extensions.md

gogoprotobuf Extensions

Here is an example.proto which uses most of the gogoprotobuf code generation plugins.

Please also look at the example Makefile which shows how to specify the descriptor.proto and gogo.proto in your proto_path

The documentation at http://godoc.org/github.com/gogo/protobuf/gogoproto describes the extensions made to goprotobuf in more detail.

Also see http://godoc.org/github.com/gogo/protobuf/plugin/ for documentation of each of the extensions which have their own plugins.

Fast Marshalling and Unmarshalling

Generating a Marshal, MarshalTo, Size (or ProtoSize) and Unmarshal method for a struct results in faster marshalling and unmarshalling than when using reflect.

See BenchComparison for a comparison between reflect and generated code used for marshalling and unmarshalling.

Name	Option	Type	Description	Default
marshaler	Message	bool	if true, a Marshal and MarshalTo method is generated for the specific message	false
sizer	Message	bool	if true, a Size method is generated for the specific message	false
unmarshaler	Message	bool	if true, an Unmarshal method is generated for the specific message	false
protosizer	Message	bool	if true, a ProtoSize method is generated for the specific message	false
unsafe_marshaler (deprecated)	Message	bool	if true, a Marshal and MarshalTo method is generated.	false
unsafe_unmarshaler (deprecated)	Message	bool	if true, an Unmarshal method is generated.	false
stable_marshaler	Message	bool	if true, a Marshal and MarshalTo method is generated for the specific message, but unlike marshaler the output is guaranteed to be deterministic, at the sacrifice of some speed	false
typedecl (beta)	Message	bool	if false, type declaration of the message is excluded from the generated output. Requires the marshaler and unmarshaler to be generated.	true

More Canonical Go Structures

Lots of times working with a goprotobuf struct will lead you to a place where you create another struct that is easier to work with and then have a function to copy the values between the two structs.

You might also find that basic structs that started their life as part of an API need to be sent over the wire. With gob, you could just send it. With goprotobuf, you need to make a new struct.

gogoprotobuf tries to fix these problems with the nullable, embed, customtype, customname, casttype, castkey and castvalue field extensions.

Name	Option	Type	Description	Default
nullable	Field	bool	if false, a field is generated without a pointer (see warning below).	true
embed	Field	bool	if true, the field is generated as an embedded field.	false
customtype	Field	string	It works with the Marshal and Unmarshal methods, to allow you to have your own types in your struct, but marshal to bytes. For example, custom.Uuid or custom.Fixed128. For more information please refer to the CustomTypes document	goprotobuf type
customname (beta)	Field	string	Changes the generated fieldname. This is especially useful when generated methods conflict with fieldnames.	goprotobuf field name
casttype (beta)	Field	string	Changes the generated field type. It assumes that this type is castable to the original goprotobuf field type. It currently does not support maps, structs or enums.	goprotobuf field type
castkey (beta)	Field	string	Changes the generated fieldtype for a map key. All generated code assumes that this type is castable to the protocol buffer field type. Only supported on maps.	goprotobuf field type
castvalue (beta)	Field	string	Changes the generated fieldtype for a map value. All generated code assumes that this type is castable to the protocol buffer field type. Only supported on maps.	goprotobuf field type
enum_customname (beta)	Enum	string	Sets the type name of an enum. If goproto_enum_prefix is enabled, this value will be used as a prefix when generating enum values.	goprotobuf enum type name. Helps with golint issues.
enumdecl (beta)	Enum	bool	if false, type declaration of the enum is excluded from the generated output. Requires the marshaler and unmarshaler to be generated.	true
enumvalue_customname (beta)	Enum Value	string	Changes the generated enum name. Helps with golint issues.	goprotobuf enum value name
stdtime	Timestamp Field	bool	Changes the Well Known Timestamp Type to time.Time	Timestamp
stdduration	Duration Field	bool	Changes the Well Known Duration Type to time.Duration	Duration

Warning about nullable: according to the Protocol Buffer specification, you should be able to tell whether a field is set or unset. With the option nullable=false this feature is lost, since your non-nullable fields will always be set.

Goprotobuf Compatibility

Gogoprotobuf is compatible with Goprotobuf, because it is compatible with protocol buffers (see the section on tests below).

Gogoprotobuf generates the same code as goprotobuf if no extensions are used.

The enumprefix, getters and stringer extensions can be used to remove some of the unnecessary code generated by goprotobuf.

Name	Option	Type	Description	Default
gogoproto_import	File	bool	if false, the generated code imports github.com/golang/protobuf/proto instead of github.com/gogo/protobuf/proto.	true
goproto_enum_prefix	Enum	bool	if false, generates the enum constant names without the messagetype prefix	true
goproto_getters	Message	bool	if false, the message is generated without get methods, this is useful when you would rather want to use face	true
goproto_stringer	Message	bool	if false, the message is generated without the default string method, this is useful for rather using stringer	true
goproto_enum_stringer (experimental)	Enum	bool	if false, the enum is generated without the default string method, this is useful for rather using enum_stringer	true
goproto_extensions_map (beta)	Message	bool	if false, the extensions field is generated as type []byte instead of type map[int32]proto.Extension	true
goproto_unrecognized (beta)	Message	bool	if false, XXX_unrecognized field is not generated. This is useful to reduce GC pressure at the cost of losing information about unrecognized fields.	true
goproto_unkeyed (alpha)	Message	bool	if false, XXX_unkeyed field is not generated.	true
goproto_sizecache (alpha)	Message	bool	if false, XXX_sizecache field is not generated.	true
goproto_registration (beta)	File	bool	if true, the generated files will register all messages and types against both gogo/protobuf and golang/protobuf. This is necessary when using third-party packages which read registrations from golang/protobuf (such as the grpc-gateway).	false
message_name	Message	bool	if true, a `XXX_MessageName()` method is generated that returns the message's name. This is useful for grpc-gateway compatibility.	false

Less Typing

The Protocol Buffer language is very parseable and extra code can be easily generated for structures.

Helper methods, functions and interfaces can be generated by triggering certain extensions like gostring.

Name	Option	Type	Description	Default
gostring	Message	bool	if true, a `GoString` method is generated. This returns a string representing valid go code to reproduce the current state of the struct.	false
onlyone	Message	bool	if true, all fields must be nullable and only one of the fields may be set, like a union. Two methods are generated: `GetValue() interface{}` and `SetValue(v interface{}) (set bool)`. These provide easier interaction with a union.	false
equal	Message	bool	if true, an Equal method is generated	false
compare	Message	bool	if true, a Compare method is generated. This is very useful for quickly implementing sort on a list of protobuf structs	false
verbose_equal	Message	bool	if true, a verbose equal method is generated for the message. This returns an error which describes the exact element which is not equal to the exact element in the other struct.	false
stringer	Message	bool	if true, a String method is generated for the message.	false
face	Message	bool	if true, a function will be generated which can convert a structure which satisfies an interface (face) to the specified structure. This interface contains getters for each of the fields in the struct. The specified struct is also generated with the getters. This allows it to satisfy its own face.	false
description (beta)	Message	bool	if true, a Description method is generated for the message.	false
populate	Message	bool	if true, a `NewPopulated` function is generated. This is necessary for generated tests.	false
enum_stringer (experimental)	Enum	bool	if true, a String method is generated for an Enum	false

Issues with Compare include:

• Oneof is not supported yet
• Not all Well Known Types are supported yet
• Maps are not supported

Peace of Mind

Test and Benchmark generation is done with the following extensions:

testgen	Message	bool	if true, tests are generated for proto, json and prototext marshalling as well as for some of the other enabled plugins	false
benchgen	Message	bool	if true, benchmarks are generated for proto, json and prototext marshalling as well as for some of the other enabled plugins	false

More Serialization Formats

Other serialization formats like xml and json typically use reflect to marshal and unmarshal structured data. Manipulating these structs into something other than the default Go requires editing tags. The following extensions provide ways of editing these tags for the generated protobuf structs.

jsontag (beta)	Field	string	if set, the json tag value between the double quotes is replaced with this string	fieldname
moretags (beta)	Field	string	if set, this string is appended to the tag string	empty

Here is a longer explanation of jsontag and moretags

File Options

Each of the boolean message and enum extensions also have a file extension:

• marshaler_all
• sizer_all
• protosizer_all
• unmarshaler_all
• unsafe_marshaler_all
• unsafe_unmarshaler_all
• stable_marshaler_all
• goproto_enum_prefix_all
• goproto_getters_all
• goproto_stringer_all
• goproto_enum_stringer_all
• goproto_extensions_map_all
• goproto_unrecognized_all
• goproto_unkeyed_all
• goproto_sizecache_all
• gostring_all
• onlyone_all
• equal_all
• compare_all
• verbose_equal_all
• stringer_all
• enum_stringer_all
• face_all
• description_all
• populate_all
• testgen_all
• benchgen_all
• enumdecl_all
• typedecl_all
• messagename_all

Each of these are the same as their Message Option counterparts, except they apply to all messages in the file. Their Message option counterparts can also be used to overwrite their effect.

Tests

• The normal barrage of tests are run with: make tests
• A few weird tests: make testall
• Tests for compatibility with golang/protobuf are handled by a different project harmonytests, since it requires goprotobuf.
• Cross version tests are made with Travis CI.
• GRPC Tests are also handled by a different project grpctests, since it depends on a lot of grpc libraries.
• Thanks to go-fuzz we have proper fuzztests.