[](https://crates.io/crates/prost-reflect/)
[](https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/)
[](https://deps.rs/crate/prost-reflect)
[](https://github.com/andrewhickman/prost-reflect/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[](https://codecov.io/gh/andrewhickman/prost-reflect)
# prost-reflect
A protobuf library extending [`prost`](https://crates.io/crates/prost) with reflection support and dynamic messages.
## Usage
This crate provides support for dynamic protobuf messages. These are useful when the
protobuf type definition is not known ahead of time.
The main entry points into the API of this crate are:
- [`DescriptorPool`] wraps a [`FileDescriptorSet`][prost_types::FileDescriptorSet] output by
the protobuf compiler to provide an API for inspecting type definitions.
- [`DynamicMessage`] provides encoding, decoding and reflection of an arbitrary protobuf
message definition described by a [`MessageDescriptor`].
### Example - decoding
`DynamicMessage` does not implement [`Default`] since it needs a message descriptor to
function. To decode a protobuf byte stream into an instance of this type, use [`DynamicMessage::decode`]
to create a default value for the `MessageDescriptor` instance and merge into it:
```rust
use prost::Message;
use prost_types::FileDescriptorSet;
use prost_reflect::{DynamicMessage, DescriptorPool, Value};
let pool = DescriptorPool::decode(include_bytes!("file_descriptor_set.bin").as_ref()).unwrap();
let message_descriptor = pool.get_message_by_name("package.MyMessage").unwrap();
let dynamic_message = DynamicMessage::decode(message_descriptor, b"\x08\x96\x01".as_ref()).unwrap();
assert_eq!(dynamic_message.get_field_by_name("foo").unwrap().as_ref(), &Value::I32(150));
```
### Example - JSON mapping
When the `serde` feature is enabled, `DynamicMessage` can be deserialized to and from the
[canonical JSON mapping](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json)
defined for protobuf messages.
```rust
use prost::Message;
use prost_reflect::{DynamicMessage, DescriptorPool, Value};
use serde_json::de::Deserializer;
let pool = DescriptorPool::decode(include_bytes!("file_descriptor_set.bin").as_ref()).unwrap();
let message_descriptor = pool.get_message_by_name("package.MyMessage").unwrap();
let json = r#"{ "foo": 150 }"#;
let mut deserializer = Deserializer::from_str(json);
let dynamic_message = DynamicMessage::deserialize(message_descriptor, &mut deserializer).unwrap();
deserializer.end().unwrap();
assert_eq!(dynamic_message.get_field_by_name("foo").unwrap().as_ref(), &Value::I32(150));
```
### Example - implementing `ReflectMessage`
The [`ReflectMessage`] trait provides a `.descriptor()` method to get type information for a message. By default it is just implemented for `DynamicMessage`.
The [`ReflectMessage`] trait provides a `.descriptor()` method to get type information for a message. It is implemented for `DynamicMessage` and the well-known-types provided by [`prost-types`](https://docs.rs/prost-types/0.10.0/prost_types).
When the `derive` feature is enabled, it can be derived for [`Message`][prost::Message] implementations. The
derive macro takes the following parameters:
| descriptor_pool | An expression that resolves to a [`DescriptorPool`] containing the message type. The descriptor should be cached to avoid re-building it. Either this or `file_descriptor_pool_bytes` must be set |
| file_descriptor_pool_bytes | An expression that resolves to an implementation of `Buf` containing an encoded file descriptor set. This will be automatically added to the global descriptor pool the first time `ReflectMessage::descriptor()` is called. |
| message_name | The full name of the message, used to look it up within [`DescriptorPool`]. |
```rust
use prost::Message;
use prost_reflect::{DescriptorPool, ReflectMessage};
use once_cell::sync::Lazy;
static DESCRIPTOR_POOL: Lazy<DescriptorPool>
= Lazy::new(|| DescriptorPool::decode(include_bytes!("file_descriptor_set.bin").as_ref()).unwrap());
#[derive(Message, ReflectMessage)]
#[prost_reflect(descriptor_pool = "DESCRIPTOR_POOL", message_name = "package.MyMessage")]
pub struct MyMessage {}
let message = MyMessage {};
assert_eq!(message.descriptor().full_name(), "package.MyMessage");
```
If you are using `prost-build`, the [`prost-reflect-build`](https://crates.io/crates/prost-reflect-build) crate provides helpers to generate `ReflectMessage` implementations:
```rust,no_run
prost_reflect_build::Builder::new()
.compile_protos(&["src/package.proto"], &["src"])
.unwrap();
```
## Minimum Supported Rust Version
Rust **1.60** or higher.
The minimum supported Rust version may be changed in the future, but it will be
done with a minor version bump.
## License
Licensed under either of
* Apache License, Version 2.0
([LICENSE-APACHE](LICENSE-APACHE) or http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0)
* MIT license
([LICENSE-MIT](LICENSE-MIT) or http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
at your option.
## Contribution
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted
for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be
dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.
[`DescriptorPool`]: https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/0.11.0/prost_reflect/struct.DescriptorPool.html
[`DynamicMessage`]: https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/0.11.0/prost_reflect/struct.DynamicMessage.html
[`MessageDescriptor`]: https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/0.11.0/prost_reflect/struct.MessageDescriptor.html
[`MessageDescriptor`]: https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/0.11.0/prost_reflect/struct.MessageDescriptor.html
[`DynamicMessage::decode`]: https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/0.11.0/prost_reflect/struct.DynamicMessage.html#method.decode
[`ReflectMessage`]: https://docs.rs/prost-reflect/0.11.0/prost_reflect/trait.ReflectMessage.html
[`Default`]: https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/core/default/trait.Default.html
[prost::Message]: https://docs.rs/prost/latest/prost/trait.Message.html
[prost_types::FileDescriptorSet]: https://docs.rs/prost-types/latest/prost_types/struct.FileDescriptorSet.html