# bzipper
[bzipper](https://crates.io/crates/bzipper/) is a binary (de)serialiser for the Rust language.
In contrast to [Serde](https://crates.io/crates/serde/)/[Bincode](https://crates.io/crates/bincode/), the primary goal of bzipper is to serialise with a known size constraint.
Therefore, this crate may be more suited for networking or other cases where a fixed-sized buffer is needed.
Keep in mind that this project is still work-in-progress.
This crate is compatible with `no_std`.
## Data model
Most primitive types serialise losslessly, with the exception being `usize` and `isize`.
These serialise as `u32` and `i32`, respectively, for portability reasons.
Unsized types, such as `str` and slices, are not supported.
Instead, arrays should be used.
For strings, the `FixedString` type is also provided.
## Usage
This crate revolves around the `Serialise` and `Deserialise` traits, both of which use *streams* – or more specifically – s-streams and d-streams.
Many core types come implemented with bzipper, including primitives as well as some standard library types such as `Option` and `Result`.
It is recommended in most cases to just derive these two traits for custom types (although this is only supported with enumerations and structures).
Here, each field is *chained* according to declaration order:
```rust
use bzipper::{Buffer, Deserialise, Serialise};
#[derive(Debug, Deserialise, PartialEq, Serialise)]
struct IoRegister {
addr: u32,
value: u16,
}
let mut buf = Buffer::new();
buf.write(IoRegister { addr: 0x04000000, value: 0x0402 }).unwrap();
assert_eq!(buf.len(), 0x6);
assert_eq!(buf, [0x04, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x04, 0x02]);
assert_eq!(buf.read().unwrap(), IoRegister { addr: 0x04000000, value: 0x0402 });
```
### Serialisation
To serialise an object implementing `Serialise`, simply allocate a buffer for the serialisation and wrap it in an s-stream (*serialisation stream*) with the `Sstream` type.
```rust
use bzipper::{Serialise, Sstream};
let mut buf = [Default::default(); char::MAX_SERIALISED_SIZE];
let mut stream = Sstream::new(&mut buf);
'Ж'.serialise(&mut stream).unwrap();
assert_eq!(stream, [0x00, 0x00, 0x04, 0x16]);
```
The maximum size of any given serialisation is specified by the `MAX_SERIALISED_SIZE` constant.
We can also use streams to chain multiple elements together:
```rust
use bzipper::{Serialise, Sstream};
let mut buf = [Default::default(); char::MAX_SERIALISED_SIZE * 0x5];
let mut stream = Sstream::new(&mut buf);
// Note: For serialising multiple characters, the
// `FixedString` type is usually preferred.
'ل'.serialise(&mut stream).unwrap();
'ا'.serialise(&mut stream).unwrap();
'م'.serialise(&mut stream).unwrap();
'د'.serialise(&mut stream).unwrap();
'ا'.serialise(&mut stream).unwrap();
assert_eq!(buf, [
0x00, 0x00, 0x06, 0x44, 0x00, 0x00, 0x06, 0x27,
0x00, 0x00, 0x06, 0x45, 0x00, 0x00, 0x06, 0x2F,
0x00, 0x00, 0x06, 0x27
]);
```
When serialising primitives, the resulting byte stream is in big endian (a.k.a. network endian).
It is recommended for implementors to adhere to this convention as well.
### Deserialisation
Deserialisation works with a similar syntax to serialisation.
D-streams (*deserialisation streams*) use the `Dstream` type and are constructed in a manner similar to s-streams.
To deserialise a buffer, simply call the `deserialise` method with the strema:
```rust
use bzipper::{Deserialise, Dstream};
let data = [0x45, 0x54];
let stream = Dstream::new(&data);
assert_eq!(u16::deserialise(&stream).unwrap(), 0x4554);
```
And just like s-streams, d-streams can also be used to handle chaining:
```rust
use bzipper::{Deserialise, Dstream};
let data = [0x45, 0x54];
let stream = Dstream::new(&data);
assert_eq!(u8::deserialise(&stream).unwrap(), 0x45);
assert_eq!(u8::deserialise(&stream).unwrap(), 0x54);
// The data can also be deserialised as a tuple (up
// to twelve elements).
let stream = Dstream::new(&data);
assert_eq!(<(u8, u8)>::deserialise(&stream).unwrap(), (0x45, 0x54));
```
