Combinators for Type Conversion in OCaml.

Documentation can be found here,
and some toy examples in the example directory.

Build and Install

There are no dependencies. This should work with OCaml>=4.03.0.

$ make

Alternatively:

$ opam pin https://github.com/c-cube/cconv.git

Optional bindings to serialization libraries are available for sexplib,
yojson and bencode. They will be installed via opam if the corresponding
library is present. See this section to learn how to write
your own serialization backends.

License

This code is free, under the BSD license. See the LICENSE file.

Usage

From example/all.ml:

# #require "cconv";;

module Point = struct
  type t = {
    x : int;
    y : int;
    color : string;
    prev : t option; (* previous position, say *)
  }


  let encode = CConv.Encode.(record_fix
    (fun self ->
      let o_self = option self in
      {record_emit=fun into {x;y;color;prev} ->
        [ "x", int.emit into x
        ; "y", int.emit into y
        ; "color", string.emit into color
        ; "prev", o_self.emit into prev
        ]
      }))

  let decode = CConv.Decode.(record_fix
    (fun self -> { record_accept=fun src l ->
      let x = record_get "x" int src l in
      let y = record_get "y" int src l in
      let color = record_get "color" string src l in
      let prev = record_get "prev" (option self) src l in
      {x;y;color;prev}
    })
  )

  let p = { x=1; y=2; color="red"; prev=None; }
  let p2 = {x=1; y=3; color="yellow"; prev=Some p; }
end

# (* convert into json *)
  # require "cconv.yojson";;
# CConvYojson.encode Point.encode Point.p;;
- : CConvYojson.t =
`Assoc
  [("x", `Int 1); ("y", `Int 2); ("color", `String "red");
   ("prev", `List [])]

# let json = CConvYojson.encode Point.encode Point.p2;;
val json : CConvYojson.t =
  `Assoc
    [("x", `Int 1); ("y", `Int 3); ("color", `String "yellow");
     ("prev",
      `List
        [`Assoc
           [("x", `Int 1); ("y", `Int 2); ("color", `String "red");
            ("prev", `List [])]])]

# let p2' = CConvYojson.decode Point.decode json;;
val p2' : Point.t CConvYojson.or_error =
  `Ok
    {Point.x = 1; y = 3; color = "yellow";
     prev = Some {Point.x = 1; y = 2; color = "red"; prev = None}}

# match p2' with `Ok x -> x = Point.p2 | `Error e -> failwith e;;
- : bool = true

module Lambda = struct
  type t =
    | Var of string
    | App of t * t
    | Lambda of string * t

  let encode = CConv.Encode.(sum_fix
    (fun self -> {sum_emit=fun into t -> match t with
      | Var s -> "var", [string.emit into s]
      | App (t1,t2) -> "app", [self.emit into t1; self.emit into t2]
      | Lambda (v,t') -> "lambda", [string.emit into v; self.emit into t']
    })
  )

  let decode = CConv.Decode.(sum_fix
    (fun self -> {
      sum_accept=fun src name args -> match name, args with
        | "var", [x] ->
            let x = apply src string x in
            Var x
        | "app", [x;y] ->
            let x = apply src self x in
            let y = apply src self y in
            App(x,y)
        | "lambda", [x;y] ->
            let x = apply src string x in
            let y = apply src self y in
            Lambda(x,y)
        | _ -> CConv.report_error "expected lambda-term"
    })
  )

  let t1 = Lambda ("x", App (Lambda ("y", App (Var "y", Var "x")), Var "x"))
end

# (*convert into bencode *)
  #require "cconv.bencode";;

# let b = CConvBencode.encode Lambda.encode Lambda.t1;;
val b : Bencode.t =
...

# let t2 = CConvBencode.decode Lambda.decode b;;
val t2 : Lambda.t CConvBencode.or_error =
  `Ok
    (Lambda.Lambda ("x",
      Lambda.App
       (Lambda.Lambda ("y", Lambda.App (Lambda.Var "y", Lambda.Var "x")),
       Lambda.Var "x")))

Backends

It is quite easy to write a backend for your favorite format, assuming it
can somehow represent atoms (strings, integers...), lists, records, sums, and is
recursive. The simplest example is sexplib (as found in sexp/cConvSexp.ml):

# #require "sexplib";;

type t = Sexplib.Sexp.t

(* how to decode from Sexp *)
let source =
  let open Sexplib.Sexp in
  let module D = CConv.Decode in
  let rec src = {D.emit=fun dec s -> match s with
    | Atom s -> dec.D.accept_string src s
    | List l -> dec.D.accept_list src l
  } in
  src

(* how to encode into Sexp *)
let target =
  let open Sexplib.Sexp in
  let module E = CConv.Encode in
  { E.unit = List [];
    bool = (fun b -> Atom (string_of_bool b));
    float = (fun f -> Atom (string_of_float f));
    int = (fun i -> Atom (string_of_int i));
    string = (fun s -> Atom (String.escaped s));
    option = (function None -> List[] | Some x -> List [x]);
    list = (fun l -> List l);
    char = (fun x -> Atom (String.make 1 x));
    nativeint = (fun i -> Atom (Nativeint.to_string i));
    int32 = (fun i -> Atom (Int32.to_string i));
    int64 = (fun i -> Atom (Int64.to_string i));
    record = (fun l -> List (List.map (fun (a,b) -> List [Atom a; b]) l));
    tuple = (fun l -> List l);
    sum = (fun name l -> match l with
      | [] -> Atom name
      | _::_ -> List (Atom name :: l));
  }

ppx_deriving_cconv

A ppx_deriving plugin.
The point is to obtain many serializers/deserializers in one stroke.

Usage

First, #require "cconv.ppx";; or use the library cconv.ppx (depends
on ppx_deriving). It provides three annotations:

• [@@deriving cconv] derives an encoder and a decoder for the type

• [@@deriving encode] derives only an encoder (print values)

• [@@deriving decode] derives only a decoder (parse values)

Example:

# #require "cconv-ppx";;

# type t = {
    x : int;
    y : int;
    color : string;
    prev : t option; (* previous position, say *)
  } [@@deriving cconv] ;;
type t = { x : int; y : int; color : string; prev : t option; }
val encode : t CConv.Encode.encoder = {CConv.Encode.emit = <fun>}
val decode : t CConv.Decode.decoder =
...

# type term =
    | Var of string
    | App of term * term
    | Lambda of string * term
  [@@deriving cconv];;
type term = Var of string | App of term * term | Lambda of string * term
val encode_term : term CConv.Encode.encoder = {CConv.Encode.emit = <fun>}
val decode_term : term CConv.Decode.decoder =
...

Encoders/decoders can be used with several backend:

# #require "cconv.yojson";;

# CConvYojson.encode encode_term;;
- : term -> CConvYojson.t = <fun>

# CConvYojson.decode decode_term;;
- : CConvYojson.t -> term CConvYojson.or_error = <fun>

# #require "cconv.bencode";;
# CConvBencode.encode encode_term;;
- : term -> Bencode.t = <fun>

# CConvBencode.decode decode_term;;
- : Bencode.t -> term CConvBencode.or_error = <fun>

# #require "sexplib";;
# #require "cconv.sexp";;
# CConvSexp.encode encode;;
- : t -> CConvSexp.t = <fun>

# CConvSexp.decode decode;;
- : CConvSexp.t -> t CConvSexp.or_error = <fun>

# let json = CConvYojson.encode [%encode: int list] [1;2;3];;
val json : CConvYojson.t = `List [`Int 1; `Int 2; `Int 3]

# let l = CConvYojson.decode [%decode: float list] json;;
val l : float list CConvYojson.or_error = `Ok [1.; 2.; 3.]

Options

Attributes can modify the behavior of ppx_deriving_cconv. They are as follows:

• [@encoder e] to specify an encoder for a record field of variant argument. type attribute

• [@decoder d] to specify a decoder for a record field or variant argument. type attribute

type boxed_int = {
  bint : int;
} [@@deriving cconv]

let box_int bint = {bint}
let unbox_int {bint} = bint

type t = {
  i : (int
         [@encoder CConv.Encode.(map box_int encode_boxed_int)]
         [@decoder CConv.Decode.(map unbox_int decode_boxed_int)]);
  j : int;
} [@@deriving cconv]

# CConvYojson.of_string_exn decode "{\"i\": {\"bint\": 100}, \"j\": 10}";;
- : t = {i = 100; j = 10}

• [@cconv.ignore] to ignore the field for encoding (decoding will still require it)

• [@default expr] to specify default value for a record field

type pagination = {
  pages   : int;
  current : int [@default 0];
} [@@deriving cconv]

• [@key name] to specify a name of record field in encoder / decoder

type geo = {
  lat : float [@key "Latitude"];
  lon : float [@key "Longitude"];
} [@@deriving cconv]