# # Copyright (c) 2014, Juniper Networks, Inc. # All rights reserved. # This SOFTWARE is licensed under the LICENSE provided in the # ../Copyright file. By downloading, installing, copying, or # using the SOFTWARE, you agree to be bound by the terms of that # LICENSE. # Phil Shafer, July 2014 # * libxo libxo - A Library for Generating Text, XML, JSON, and HTML Output You live in the present, but you want to live in the future. You'd love a flying car, but need to get to work today. You want to support features like XML, JSON, and HTML rendering to allow integration with NETCONF, REST, and web browsers, but you need to make text output for command line users. And you don't want multiple code paths that can't help but get out of sync. None of this "if (xml) {... } else {...}" logic. And ifdefs are right out. But you'd really, really like all the fancy features that modern encoding formats can provide. The libxo library allows an application to generate text, XML, JSON, and HTML output using a common set of function calls. The application decides at run time which output style should be produced. The application calls a function "xo_emit" to product output that is described in a format string. A "field descriptor" tells libxo what the field is and what it means. Each field descriptor is placed in braces with a printf-like format string: xo_emit(" {:lines/%7ju} {:words/%7ju} " "{:characters/%7ju}{d:filename/%s}\n", linect, wordct, charct, file); Each field can have a role, with the 'value' role being the default, and the role tells libxo how and when to render that field. Output can then be generated in various style, using the "--libxo" option: % wc /etc/motd 25 165 1140 /etc/motd % wc --libxo xml,pretty,warn /etc/motd /etc/motd 25 165 1140 % wc --libxo json,pretty,warn /etc/motd { "wc": { "file": [ { "filename": "/etc/motd", "lines": 25, "words": 165, "characters": 1140 } ] } } % wc --libxo html,pretty,warn /etc/motd
25
165
1140
/etc/motd
** Getting libxo libxo lives on github as: https://github.com/Juniper/libxo The latest release of libxo is available at: https://github.com/Juniper/libxo/releases We are following the branching scheme from ^http://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/^ which means we will do development under the "develop" branch, and release from the master. To clone a developer tree, run the following command: git clone https://github.com/Juniper/libxo.git -b develop We're using semantic release numbering. * Overview Most unix commands emit text output aimed at humans. It is designed to be parsed and understood by a user. Humans are gifted at extracted details and pattern matching. Often programmers need to extract information from this human-oriented output. Programmers use tools like grep, awk, and regular expressions to ferret out the pieces of information they need. Such solutions are fragile and require updates when output contents change or evolve, requiring testing and validation. Modern tool developers favors encoding schemes like XML and JSON, which allow trivial parsing and extraction of data. Such formats are simple, well understood, hierarchical, easily parsed, and often integrate easier with common tools and environments. In addition, modern reality means that more output ends up in web browsers than in terminals, making HTML output valuable. libxo allows a single set of function calls in source code to generate traditional text output, as well as XML and JSON formatted data. HTML can also be generated; "
" elements surround the traditional text output, with attributes that detail how to render the data. A single libxo function call in source code is all that's required: xo_emit("Connecting to {:host}.{:domain}...\n", host, domain); Text: Connection to my-box.example.com... XML: my-box example.com JSON: "host": my-box", "domain": "example.com" For brevity, the HTML output is emitted. ** Encoding Styles There are four encoding styles supported by libxo: TEXT, HTML, JSON, and XML. JSON and XML are suitable for encoding data, while TEXT and HTML are suited for display to the user. TEXT output can be display on a terminal session, allowing compatibility with traditional usage. HTML can be matched with a small CSS file to permit rendering in any HTML5 browser. XML output is suitable for tools like XPath and protocols like NETCONF. JSON output can be used for RESTful APIs. *** Text Output Most traditional programs generate text output on standard output, with contents like: 36 ./src 40 ./bin 90 . In this example (taken from du source code), the code to generate this data might look like: printf("%d\t%s\n", num_blocks, path); Simple, direct, obvious. But it's only making text output. Imagine using a single code path to make text, XML, JSON or HTML, deciding at run time which to generate. libxo expands on the idea of printf format strings to make a single format containing instructions for creating multiple output styles: xo_emit("{:blocks/%d}\t{:path/%s}\n", num_blocks, path); This line will generate the same text output as the earlier printf call, but also has enough information to generate XML, JSON, and HTML. The following sections introduce the other formats. *** XML Output XML output consists of a hierarchical set of elements, each encoded with a start tag and an end tag. The element should be named for data value that it is encoding: 36 ./src 40 ./bin 90 . XML is a W3C standard for encoding data. See w3c.org/TR/xml for additional information. *** JSON Output JSON output consists of a hierarchical set of objects and lists, each encoded with a quoted name, a colon, and a value. If the value is a string, it must be quoted, but numbers are not quoted. Objects are encoded using braces; lists are encoded using square brackets. Data inside objects and lists is separated using commas: items: [ { "blocks": 36, "path" : "./src" }, { "blocks": 40, "path" : "./bin" }, { "blocks": 90, "path" : "./" } ] *** HTML Output HTML output is designed to allow the output to be rendered in a web browser with minimal effort. Each piece of output data is rendered inside a
element, with a class name related to the role of the data. By using a small set of class attribute values, a CSS stylesheet can render the HTML into rich text that mirrors the traditional text content. Additional attributes can be enabled to provide more details about the data, including data type, description, and an XPath location.
36
./src
40
./bin
90
./
** Format Strings @format-strings@ libxo uses format strings to control the rendering of data into the various output styles. Each format string contains a set of zero or more field descriptions, which describe independent data fields. Each field description contains a set of modifiers, a content string, and zero, one, or two format descriptors. The modifiers tell libxo what the field is and how to treat it, while the format descriptors are formatting instructions using printf-style format strings, telling libxo how to format the field. The field description is placed inside a set of braces, with a colon (":") after the modifiers and a slash ("/") before each format descriptors. Text may be intermixed with field descriptions within the format string. The field description is given as follows: '{' [ role | modifier ]* ':' [ content ] [ '/' field-format [ '/' encoding-format ]] '}' The role describes the function of the field, while the modifiers enable optional behaviors. The contents, field-format, and encoding-format are used in varying ways, based on the role. These are described in the following sections. In the following example, three field descriptors appear. The first is a padding field containing three spaces of padding, the second is a label ("In stock"), and the third is a value field ("in-stock"). The in-stock field has a "%u" format that will parse the next argument passed to the xo_emit function as an unsigned integer. xo_emit("{P: }{Lwc:In stock}{:in-stock/%u}\n", 65); This single line of code can generate text (" In stock: 65\n"), XML ("65"), JSON ('"in-stock": 6'), or HTML (too lengthy to be listed here). *** Modifier Roles Modifiers are optional, and indicate the role and formatting of the content. The roles are listed below; only one role is permitted: |---+--------------+-------------------------------------------------| | M | Name | Description | |---+--------------+-------------------------------------------------| | D | decoration | Field is non-text (e.g. colon, comma) | | E | error | Field is an error message | | L | label | Field is text that prefixes a value | | N | note | Field is text that follows a value | | P | padding | Field is spaces needed for vertical alignment | | T | title | Field is a title value for headings | | U | units | Field is the units for the previous value field | | V | value | Field is the name of field (the default) | | W | warning | Field is a warning message | | [ | start anchor | Begin a section of anchored variable-width text | | ] | stop anchor | End a section of anchored variable-width text | |---+--------------+-------------------------------------------------| **** The Decoration Role ({D:}) Decorations are typically punctuation marks such as colons, semi-colons, and commas used to decorate the text and make it simpler for human readers. By marking these distinctly, HTML usage scenarios can use CSS to direct their display parameters. xo_emit("{D:((}{:name}{D:))}\n", name); **** The Label Role ({L:}) Labels are text that appears before a value. xo_emit("{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}\n", cost); **** The Note Role ({N:}) Notes are text that appears after a value. xo_emit("{:cost/%u} {N:per year}\n", cost); **** The Padding Role ({P:}) Padding represents whitespace used before and between fields. The padding content can be either static, when placed directly within the field descriptor, or a printf-style format descriptor can be used, if preceded by a slash ("/"): xo_emit("{P: }{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}\n", cost); xo_emit("{P:/30s}{Lwc:Cost}{:cost/%u}\n", "", cost); **** The Title Role ({T:}) Title are heading or column headers that are meant to be displayed to the user. The title can be either static, when placed directly within the field descriptor, or a printf-style format descriptor can be used, if preceded by a slash ("/"): xo_emit("{T:Interface Statistics}\n"); xo_emit("{T:/%20.20s}{T:/%6.6s}\n", "Item Name", "Cost"); **** The Units Role ({U:}) Units are the dimension by which values are measured, such as degrees, miles, bytes, and decibels. The units field carries this information for the previous value field. xo_emit("{Lwc:Distance}{:distance/%u}{Uw:miles}\n", miles); Note that the sense of the 'w' modifier is reversed for units; a blank is added before the contents, rather than after it. When the XOF_UNITS flag is set, units are rendered in XML as the "units" attribute: 50 Units can also be rendered in HTML as the "data-units" attribute:
50
**** The Value Role ({V:} and {:}) The value role is used to represent the a data value that is interesting for the non-display output styles (XML and JSON). Value is the default role; if no other role designation is given, the field is a value. The field name must appear within the field descriptor, followed by one or two format descriptors. The first format descriptor is used for display styles (TEXT and HTML), while the second one is used for encoding styles (XML and JSON). If no second format is given, the encoding format defaults to the first format, with any minimum width removed. If no first format is given, both format descriptors default to "%s". xo_emit("{:length/%02u}x{:width/%02u}x{:height/%02u}\n", length, width, height); xo_emit("{:author} wrote \"{:poem}\" in {:year/%4d}\n, author, poem, year); **** The Anchor Modifiers ({[:} and {]:}) The anchor roles allow a set of strings by be padded as a group, but still be visible to xo_emit as distinct fields. Either the start or stop anchor can give a field width and it can be either directly in the descriptor or passed as an argument. Any fields between the start and stop anchor are padded to meet the minimum width given. To give a width directly, encode it as the content of the anchor tag: xo_emit("({[:10}{:min/%d}/{:max/%d}{]:})\n", min, max); To pass a width as an argument, use "%d" as the format, which must appear after the "/". Note that only "%d" is supported for widths. Using any other value could ruin your day. xo_emit("({[:/%d}{:min/%d}/{:max/%d}{]:})\n", width, min, max); If the width is negative, padding will be added on the right, suitable for left justification. Otherwise the padding will be added to the left of the fields between the start and stop anchors, suitable for right justification. If the width is zero, nothing happens. If the number of columns of output between the start and stop anchors is less than the absolute value of the given width, nothing happens. Widths over 8k are considered probable errors and not supported. If XOF_WARN is set, a warning will be generated. *** Modifier Flags The modifiers can also include the following flags, which modify the content emitted for some output styles: |---+--------------+-------------------------------------------------| | M | Name | Description | |---+--------------+-------------------------------------------------| | c | colon | A colon (":") is appended after the label | | d | display | Only emit field for display styles (text/HTML) | | e | encoding | Only emit for encoding styles (XML/JSON) | | k | key | Field is a key, suitable for XPath predicates | | n | no-quotes | Do not quote the field when using JSON style | | q | quotes | Quote the field when using JSON style | | w | white space | A blank (" ") is appended after the label | |---+--------------+-------------------------------------------------| For example, the modifier string "Lwc" means the field has a label role (text that describes the next field) and should be followed by a colon ('c') and a space ('w'). The modifier string "Vkq" means the field has a value role, that it is a key for the current instance, and that the value should be quoted when encoded for JSON. **** The Colon Modifier ({c:}) The colon modifier appends a single colon to the data value: EXAMPLE: xo_emit("{Lc:Name}{:name}\n", "phil"); TEXT: Name:phil The colon modifier is only used for the TEXT and HTML output styles. It is commonly combined with the space modifier ('{w:'). It is purely a convenience feature. **** The Display Modifier ({d:}) The display modifier indicated the field should only be generated for the display output styles, TEXT and HTML. EXAMPLE: xo_emit("{Lcw:Name}{d:name} {:id/%d}\n", "phil", 1); TEXT: Name: phil 1 XML: 1 The display modifier is the opposite of the encoding modifier, and they are often used to give to distinct views of the underlying data. **** The Encoding Modifier ({e:}) @e-modifier@ The display modifier indicated the field should only be generated for the display output styles, TEXT and HTML. EXAMPLE: xo_emit("{Lcw:Name}{:name} {e:id/%d}\n", "phil", 1); TEXT: Name: phil XML: phil1 The encoding modifier is the opposite of the display modifier, and they are often used to give to distinct views of the underlying data. **** The Key Modifier ({k:}) The key modifier is used to indicate that a particular field helps uniquely identify an instance of list data. EXAMPLE: xo_open_list("user"); for (i = 0; i < num_users; i++) { xo_open_instance("user"); xo_emit("User {k:name} has {:count} tickets\n", user[i].u_name, user[i].u_tickets); xo_close_instance("user"); } xo_close_list("user"); Currently the key modifier is only used when generating XPath value for the HTML output style when XOF_XPATH is set, but other uses are likely in the near future. **** The No-Quotes Modifier ({n:}) The no-quotes modifier (and its twin, the 'quotes' modifier) affect the quoting of values in the JSON output style. JSON uses quotes for string value, but no quotes for numeric, boolean, and null data. xo_emit applies a simple heuristic to determine whether quotes are needed, but often this needs to be controlled by the caller. EXAMPLE: const char *bool = is_true ? "true" : "false"; xo_emit("{n:fancy/%s}", bool); JSON: "fancy": true **** The Quotes Modifier ({q:}) The quotes modifier (and its twin, the 'no-quotes' modifier) affect the quoting of values in the JSON output style. JSON uses quotes for string value, but no quotes for numeric, boolean, and null data. xo_emit applies a simple heuristic to determine whether quotes are needed, but often this needs to be controlled by the caller. EXAMPLE: xo_emit("{q:time/%d}", 2014); JSON: "year": "2014" **** The White Space Modifier ({w:}) The white space modifier appends a single space to the data value: EXAMPLE: xo_emit("{Lw:Name}{:name}\n", "phil"); TEXT: Name phil The white space modifier is only used for the TEXT and HTML output styles. It is commonly combined with the colon modifier ('{c:'). It is purely a convenience feature. Note that the sense of the 'w' modifier is reversed for the units role ({Uw:}); a blank is added before the contents, rather than after it. *** Field Formatting The field format is similar to the format string for printf(3). It's used varies based on the role of the field, but generally is used to format the field's contents. If not provided, the format string defaults to "%s". Note a field definition can contain zero or more printf-style 'directives', which are sequences that start with a '%' and end with a one of following characters: "diouxXDOUeEfFgGaAcCsSp". Each directive is matched by one of more arguments to the xo_emit function. The format string has the form: '%' format-modifier * format-character The format- modifier can be: - a '#' character, indicating the output value should be prefixed with '0x', typically to indicate a base 16 (hex) value. - a minus sign ('-'), indicating the output value should be padded on the right instead of the left. - a leading zero ('0') indicating the output value should be padded on the left with zeroes instead of spaces (' '). - one or more digits ('0' - '9') indicating the minimum width of the argument. If the width in columns of the output value is less that the minumum width, the value will be padded to reach the minimum. - a period followed by one or more digits indicating the maximum number of bytes which will be examined for a string argument, or the maximum width for a non-string argument. When handling ASCII strings this is functions as the field width but for multi-byte characters, a single character may be composed of multiple bytes. xo_emit will never dereference memory beyond the given number of bytes. - a second period followed by one or more digits indicating the maximum width for a string argument. This modifier cannot be given for non-string arguments. - one or more 'h' characters, indicating shorter input data. - one or more 'l' characters, indicating longer input data. - a 'z' character, indicating a 'size_t' argument. - a 't' character, indicating a 'ptrdiff_t' argument. - a ' ' character, indicating a space should be emitted before positive numbers. - a '+' character, indicating sign should emitted before any number. Note that 'q', 'D', 'O', and 'U' are considered deprecated and will be removed eventually. The format character is described in the following table: |-----+-----------------+----------------------| | Ltr | Argument Type | Format | |-----+-----------------+----------------------| | d | int | base 10 (decimal) | | i | int | base 10 (decimal) | | o | int | base 8 (octal) | | u | unsigned | base 10 (decimal) | | x | unsigned | base 16 (hex) | | X | unsigned long | base 16 (hex) | | D | long | base 10 (decimal) | | O | unsigned long | base 8 (octal) | | U | unsigned long | base 10 (decimal) | | e | double | [-]d.ddde+-dd | | E | double | [-]d.dddE+-dd | | f | double | [-]ddd.ddd | | F | double | [-]ddd.ddd | | g | double | as 'e' or 'f' | | G | double | as 'E' or 'F' | | a | double | [-]0xh.hhhp[+-]d | | A | double | [-]0Xh.hhhp[+-]d | | c | unsigned char | a character | | C | wint_t | a character | | s | char * | a UTF-8 string | | S | wchar_t * | a unicode/WCS string | | p | void * | '%#lx' | |-----+-----------------+----------------------| The 'h' and 'l' modifiers affect the size and treatment of the argument: |-----+-------------+--------------------| | Mod | d, i | o, u, x, X | |-----+-------------+--------------------| | hh | signed char | unsigned char | | h | short | unsigned short | | l | long | unsigned long | | ll | long long | unsigned long long | | j | intmax_t | uintmax_t | | t | ptrdiff_t | ptrdiff_t | | z | size_t | size_t | | q | quad_t | u_quad_t | |-----+-------------+--------------------| *** UTF-8 and Locale Strings For strings, the 'h' and 'l' modifiers affect the interpretation of the bytes pointed to argument. The default '%s' string is a 'char *' pointer to a string encoded as UTF-8. Since UTF-8 is compatible with ASCII data, a normal 7-bit ASCII string can be used. '%ls' expects a 'wchar_t *' pointer to a wide-character string, encoded as a 32-bit Unicode values. '%hs' expects a 'char *' pointer to a multi-byte string encoded with the current locale, as given by the LC_CTYPE, LANG, or LC_ALL environment varibles. The first of this list of variables is used and if none of the variables, the locale defaults to "UTF-8". For example, a function is passed a locale-base name, a hat size, and a time value. The hat size is formatted in a UTF-8 (ASCII) string, and the time value is formatted into a wchar_t string. void print_order (const char *name, int size, struct tm *timep) { char buf[32]; const char *size_val = "unknown"; if (size > 0) snprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), "%d", size); size_val = buf; } wchar_t when[32]; wcsftime(when, sizeof(when), L"%d%b%y", timep); xo_emit("The hat for {:name/%hs} is {:size/%s}.\n", name, size_val); xo_emit("It was ordered on {:order-time/%ls}.\n", when); } It is important to note that xo_emit will perform the conversion required to make appropriate output. Text style output uses the current locale (as described above), while XML, JSON, and HTML use UTF-8. UTF-8 and locale-encoded strings can use multiple bytes to encode one column of data. The traditional "precision'" (aka "max-width") value for "%s" printf formatting becomes overloaded since it specifies both the number of bytes that can be safely referenced and the maximum number of columns to emit. xo_emit uses the precision as the former, and adds a third value for specifying the maximum number of columns. In this example, the name field is printed with a minimum of 3 columns and a maximum of 6. Up to ten bytes are in used in filling those columns. xo_emit("{:name/%3.10.6s}", name); *** Characters Outside of Field Definitions Characters in the format string are not part of a field definition are copied to the output for the TEXT style, and are ignored for the JSON and XML styles. For HTML, these characters are placed in a
with class "text". EXAMPLE: xo_emit("The hat is {:size/%s}.\n", size_val); TEXT: The hat is extra small. XML: extra small JSON: "size": "extra small" HTML:
The hat is
extra small
.
*** "%n" is Not Supported libxo does not support the '%n' directive. It's a bad idea and we just don't do it. *** The Encoding Format (eformat) The "eformat" string is the format string used when encoding the field for JSON and XML. If not provided, it defaults to the primary format with any minimum width removed. If the primary is not given, both default to "%s". *** Content Strings For padding and labels, the content string is considered the content, unless a format is given. *** Example In this example, the value for the number of items in stock is emitted: xo_emit("{P: }{Lwc:In stock}{:in-stock/%u}\n", instock); This call will generate the following output: TEXT: In stock: 144 XML: 144 JSON: "in-stock": 144, HTML:
In stock
:
144
Clearly HTML wins the verbosity award, and this output does not include XOF_XPATH or XOF_INFO data, which would expand the penultimate line to:
144
** Command-line Arguments libxo uses command line options to trigger rendering behavior. The following options are recognised: - --libxo - --libxo= - --libxo: Options is a comma-separated list of tokens that correspond to output styles, flags, or features: |-----------+-------------------------------------------------------| | Token | Action | |-----------+-------------------------------------------------------| | dtrt | Enable "Do The Right Thing" mode | | html | Emit HTML output | | indent=xx | Set the indentation level | | info | Add info attributes (HTML) | | json | Emit JSON output | | keys | Emit the key attribute for keys (XML) | | no-locale | Do not initialize the locale setting | | no-top | Do not emit a top set of braces (JSON) | | not-first | Pretend the 1st output item was not 1st (JSON) | | pretty | Emit pretty-printed output | | text | Emit TEXT output | | units | Add the 'units' (XML) or 'data-units (HTML) attribute | | warn | Emit warnings when libxo detects bad calls | | warn-xml | Emit warnings in XML | | xml | Emit XML output | | xpath | Add XPath expressions (HTML) | |-----------+-------------------------------------------------------| The brief options are detailed in ^LIBXO_OPTIONS^. ** Representing Hierarchy For XML and JSON, individual fields appear inside hierarchies which provide context and meaning to the fields. Unfortunately, these encoding have a basic disconnect between how lists is similar objects are represented. XML encodes lists as set of sequential elements: phil pallavi sjg JSON encodes lists using a single name and square brackets: "user": [ "phil", "pallavi", "sjg" ] This means libxo needs three distinct indications of hierarchy: one for containers of hierarchy appear only once for any specific parent, one for lists, and one for each item in a list. *** Containers A "container" is an element of a hierarchy that appears only once under any specific parent. The container has no value, but serves to contain other nodes. To open a container, call xo_open_container() or xo_open_container_h(). The former uses the default handle and the latter accepts a specific handle. int xo_open_container_h (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name); int xo_open_container (const char *name); To close a level, use the xo_close_container() or xo_close_container_h() functions: int xo_close_container_h (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name); int xo_close_container (const char *name); Each open call must have a matching close call. If the XOF_WARN flag is set and the name given does not match the name of the currently open container, a warning will be generated. Example: xo_open_container("top"); xo_open_container("system"); xo_emit("{:host-name/%s%s%s", hostname, domainname ? "." : "", domainname ?: ""); xo_close_container("system"); xo_close_container("top"); Sample Output: Text: my-host.example.org XML: my-host.example.org JSON: "top" : { "system" : { "host-name": "my-host.example.org" } } HTML:
my-host.example.org
*** Lists and Instances A list is set of one or more instances that appear under the same parent. The instances contains details about a specific object. One can think of instances as objects or records. A call is needed to open and close the list, while a distinct call is needed to open and close each instance of the list: xo_open_list("item"); for (ip = list; ip->i_title; ip++) { xo_open_instance("item"); xo_emit("{L:Item} '{:name/%s}':\n", ip->i_title); xo_close_instance("item"); } xo_close_list("item"); Getting the list and instance calls correct is critical to the proper generation of XML and JSON data. *** DTRT Mode Some user may find tracking the names of open containers, lists, and instances inconvenient. libxo offers "Do The Right Thing" mode, where libxo will track the names of open containers, lists, and instances so the close function can be called without a name. To enable DTRT mode, turn on the XOF_DTRT flag prior to making any other libxo output. xo_set_flags(NULL, XOF_DTRT); Each open and close function has a version with the suffix "_d", which will close the open container, list, or instance: xo_open_container("top"); ... xo_close_container_d(); Note that the XOF_WARN flag will also cause libxo to track open containers, lists, and instances. A warning is generated with the name given to the close function and the name recorded do not match. ** Handles libxo uses "handles" to control its rendering functionality. The handle contains state and buffered data, as well as callback functions to process data. A default handle is used when a NULL is passed to functions accepting a handle. This handle is initialized to write its data to stdout using the default style of text (XO_STYLE_TEXT). For the convenience of callers, the libxo library includes handle-less functions that implicitly use the default handle. Any function that takes a handle will use the default handle is a value of NULL is passed in place of a valid handle. For example, the following are equivalent: xo_emit("test"); xo_emit_h(NULL, "test"); Handles are created using xo_create() and destroy using xo_destroy(). ** UTF-8 All strings for libxo must be UTF-8. libxo will handle turning them into locale-based strings for display to the user. The only exception is argument formatted using the "%ls" format, which require a wide character string (wchar_t *) as input. libxo will convert these arguments as needed to either UTF-8 (for XML, JSON, and HTML styles) or locale-based strings for display in text style. xo_emit("Alll strings are utf-8 content {:tag/%ls}", L"except for wide strings"); "%S" is equivalent to "%ls". * The libxo API This section gives details about the functions in libxo, how to call them, and the actions they perform. ** Handles Handles give an abstraction for libxo that encapsulates the state of a stream of output. Handles have the data type "xo_handle_t" and are opaque to the caller. The library has a default handle that is automatically initialized. By default, this handle will send text style output to standard output. The xo_set_style and xo_set_flags functions can be used to change this behavior. Many libxo functions take a handle as their first parameter; most that do not use the default handle. Any function taking a handle can be passed NULL to access the default handle. For the typical command that is generating output on standard output, there is no need to create an explicit handle, but they are available when needed, e.g. for daemons that generate multiple streams of output. *** xo_create A handle can be allocated using the xo_create() function: xo_handle_t *xo_create (unsigned style, unsigned flags); Example: xo_handle_t *xop = xo_create(XO_STYLE_JSON, XOF_WARN); .... xo_emit_h(xop, "testing\n"); See also ^styles^ and ^flags^. *** xo_create_to_file By default, libxo writes output to standard output. A convenience function is provided for situations when output should be written to different file: xo_handle_t *xo_create_to_file (FILE *fp, unsigned style, unsigned flags); Use the XOF_CLOSE_FP flag to trigger a call to fclose() for the FILE pointer when the handle is destroyed. *** xo_set_writer The xo_set_writer function allows custom 'write' functions which can tailor how libxo writes data. An opaque argument is recorded and passed back to the write function, allowing the function to acquire context information. The 'close' function can release this opaque data and any other resources as needed. void xo_set_writer (xo_handle_t *xop, void *opaque, xo_write_func_t write_func, xo_close_func_t close_func); *** xo_set_style To set the style, use the xo_set_style() function: void xo_set_style(xo_handle_t *xop, unsigned style); To use the default handle, pass a NULL handle: xo_set_style(NULL, XO_STYLE_XML); **** Output Styles (XO_STYLE_*) @styles@ The libxo functions accept a set of output styles: |---------------+-------------------------| | Flag | Description | |---------------+-------------------------| | XO_STYLE_TEXT | Traditional text output | | XO_STYLE_XML | XML encoded data | | XO_STYLE_JSON | JSON encoded data | | XO_STYLE_HTML | HTML encoded data | |---------------+-------------------------| **** xo_set_style_name The xo_set_style_name() can be used to set the style based on a name encoded as a string: int xo_set_style_name (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *style); The name can be any of the styles: "text", "xml", "json", or "html". EXAMPLE: xo_set_style_name(NULL, "html"); *** xo_set_flags To set the flags, use the xo_set_flags() function: void xo_set_flags(xo_handle_t *xop, unsigned flags); To use the default handle, pass a NULL handle: xo_set_style(NULL, XO_STYLE_XML); **** Flags (XOF_*) @flags@ The set of valid flags include: |-----------------+---------------------------------------| | Flag | Description | |-----------------+---------------------------------------| | XOF_CLOSE_FP | Close file pointer on xo_destroy() | | XOF_DTRT | Enable "do the right thing" mode | | XOF_INFO | Display info data attributes (HTML) | | XOF_KEYS | Emit the key attribute (XML) | | XOF_NO_ENV | Do not use the LIBXO_OPTIONS env var | | XOF_PRETTY | Make 'pretty printed' output | | XOF_UNDERSCORES | Replaces hyphens with underscores | | XOF_UNITS | Display units (XML and HMTL) | | XOF_WARN | Generate warnings for broken calls | | XOF_WARN_XML | Generate warnings in XML on stdout | | XOF_XPATH | Emit XPath expressions (HTML) | | XOF_COLUMNS | Force xo_emit to return columns used | | XOF_FLUSH | Flush output after each xo_emit call | |-----------------+---------------------------------------| The XOF_CLOSE_FP flag will trigger the call of the close_func (provided via xo_set_writer()) when the handle is destroyed. The XOF_PRETTY flag requests 'pretty printing', which will trigger the addition of indentation and newlines to enhance the readability of XML, JSON, and HTML output. Text output is not affected. The XOF_WARN flag requests that warnings will trigger diagnostic output (on standard error) when the library notices errors during operations, or with arguments to functions. Without warning enabled, such conditions are ignored. Warnings allow developers to debug their interaction with libxo. The function "xo_failure" can used as a breakpoint for a debugger, regardless of whether warnings are enabled. If the style is XO_STYLE_HTML, the following additional flags can be used: |---------------+-----------------------------------------| | Flag | Description | |---------------+-----------------------------------------| | XOF_XPATH | Emit "data-xpath" attributes | | XOF_INFO | Emit additional info fields | |---------------+-----------------------------------------| The XOF_XPATH flag enables the emission of XPath expressions detailing the hierarchy of XML elements used to encode the data field, if the XPATH style of output were requested. The XOF_INFO flag encodes additional informational fields for HTML output. See ^info^ for details. If the style is XO_STYLE_XML, the following additional flags can be used: |---------------+-----------------------------------------| | Flag | Description | |---------------+-----------------------------------------| | XOF_KEYS | Flag 'key' fields for xml | |---------------+-----------------------------------------| The XOF_KEYS flag adds 'key' attribute to the XML encoding for field definitions that use the 'k' modifier. The key attribute has the value "key": xo_emit("{k:name}", item); XML: truck **** xo_clear_flags The xo_clear_flags() function turns off the given flags in a specific handle. void xo_clear_flags (xo_handle_t *xop, xo_xof_flags_t flags); **** xo_set_options The xo_set_options() function accepts a comma-separated list of styles and flags and enables them for a specific handle. int xo_set_options (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *input); The options are identical to those listed in ^command-line-arguments^. *** xo_destroy The xo_destroy function releases a handle and any resources it is using. Calling xo_destroy with a NULL handle will release any resources associated with the default handle. void xo_destroy(xo_handle_t *xop); ** Emitting Content (xo_emit) The following functions are used to emit output: int xo_emit (const char *fmt, ...); int xo_emit_h (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *fmt, ...); int xo_emit_hv (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *fmt, va_list vap); The "fmt" argument is a string containing field descriptors as specified in ^format-strings^. The use of a handle is optional and NULL can be passed to access the internal 'default' handle. See ^handles^. The remaining arguments to xo_emit() and xo_emit_h() are a set of arguments corresponding to the fields in the format string. Care must be taken to ensure the argument types match the fields in the format string, since an inappropriate cast can ruin your day. The vap argument to xo_emit_hv() points to a variable argument list that can be used to retrieve arguments via va_arg(). *** Attributes (xo_attr) @xo_attr@ The xo_attr() function emits attributes for the XML output style. int xo_attr (const char *name, const char *fmt, ...); int xo_attr_h (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name, const char *fmt, ...); int xo_attr_hv (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name, const char *fmt, va_list vap); The name parameter give the name of the attribute to be encoded. The fmt parameter gives a printf-style format string used to format the value of the attribute using any remaining arguments, or the vap parameter passed to xo_attr_hv(). EXAMPLE: xo_attr("seconds", "%ld", (unsigned long) login_time); struct tm *tmp = localtime(login_time); strftime(buf, sizeof(buf), "%R", tmp); xo_emit("Logged in at {:login-time}\n", buf); XML: 00:14 *** Flushing Output (xo_flush) libxo buffers data, both for performance and consistency, but also to allow some advanced features to work properly. At various times, the caller may wish to flush any data buffered within the library. The xo_flush() call is used for this: void xo_flush (void); void xo_flush_h (xo_handle_t *xop); *** Finishing Output (xo_finish) When the program is ready to exit or close a handle, a call to xo_finish() is required. This flushes any buffered data, closes open libxo constructs, and completes any pending operations. void xo_finish (void); void xo_finish_h (xo_handle_t *xop); Calling this function is vital to the proper operation of libxo, especially for the non-TEXT output styles. ** Emitting Hierarchy libxo represents to types of hierarchy: containers and lists. A container appears once under a given parent where a list contains instances that can appear multiple times. A container is used to hold related fields and to give the data organization and scope. To create a container, use the xo_open_container and xo_close_container functions: int xo_open_container (const char *name); int xo_open_container_h (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name); int xo_open_container_hd (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name); int xo_open_container_d (const char *name); int xo_close_container (const char *name); int xo_close_container_h (xo_handle_t *xop, const char *name); int xo_close_container_hd (xo_handle_t *xop); int xo_close_container_d (void); The name parameter gives the name of the container, encoded in UTF-8. Since ASCII is a proper subset of UTF-8, traditional C strings can be used directly. The close functions with the "_d" suffix are used in "Do The Right Thing" mode, where the name of the open containers, lists, and instances are maintained internally by libxo to allow the caller to avoid keeping track of the open container name. Use the XOF_WARN flag to generate a warning if the name given on the close does not match the current open container. For TEXT and HTML output, containers are not rendered into output text, though for HTML they are used when the XOF_XPATH flag is set. EXAMPLE: xo_open_container("system"); xo_emit("The host name is {:host-name}\n", hn); xo_close_container("system"); XML: foo *** Lists and Instances Lists are sequences of instances of homogeneous data objects. Two distinct levels of calls are needed to represent them in our output styles. Calls must be made to open and close a list, and for each instance of data in that list, calls must be make to open and close that instance. The name given to all calls must be identical, and it is strong suggested that the name be singular, not plural, as a matter of style and usage expectations. EXAMPLE: xo_open_list("user"); for (i = 0; i < num_users; i++) { xo_open_instance("user"); xo_emit("{k:name}:{:uid/%u}:{:gid/%u}:{:home}\n", pw[i].pw_name, pw[i].pw_uid, pw[i].pw_gid, pw[i].pw_dir); xo_close_instance("user"); } xo_close_list("user"); TEXT: phil:1001:1001:/home/phil pallavi:1002:1002:/home/pallavi XML: phil 1001 1001 /home/phil pallavi 1002 1002 /home/pallavi JSON: user: [ { "name": "phil", "uid": 1001, "gid": 1001, "home": "/home/phil", }, { "name": "pallavi", "uid": 1002, "gid": 1002, "home": "/home/pallavi", } ] ** Additional Functionality *** Parsing Command-line Arguments (xo_parse_args) The xo_parse_args() function is used to process a program's arguments. libxo-specific options are processed and removed from the argument list so the calling application does not need to process them. If successful, a new value for argc is returned. On failure, a message it emitted and -1 is returned. argc = xo_parse_args(argc, argv); if (argc < 0) exit(1); Following the call to xo_parse_args, the application can process the remaining arguments in a normal manner. See ^command-line-arguments^ for a description of valid arguments. *** Field Information (xo_info_t) @info@ HTML data can include additional information in attributes that begin with "data-". To enable this, three things must occur: First the application must build an array of xo_info_t structures, one per tag. The array must be sorted by name, since libxo uses a binary search to find the entry that matches names from format instructions. Second, the application must inform libxo about this information using the xo_set_info() call: typedef struct xo_info_s { const char *xi_name; /* Name of the element */ const char *xi_type; /* Type of field */ const char *xi_help; /* Description of field */ } xo_info_t; void xo_set_info (xo_handle_t *xop, xo_info_t *infop, int count); Like other libxo calls, passing NULL for the handle tells libxo to use the default handle. If the count is -1, libxo will count the elements of infop, but there must be an empty element at the end. More typically, the number is known to the application: xo_info_t info[] = { { "in-stock", "number", "Number of items in stock" }, { "name", "string", "Name of the item" }, { "on-order", "number", "Number of items on order" }, { "sku", "string", "Stock Keeping Unit" }, { "sold", "number", "Number of items sold" }, }; int info_count = (sizeof(info) / sizeof(info[0])); ... xo_set_info(NULL, info, info_count); Third, the emitting of info must be triggered with the XOF_INFO flag using either the xo_set_flags() function or the "--libxo=info" command line argument. The type and help values, if present, are emitted as the "data-type" and "data-help" attributes:
GRO-000-533
*** Memory Allocation The xo_set_allocator function allows libxo to be used in environments where the standard realloc() and free() functions are not available. void xo_set_allocator (xo_realloc_func_t realloc_func, xo_free_func_t free_func); realloc_func should expect the same arguments as realloc(3) and return a pointer to memory following the same convention. free_func will receive the same argument as free(3) and should release it, as appropriate for the environment. By default, the standard realloc() and free() functions are used. *** LIBXO_OPTIONS @LIBXO_OPTIONS@ The environment variable "LIBXO_OPTIONS" can be set to a string of options: |--------+-------------------------------------------| | Option | Action | |--------+-------------------------------------------| | H | Enable HTML output (XO_STYLE_HTML) | | I | Enable info output (XOF_INFO) | | i | Indent by | | J | Enable JSON output (XO_STYLE_JSON) | | P | Enable pretty-printed output (XOF_PRETTY) | | T | Enable text output (XO_STYLE_TEXT) | | W | Enable warnings (XOF_WARN) | | X | Enable XML output (XO_STYLE_XML) | | x | Enable XPath data (XOF_XPATH) | |--------+-------------------------------------------| For example, warnings can be enabled by: % env LIBXO_OPTIONS=W my-app Complete HTML output can be generated with: % env LIBXO_OPTIONS=HXI my-app *** Errors, Warnings, and Messages Many programs make use of the standard library functions err() and warn() to generate errors and warnings for the user. libxo wants to pass that information via the current output style, and provides compatible functions to allow this: void xo_warn (const char *fmt, ...); void xo_warnx (const char *fmt, ...); void xo_warn_c (int code, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_warn_hc (xo_handle_t *xop, int code, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_err (int eval, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_errc (int eval, int code, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_errx (int eval, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_message (const char *fmt, ...); void xo_message_c (int code, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_message_hc (xo_handle_t *xop, int code, const char *fmt, ...); void xo_message_hcv (xo_handle_t *xop, int code, const char *fmt, va_list vap); These functions display the program name, a colon, a formatted message based on the arguments, and then optionally a colon and an error message associated with either "errno" or the "code" parameter. EXAMPLE: if (open(filename, O_RDONLY) < 0) xo_err(1, "cannot open file '%s'", filename); *** xo_no_setlocale libxo automatically initializes the locale based on setting of the environment variables LC_CTYPE, LANG, and LC_ALL. The first of this list of variables is used and if none of the variables, the locale defaults to "UTF-8". The caller may wish to avoid this behavior, and can do so by calling the xo_no_setlocale() function. void xo_no_setlocale (void); * The "xo" Utility The "xo" utility allows command line access to the functionality of the libxo library. Using "xo", shell scripts can emit XML, JSON, and HTML using the same commands that emit text output. The style of output can be selected using a specific option: "-X" for XML, "-J" for JSON, "-H" for HTML, or "-T" for TEXT, which is the default. The "--style