This is the step that makes everything completely unportable:
Call ObjectToByteArray extension method, which uses the .Net
> BinaryFormatter class (and MemoryStream) to convert the object to a byte
> array (byte[] in .Net)
That's like using ObjectOutputStream in Java. I would definitely *not* expect
to be able to deserialize that data usefully in Objective C.
It sounds like instead of a bytes field, you should probably use an Any
field... or some other message type with a oneof { int32, int64, double,
string} or whatever you need. Fundamentally, you'll need to stick to protos
everywhere though.
(As an aside, if you have any usability feedback on the C# protobuf
experience, now is the time to tell me so I can try to smooth out any
points of friction before release!)
Jon
On 12 November 2015 at 03:18, Thomas Van Lenten <[email protected]> wrote:
> I can't say I know C# to comment much on that side of things. It does
> sorta look like you are using something more native to those objects for
> serializing into a blob, and simply using a proto to try and package the
> row & col counts along with the blob. It probably would make more sense to
> do something like Jorge suggests and use protos for the full packaging
> rather than just the outer packaging.
>
> TVL
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 11, 2015 at 8:42 PM, Rob Cecil <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 8:41:36 PM UTC-5, Rob Cecil wrote:
>>>
>>> Interesting solution. I will definitely try that approach as I'm getting
>>> no where to continue with my current tack. I'm not sure how familiar your
>>> are with the .Net side of things, but this how it is working for me so far.
>>> I have a server implementation (currently just brutally simple - using
>>> console projects) and a WPF test client that currently works with my
>>> defined *RangeData* protobuf, including the bytes field.
>>>
>>> On the server side this what I do (narrating the
>>> CommonTypeExtensions.ToRangeData method in the debugger screenshot -
>>> attached)
>>>
>>> public static RangeData ToRangeData(this object[] source)
>>> {
>>> var result = new RangeData();
>>> result.Rows = (int)source[0];
>>> result.Columns = (int)source[1];
>>> var formatted = ObjectToByteArray(source[2]);
>>> result.Data = ByteString.CopyFrom(formatted);
>>> return result;
>>> }
>>>
>>>
>>> - Get an object "blob", just an untyped object array (from db source,
>>> see attached image of VS debugger watch window showing "source" that is
>>> visible when the debugger stops in the ToRangeData() extension method).
>>> - Call ObjectToByteArray extension method, which uses the .Net
>>> BinaryFormatter class (and MemoryStream) to convert the object to a
>>> byte array (byte[] in .Net)
>>> - Call Protobuf's ByteString.CopyFrom() factory method to generate the
>>> ByteString data and stuff that into the *RangeData* object.
>>>
>>> On the reverse side, in the WPF client (not completely shown in
>>> screenshots):
>>>
>>> var ba = rangeData.Data.ToByteArray();
>>> var array = (Array)ba.FromByteArrayToObject();
>>> ViewData = new ViewData((object[,])array);
>>>
>>> - Get the *RangeData* instance from Protobufs, including ByteString
>>> instance in the data field.
>>> - Call rangeData.Data.ToByteArray() to convert ByteString to byte[]
>>> array. ToByteArray() is Protobufs provided method.
>>> - Call FromByteArrayToObject (in the CommonTypeExtensions.cs class,
>>> partially shown in screenshot), which uses the BinaryFormatter (and
>>> MemoryStream) in .Net to convert the byte[] array into a CLR "Object"
>>> - Cast Object to Array, then cast to object[,] two-dimensional array
>>> ("ViewData", which makes the data more consumable to a WPF DataGrid).
>>>
>>> That is how it is working in .Net/C#.
>>>
>>> With the Objective-C side of things, I have a NSData, instead of the
>>> ByteString. I know the #rows and #columns. I just don't know the
>>> techniques to do the analogous thing in objective-c (or Swift).
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> On Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 7:42:21 PM UTC-5, Jorge Luis
>>> Canizales Diaz wrote:
>>>>
>>>> [CC: Jon for the C# side and TVL for the ObjC side]
>>>>
>>>> Hi Rob!
>>>>
>>>> when you say:
>>>>
>>>> > I am currently taking a object array in C# and packing that into
>>>> the ByteString.
>>>>
>>>> How are you accomplishing that? I see from your example that the
>>>> elements of your array aren't proto messages, so maybe .Net has its own
>>>> serialization format that non-.Net languages aren't aware of? In that case,
>>>> the only real solution I can think of would be to formalize that
>>>> serialization by using protos. For example:
>>>>
>>>> message RangeData {
>>>> int32 num_rows = 1;
>>>> int32 num_columns = 2;
>>>> repeated Row row = 3;
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> message Row {
>>>> repeated Value value = 1;
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> message Value {
>>>> oneof value {
>>>> string text = 1;
>>>> double number = 2;
>>>> }
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> or, alternatively, if you're not going to mix the strings and the
>>>> numbers:
>>>>
>>>> message RangeData {
>>>> repeated string row_name = 1;
>>>> repeated string column_name = 2;
>>>> repeated Row row = 3;
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> message Row {
>>>> repeated double value = 1;
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> Hope that helps,
>>>> Jorge
>>>>
>>>> On Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 9:53:11 AM UTC-8, Rob Cecil wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm using the objective-c version Protobufs.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have a .proto defined as
>>>>>
>>>>> message RangeData {
>>>>> int32 rows = 1;
>>>>> int32 columns = 2;
>>>>> bytes data = 3;
>>>>> }
>>>>>
>>>>> The server-side has been developed in C#/.Net. I'm able to
>>>>> successfully send/receive and unpack the data from the 'data' field 3
>>>>> above. In the c# port, 'bytes' are represented by a Google protobufs
>>>>> "ByteString" object.
>>>>>
>>>>> In objective-c, they're represented as NSData instance.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am currently taking a object array in C# and packing that into the
>>>>> ByteString. I have a separate .Net WPF client that successfully retrieves
>>>>> the data from the ByteString instance.
>>>>>
>>>>> The object array is essentially a two-dimensional (object[,]) array
>>>>> instance whose elements can be numeric, or strings of varying length.
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[0, 0] = ""
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[0, 1] = "Jan 2010"
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[0, 2] = "Feb 2010"
>>>>>
>>>>> ...
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[0, 13] = "- Year 2010"
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[1, 0] = 89544.994
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[1, 1] = 93202.257
>>>>>
>>>>> ...
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[1, 13] = 492331.908
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[2, 0] = "Report A"
>>>>>
>>>>> ...
>>>>>
>>>>> ary[16, 13] = ...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> The number of rows and columns for this two dimensional array are
>>>>> passed in an outer (Message) context.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> What is the technique for dealing with the NSData and extracting &
>>>>> parsing back into an objective-c (or Swift) arrays?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Are there helper classes I should be aware of to help in these
>>>>> scenarios?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>
>>>>
>
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