20 January 2012

Java Construct 1.0.0 Release


I'm pleased to announce release 1.0.0 of Java Construct, a faithful
port to Java of Python Construct.

About Python Construct: http://construct.wikispaces.com/
"Construct is a python library for parsing and building of data
structures (binary or textual). It is based on the concept of defining
data structures in a declarative manner, rather than procedural code:
more complex constructs are composed of a hierarchy of simpler ones.
It's the first library that makes parsing fun, instead of the usual
headache it is today."

About Java Construct: https://github.com/ZiglioUK/construct/
This Java version employs some syntactic sugar (i.e. static methods)
to make the syntax as close as possible to the original Construct
library in Python.

Example of a Construct:

 import static construct.Core.*;  
   import static construct.Macros.*;  
   import static construct.Adapters.*;  
   import static construct.lib.Containers.*;  
   Construct struct = BitStruct(  
     "foo",  
     BitField("a", 3),  
     Flag("b"),  
     Padding(3),  
     Nibble("c"),  
     Struct("bar",  
       Nibble("d"),  
       Bit("e")  
     )  
   );  
A Java Construct can parse byte arrays and produces Objects like Containers. Viceversa, it can take Objects to produce byte arrays.
   public Object parse(byte[] data);  
   public byte[] build( Object obj);  
Parsing example:
   Container c1 = Container(  
     "a", 7,  
     "b", false,  
     "bar",  
     Container(  
       "d", 15 ,  
       "e", 1  
      ),  
      "c",8  
   );  
   Container c2 = struct.parse( ByteArray( 0xe1, 0x1f ));  
   assertEquals( c1, c2 );  
Currently Java Construct supports enough Macros, Adapters and Repeaters to parse and build these protocols: Full ipstack example: https://github.com/ZiglioUK/construct/blob/master/src/main/construct/protocols/ipstack.java Notes: 1. I haven't tested for threadsafety but it's a priority 2. Streams are not supported so a message has to be contained in memory. If there are segments, they have to re-assambled prior to parsing 3. Text protocols like http are not supported, it's questionable whether Construct would be the right tool for text parsing.