flatbuffers-addon

Generate flatbuffers directly from node.

Generate binary

const flatc = require("flatbuffers-addon");
const buffer = flatc.binary(options);

options.schema

type: String|Buffer

if schema is a String and schema_contents is null or undefined, schema will be treated as schema_contents. otherwise, it will be treated as the schema file path.

options.schema_contents

type: String|Buffer

The schema contents. If the schema_contents is a schema binary, the schema file path must end with .bfbs.

options.schema_binary

type: bool default: false

Serialize schemas instead of JSON

options.json

type: String|Buffer|Object

if json is a String and json_contents is null or undefined, json will be treated as json_contents. if json is a Buffer or an Object, json will be treated as json_contents. otherwise json must be a String and will be treated as the path to the JSON.

options.json_contents

type: String|Buffer|Object

The JSON to serialize

options.include_directories

type: [String]

Include directories for schemas

options.conform

type: String|Buffer

Specify a schema the following schema should be an evolution of.

if conform is a String and conform_contents is null or undefined, conform will be treated as conform_contents.

options.conform_contents

type: String|Buffer

Conform schema contents.

options.conform_include_directories

type: [String]

Include directories for conform schemas

options.strict_json

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

field names must be / will be quoted, no trailing commas in tables/vectors.

options.ignore_null_scalar

type: bool default: false

Allow scalar fields to be null

options.allow_non_utf8

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Pass non-UTF-8 input through parser

options.skip_unexpected_fields_in_json

type: bool default: false

Allow fields in JSON that are not defined in the schema. These fields will be discared when generating binaries.

options.size_prefixed

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Input binaries are size prefixed buffers.

options.proto_mode

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Input is a .proto, translate to .fbs.

options.proto_oneof_union

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Translate .proto oneofs to flatbuffer unions.

options.binary_schema_comments

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Add doc comments to the binary schema files.

options.binary_schema_builtins

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Add builtin attributes to the binary schema files.

options.force_defaults

type: bool default: false

If false, don't serialize values equal to the default, therefore reducing size of the binary output.

Generate js

const flatc = require("flatbuffers-addon");
const code = flatc.js(options);

options.schema

type: String|Buffer

if schema is a String and schema_contents is null or undefined, schema will be treated as schema_contents. otherwise, it will be treated as the schema file path.

options.schema_contents

type: String|Buffer

The schema contents. If the schema_contents is a schema binary, the schema file path must end with .bfbs.

options.include_directories

type: [String]

Include directories for schemas

options.conform

type: String|Buffer

Specify a schema the following schema should be an evolution of.

if conform is a String and conform_contents is null or undefined, conform will be treated as conform_contents.

options.conform_contents

type: String|Buffer

Conform schema contents.

options.conform_include_directories

type: [String]

Include directories for conform schemas

options.type

NOT TESTED

type: String

ts to generate TypeScript code.

options.allow_non_utf8

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Pass non-UTF-8 input through parser

options.mutable_buffer

type: bool default: false

Generate accessors that can mutate buffers in-place.

options.generate_all

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Generate not just code for the current schema files, but for all files it includes as well. If the language uses a single file for output (by default the case for C++ and JS), all code will end up in this one file.

options.skip_js_exports

type: bool default: false

Removes Node.js style export lines in JS.

options.use_goog_js_export_format

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Uses goog.exports* for closure compiler exporting in JS.

options.use_ES6_js_export_format

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Uses ECMAScript 6 export style lines in JS.

options.keep_include_path

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Keep original prefix of schema include statement.

options.skip_flatbuffers_import

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: false

Don't include flatbuffers import statement for TypeScript.

options.reexport_ts_modules

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: true

re-export imported dependencies for TypeScript

options.js_ts_short_names

NOT TESTED

type: bool default: true

Use short function names for JS and TypeScript.

Examples

const { flatbuffers } = require("flatbuffers");
const flatc = require("flatbuffers-addon");

const schema = `
    namespace some.nested.namespace;

    file_extension "dat";

    table Book {
        id:string (id: 0);
        title:string (id: 1);
        authors:[string] (id: 2);
        release:ulong (id: 3);
        genres: [ulong] (id: 4);
    }

    table Library {
        name:string (id: 0);
        books: [Book] (id: 1);
    }

    root_type Library;
`;

const js = flatc.js({
    schema
});

const library = {
    name: "BookShop 0",
    books: [{
        id: "book-0",
        title: "Book 0",
        authors: ["Author 0"]
    }]
};


const buffer = flatc.binary({
    schema,
    json: library
});

const deserialized = ((code, binary) => {
    // Evalute generated js code
    const sandbox = {};
    (new Function(code)).call(sandbox);

    // @see https://google.github.io/flatbuffers/flatbuffers_guide_use_javascript.html
    const bytes = new Uint8Array(binary);
    const buf = new flatbuffers.ByteBuffer(bytes);

    // Deserialized flatbuffers binary data
    const Library = sandbox.some.nested.namespace.Library;
    return Library.getRootAsLibrary(buf);

})(js, buffer);

console.log(deserialized.name() === "BookShop 0");
console.log(deserialized.books(0).title() === "Book 0");