How do I serialize with Protobuf/FlatBuffers?

Serialization is the process of converting an object into a format that can be easily stored or transmitted. Two popular libraries for serialization in C++ are Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) and FlatBuffers. Both of these libraries allow for efficient serialization of structured data, but they have different use cases and advantages.

Protocol Buffers (Protobuf)

Protobuf is a method developed by Google for serializing structured data. It is both language-agnostic and platform-neutral, making it ideal for communication between services. Here’s an example of how to serialize and deserialize data using Protobuf in C++.

// Example of Protobuf usage syntax = "proto3"; message Person { string name = 1; int32 id = 2; repeated string email = 3; }

To serialize data with Protobuf:

Person person; person.set_name("John Doe"); person.set_id(12345); person.add_email("john@example.com"); // Serialize to string std::string output; person.SerializeToString(&output);

To deserialize the data back:

Person new_person; new_person.ParseFromString(output);

FlatBuffers

FlatBuffers is another serialization library developed by Google. It allows reading data without unpacking/allocating memory, and is particularly useful for rendering in game development. Here's an example of working with FlatBuffers.

// Example of FlatBuffers usage table Monster { id:int; name:string; inventory:[ubyte]; } root_type Monster;

To serialize data with FlatBuffers:

// Build the FlatBuffer flatbuffers::FlatBufferBuilder builder; auto name = builder.CreateString("Orc"); std::vector<:uoffset_t> inv; MonsterBuilder monster_builder(builder); monster_builder.add_name(name); monster_builder.add_id(1); monster_builder.add_inventory(builder.CreateVector(inv)); auto monster = monster_builder.Finish(); builder.Finish(monster);

To access the data from the buffer:

Monster *monster = GetMonster(builder.GetBufferPointer());

C++ Protobuf FlatBuffers Serialization Data Communication

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