Zserio Compiler User Guide

This document is a user guide for users and developers of the Zserio compiler tool. It will aid the user in usage of the Zserio tool.

The following subjects are covered:

Zserio Command Line Interface

Zserio Command Line Interface Examples

Zserio Warnings Subsystem

Zserio Ant Task

Zserio Ant Task Examples

Zserio Command Line Interface

Zserio compiler can be run using jar package zserio.jar. This “all-in-one” jar package contains Zserio core compiler packed together with all available extensions (for example, C++ and Java generators) and 3rd party libraries.

The following shows Zserio compiler command line syntax:

java -jar zserio.jar
    [-allowImplicitArrays]
    [-cpp <output directory>]
    [-doc <output directory>]
    [-h,--help <[topic]>]
    [-ignoreTimestamps]
    [-java <output directory>]
    [-python <output directory>]
    [-setCppAllocator <allocator>]
    [-setDotExecutable <dotExec>]
    [-setTopLevelPackage <package>]
    [-src <source directory>]
    [-v,--version]
    [-withCodeComments|-withoutCodeComments]
    [-withCrossExtensionCheck|-withoutCrossExtensionCheck]
    [-withGlobalRuleIdCheck|-withoutGlobalRuleIdCheck]
    [-withParsingInfoCode|-withoutParsingInfoCode]
    [-withPubsubCode|-withoutPubsubCode]
    [-withRangeCheckCode|-withoutRangeCheckCode]
    [-withReflectionCode|-withoutReflectionCode]
    [-withServiceCode|-withoutServiceCode]
    [-withSourcesAmalgamation|-withoutSourcesAmalgamation]
    [-withSqlCode|-withoutSqlCode]
    [-withSvgDiagrams|-withoutSvgDiagrams]
    [-withTypeInfoCode|-withoutTypeInfoCode]
    [-withWarnings|-withoutWarnings <warning[,warning]*>]
    [-withValidationCode|-withoutValidationCode]
    [-withWriterCode|-withoutWriterCode]
    [-xml <output directory>]
    <input file>

<input_file>

It is an absolute or relative file name for the top-level Zserio package to be parsed. If this package contains imports, e.g. import foo.bar.*, Zserio will convert this package name to a relative path name and try to read the imported package from foo\bar.zs.

-allowImplicitArrays

Allows implicit arrays in zserio language to be compatible with old schemas. Implicit arrays are disabled by default because they are deprecated and they will removed in the future.

-cpp

Zserio will generate C++ API into a given output directory.

-doc

Zserio will generate HTML documentation into a given output directory.

-h, --help

Shows all supported command line options with their description.

Optionally specify one of the following topics for detailed description: warnings.

-ignoreTimestamps

Switches Zserio to ignore timestamps and thus forces it to always regenerate output.

-java

Zserio will generate Java API into a given output directory.

-python

Zserio will generate Python API into a given output directory.

-setCppAllocator

Sets the C++ allocator type to be used in generated code. Possible values: std (default), polymorphic.

std stands for std::allocator<> class implemented in standard C++ library. polymorphic stands for zserio::pmr::PropagatingPolymorphicAllocator<> class implemented in Zserio C++ runtime library.

-setDotExecutable

Sets path to the executable for conversion of dot files to svg format. If this option is omitted, the dot executable is used and it is supposed that this executable is on the system path.

-setDotExecutable /usr/bin/dot causes to run executable /usr/bin/dot whenever the conversion of dot file to svg file is needed.

-setTopLevelPackage

Sets the top level package for generated Java sources and top level namespace for generated C++ sources.

Parameter -setTopLevelPackage appl.Zserio forces all generated Java sources to be in the package appl.Zserio and all generated C++ sources to be in the namespace appl::Zserio.

-src

Defines the root directory for the input file and all imported packages. If this option is missing, the default value is the current working directory. Currently, only one source directory can be specified. A list of directories as in the Java CLASSPATH is not supported.

If the source path is C:\zserio and the input file is com\acme\foo.zs, Zserio will try parsing C:\zserio\com\acme\foo.zs. If foo.zs contains the declaration import com.acme.bar.*, Zserio will try parsing C:\zserio\com\acme\bar.zs.

-v, --version

Shows the version of the Zserio tool.

-withCodeComments|-withoutCodeComments

Enables/disables comments in generated code. By default is disabled.

-withCrossExtensionCheck|-withoutCrossExtensionCheck

Enables/disables cross extension check, which causes that the checking phase is executed for all available extensions. By default is enabled to simplify to write portable schemas.

-withGlobalRuleIdCheck|-withoutGlobalRuleIdCheck

Enables/disables the checking of rule id uniqueness in zserio language between all packages (globally). If it is disabled, the rule id uniqueness is checked only within a package. By default is disabled.

-withParsingInfoCode|-withoutParsingInfoCode

Enables/disables parsing information code. The parsing information returns the bit position in the parsed blob and the bit size of the Zserio object. By default is disabled.

[!WARNING] Note that the returned parsing information is valid only directly after read! If the Zserio object has been changed after reading, the result is undefined!

[!CAUTION] Note that this feature is experimental and it is not part of API. It can be removed without any warning!

-withPubsubCode|-withoutPubsubCode

Enables/disables generation of code for Pubsub Types. By default is enabled, but note that pubsub types can be enabled only when writer code is enabled (see -withWriterCode option).

-withRangeCheckCode|-withoutRangeCheckCode

Enables/disables code for integer range checking for fields before serialization which allows identification of the wrong field. By default is disabled. This option does not influence integer range checking during serialization which cannot be disabled (but which cannot identify the wrong field). Note that integer range checking before serialization can be enabled only when writer code is enabled (see -withWriterCode option).

-withReflectionCode|-withoutReflectionCode

Enables/disables generation of reflection code. By default is disabled. Note that reflection code can be enabled only when generation of type information code is enabled (see -withTypeInfoCode option) and when writer code is enabled (see -withWriterCode option).

This parameter is currently supported by C++ generator only.

-withServiceCode|-withoutServiceCode

Enables/disables generation of code for Service Types. By default is enabled, but note that services can be enabled only when writer code is enabled (see -withWriterCode option).

-withSourcesAmalgamation|-withoutSourcesAmalgamation

Enables/disables amalgamation of generated C++ sources. When amalgamation is enabled (default behavior), C++ sources will be automatically amalgamated to speed up C++ compilation time. C++ sources generated in different subdirectories will be amalgamated separately. Thus, if amalgamation is enabled, each generated subdirectory will contain only one C++ source module.

-withSqlCode|-withoutSqlCode

Enables/disables generation of code for SQLite extension (SQLite types like sql_database, sql_table, etc…). By default is enabled.

-withSvgDiagrams|-withoutSvgDiagrams

Enables/disables automatic conversion of the generated dot files to the svg file format. The conversion to the svg files is done by calling of the external dot tool executable. Therefore this dot executable must be available on system path or must be defined by -setDotExecutable option. By default is disabled. The dot executable is a part of the Graphviz package which can be downloaded from Graphviz Web Page.

-withTypeInfoCode|-withoutTypeInfoCode

Enables/disables generation of type information code. By default is disabled.

-withWarnings|-withoutWarnings

Allows to enable/disable specific warnings. Use ‘–help warnings’ for detailed description.

-withValidationCode|-withoutValidationCode

Enables/disables generation of the API extension, which is used for SQLite database validation. By default is disabled. Note that validation code can be enabled only when writer code is enabled (see -withWriterCode option).

-withWriterCode|-withoutWriterCode

Enables/disables generation of the API writing interface extension. This extension allows writing data to the bit stream or to the SQLite database. By default is enabled.

-xml

When present, Zserio will dump an XML representation of the syntax tree of all input files into the specified directory.

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Zserio Command Line Interface Examples

The following command compiles Zserio source file zserio/test.zs located in directory sources and generates the Java API into directory api/java:

java -jar zserio.jar -java api/java -src sources zserio/test.zs

The following command compiles Zserio source file zserio/test.zs located in directory sources and generates HTML documentation into directory html:

java -jar zserio.jar -doc html -src sources zserio/test.zs

The following commands command compiles Zserio source file zserio/test.zs located in sources and generates:

Java API into directory api/java,
C++ API into directory api/cpp,
Python API into directory api/python,
HTML documentation into directory html,
XML syntax tree of all input files into directory xml.

java -jar zserio.jar -java api/java -cpp api/cpp -python api/python -doc html -xml xml -src sources zserio/test.zs

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Zserio Warnings Subsystem

Zserio provides possibility to configure warnings on command line. Each warning has it’s own specifier (i.e. tag) which can be used to either enable or disable the particular warning.

Options -withWarnings and -withoutWarnings can be combined. When warnings options groups are used, more generic groups are applied first so that it is possible to enable all warnings in a group and then disable some smaller set of warnings or just a single warning.

List of Warnings

all Controls all warnings at once.
choice-unhandled-enum-item Warn when a choice with enumeration selector does not handle some of the enumeration items. Enabled by default.
default-instantiation Warn about template instantiations which are not instantiated using instantiate keyword. Disabled by default.
doc-comment-format Warn when a documentation comment has invalid format. Enabled by default.
doc-comment-missing Warn when a documentable schema element has no documentation comment assigned. Disabled by default.
doc-comment-link Warn when a documentation link contains invalid symbol reference (e.g. see tag or markdown link). Enabled by default.
doc-comment-unused Warn when a documentation comment is not used - i.e. cannot be assigned to any documentable element. Enabled by default.
encoding Warn when a source file is not in UTF-8 encoding or when it contains non-printable characters. Enabled by default.
import Warn when some imports are duplicated or overrides other imports. Enabled by default.
optional-field-reference Warn when an expression contains a reference to an optional field, while the owner of the expression has no or inconsistent optional condition. Enabled by default.
timestamp Warn when timestamp of a source or a resource (on a class path) cannot be retrieved. Enabled by default.
sql-primary-key Warn when a problem with primary key is detected in a SQL table. This can happen in various cases - no primary key, duplicated primary key, etc. Enabled by default.
unpackable-array Warn when a packed array is used on arrays of unpackable elements. Can be fired either for arrays of unpackable simple types (e.g. string) or for arrays of compounds which contain only unpackable types. Enabled by default.
unpackable-union Warn when a packed array of unions doesn’t contain any packable fields and thus only selector is packed, which may unintentionally break alignment of the union fields. Enabled by default.
unused Warn about defined, but unused types. Disabled by default.

Zserio Ant Task

The Zserio release distribution also includes a custom Ant task. It can be found in folder ant_task inside the binary distribution archive file as zserio_ant.jar file.

To use the Ant task, it needs to be defined first in Ant configuration file build.xml. The following command can be used for Zserio Ant task definition:

<taskdef name="zserio" classpath="zserio_ant.jar" classname="zserio.ant.ZserioTask"/>

From that point, you can use the task zserio. The usage is:

<zserio attributes… >
    child nodes…
</zserio>

The following table shows all supported Zserio task attributes:

Zserio Task Attribute	Description
`srcPath="path"`	Path to source files. Required.
`srcFile="file"`	Input file, relative to `srcPath`. Required.
`ignoreError="boolean"`	When set to `true`, compilation error will be ignored and not reported to Ant. Default is `false`.

The next section describes all supported Zserio task child nodes:

<arg name="name" value="value"/>

Adds a custom option of the form -name=value or -name if value is not specified. This node can be used

multiple times.

<classpath>
    path-like-structure
</classpath>

Classpath used to locate Zserio Tool. It must include zserio.jar or zserio_core.jar and all dependent extensions (like zerio_java.jar) and 3rd party libraries (like antlr.jar).

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Zserio Ant Task Examples

The following demonstrates the usage of Zserio Ant task:

<zserio srcPath="my_in_dir" srcFile="my.zs">
    <arg name="withRangeCheckCode"/>
    <arg name="java" value="my_out_dir"/>
    <classpath>
        <path refid="my_classpath"/>
    </classpath>
</zerio>

This command calls Zserio tool to compile source file my.zs, located in directory my_in_dir and generates the Java API including strict range checking into directory my_out_dir.

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