protobuf使用详解

什么是protobuf

Google Protocol Buffer(简称 Protobuf)是一种轻便高效的结构化数据存储格式，平台无关、语言无关、可扩展，可用于通讯协议和数据存储等领域。

优点

- 平台无关，语言无关，可扩展；
- 提供了友好的动态库，使用简单；
- 解析速度快，比对应的XML快约20-100倍；
- 序列化数据非常简洁、紧凑，与XML相比，其序列化之后的数据量约为1/3到1/10。

使用步骤

1 编写proto文件

首先需要一个proto文件，其中定义了我们程序中需要处理的结构化数据：

// Filename: addressbook.proto  

syntax="proto2";  //表明使用protobuf的编译器版本为v2，目前最新的版本为v3
package addressbook;//声明一个包名，用来防止不同的消息类型命名冲突，类似于namespace

import "src/help.proto";      //举例用，编译时去掉 导入一个外部proto文件中的定义，
                              //类似于C++中的include

message Person {              //message是Protobuf中的结构化数据，类似于C++中的类
                              //可以在其中定义需要处理的数据
    required string name = 1; //声明一个名为name，数据类型为string的required字段
                              //字段的标识号为1
    required int32 id = 2;
    optional string email = 3;

    enum PhoneType {
        MOBILE = 0;
        HOME = 1;
        WORK = 2;
    }

    message PhoneNumber {
        required string number = 1;
        optional PhoneType type = 2 [default = HOME];
    }

    repeated PhoneNumber phone = 4;
}

message AddressBook {
    repeated Person person_info = 1;
}

2 生成C++文件

protoc是proto文件的编译器，可以将proto文件编译成C++、Java、Python三种代码文件，编译格式如下

protoc -I=$SRC_DIR --cpp_out=$DST_DIR /path/to/file.proto

上面的命令会生成xxx.pb.h 和 xxx.pb.cc两个C++文件。

protoc的具体使用可执行protoc -help,输出内容如下

Usage: protoc [OPTION] PROTO_FILES
Parse PROTO_FILES and generate output based on the options given:
  -IPATH, --proto_path=PATH   Specify the directory in which to search for
                              imports.  May be specified multiple times;
                              directories will be searched in order.  If not
                              given, the current working directory is used.
  --version                   Show version info and exit.
  -h, --help                  Show this text and exit.
  --encode=MESSAGE_TYPE       Read a text-format message of the given type
                              from standard input and write it in binary
                              to standard output.  The message type must
                              be defined in PROTO_FILES or their imports.
  --decode=MESSAGE_TYPE       Read a binary message of the given type from
                              standard input and write it in text format
                              to standard output.  The message type must
                              be defined in PROTO_FILES or their imports.
  --decode_raw                Read an arbitrary protocol message from
                              standard input and write the raw tag/value
                              pairs in text format to standard output.  No
                              PROTO_FILES should be given when using this
                              flag.
  --descriptor_set_in=FILES   Specifies a delimited list of FILES
                              each containing a FileDescriptorSet (a
                              protocol buffer defined in descriptor.proto).
                              The FileDescriptor for each of the PROTO_FILES
                              provided will be loaded from these
                              FileDescriptorSets. If a FileDescriptor
                              appears multiple times, the first occurrence
                              will be used.
  -oFILE,                     Writes a FileDescriptorSet (a protocol buffer,
    --descriptor_set_out=FILE defined in descriptor.proto) containing all of
                              the input files to FILE.
  --include_imports           When using --descriptor_set_out, also include
                              all dependencies of the input files in the
                              set, so that the set is self-contained.
  --include_source_info       When using --descriptor_set_out, do not strip
                              SourceCodeInfo from the FileDescriptorProto.
                              This results in vastly larger descriptors that
                              include information about the original
                              location of each decl in the source file as
                              well as surrounding comments.
  --dependency_out=FILE       Write a dependency output file in the format
                              expected by make. This writes the transitive
                              set of input file paths to FILE
  --error_format=FORMAT       Set the format in which to print errors.
                              FORMAT may be 'gcc' (the default) or 'msvs'
                              (Microsoft Visual Studio format).
  --print_free_field_numbers  Print the free field numbers of the messages
                              defined in the given proto files. Groups share
                              the same field number space with the parent 
                              message. Extension ranges are counted as 
                              occupied fields numbers.

  --plugin=EXECUTABLE         Specifies a plugin executable to use.
                              Normally, protoc searches the PATH for
                              plugins, but you may specify additional
                              executables not in the path using this flag.
                              Additionally, EXECUTABLE may be of the form
                              NAME=PATH, in which case the given plugin name
                              is mapped to the given executable even if
                              the executable's own name differs.
  --cpp_out=OUT_DIR           Generate C++ header and source.
  --csharp_out=OUT_DIR        Generate C# source file.
  --java_out=OUT_DIR          Generate Java source file.
  --javanano_out=OUT_DIR      Generate Java Nano source file.
  --js_out=OUT_DIR            Generate JavaScript source.
  --objc_out=OUT_DIR          Generate Objective C header and source.
  --php_out=OUT_DIR           Generate PHP source file.
  --python_out=OUT_DIR        Generate Python source file.
  --ruby_out=OUT_DIR          Generate Ruby source file.

3 使用C++文件

现在编写一个main.cc文件

#include <iostream>
#include "addressbook.pb.h"

int main(int argc, const char* argv[])
{
    addressbook::AddressBook person;
    addressbook::Person* pi = person.add_person_info();

    pi->set_name("aut");
    pi->set_id(1219);
    std::cout << "before clear(), id = " << pi->id() << std::endl;
    pi->clear_id();
    std::cout << "after  clear(), id = " << pi->id() << std::endl;
    pi->set_id(1087);
    if (!pi->has_email())
        pi->set_email("autyinjing@126.com");

    addressbook::Person::PhoneNumber* pn = pi->add_phone();
    pn->set_number("021-8888-8888");
    pn = pi->add_phone();
    pn->set_number("138-8888-8888");
    pn->set_type(addressbook::Person::MOBILE);

    uint32_t size = person.ByteSize();
    unsigned char byteArray[size];
    person.SerializeToArray(byteArray, size);

    addressbook::AddressBook help_person;
    help_person.ParseFromArray(byteArray, size);
    addressbook::Person help_pi = help_person.person_info(0);

    std::cout << "*****************************" << std::endl;
    std::cout << "id:    " << help_pi.id() << std::endl;
    std::cout << "name:  " << help_pi.name() << std::endl;
    std::cout << "email: " << help_pi.email() << std::endl;

    for (int i = 0; i < help_pi.phone_size(); ++i)
    {
        auto help_pn = help_pi.mutable_phone(i);
        std::cout << "phone_type: " << help_pn->type() << std::endl;
        std::cout << "phone_number: " << help_pn->number() << std::endl;
    }
    std::cout << "*****************************" << std::endl;

    return 0;
}

4 编译生成可执行文件

编译格式和普通的C++代码一样，但是要加上 -lprotobuf -pthread 

g++ main.cc xxx.pb.cc -I $INCLUDE_PATH -L $LIB_PATH -lprotobuf -pthread 

5 输出结果

before clear(), id = 1219
after  clear(), id = 0
*****************************
id:   1087
name: aut
email: autyinjing@126.com
phone_type: 1
phone_number: 021-8888-8888
phone_type: 0
phone_number: 138-8888-8888
*****************************