system, you will also need a working Google Protocol -Buffers *protoc* compiler, and the Python bindings for Protocol Buffers. On -Debian-based systems, install the following packages: *protobuf-compiler*, -*python-protobuf* and *libprotobuf-dev*. - |