How to use boost::property_tree to load and write JSON
2017-07-26 13:24
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Boost's Property Tree
Property Tree is a sublibrary of boost that allow you handlingtree of property. It can be used to represent XML, JSON, INI files, file paths, etc. In our case, we will be interested in loading and writing JSON, to provide an interfacewith other applications.
Our example case will be the following json file :
{ "height" : 320, "some" : { "complex" : { "path" : "hello" } }, "animals" : { "rabbit" : "white", "dog" : "brown", "cat" : "grey" }, "fruits" : ["apple", "raspberry", "orange"], "matrix" : [[1, 2, 3], [4, 5, 6], [7, 8, 9]] }
Reading data
Let's have a look at how we can load those data into our c++ application.Setting up
First, we need to include the libraries and load the file.#include <boost/property_tree/ptree.hpp> #include <boost/property_tree/json_parser.hpp> // Short alias for this namespace namespace pt = boost::property_tree; // Create a root pt::ptree root; // Load the json file in this ptree pt::read_json("filename.json", root);
Now, we have a populated property tree thatis waiting from us to look at him. Notice that you can also read from a stream, for example
pt::read_json(std::cin, root)is also allowed.
If your json file is illformed, you will be granted by a
pt::json_parser::json_parser_error.
Loading some values
4000
We can access a value from the root by giving it's path to the getmethod.
// Read values int height = root.get<int>("height", 0); // You can also go through nested nodes std::string msg = root.get<std::string>("some.complex.path");
If the field your are looking to doesn't exists, the
get()method will throw a
pt::ptree_bad_pathexception, so that you can recorver from incomplete json files. Notice you can set a default value as second argument, or use
get_optional<T>()
wich return a
boost::optional<T>.
Notice the getter doesn't care about the type of the input in the json file, but only rely on the ability to convert the string to the type you are asking.
Browsing lists
So now, we would like to read a list of objects (in our cases, a list of animals).We can handle it with a simple for loop, using an iterator. In c++11, it become :
// A vector to allow storing our animals std::vector< std::pair<std::string, std::string> > animals; // Iterator over all animals for (pt::ptree::value_type &animal : root.get_child("animals")) { // Animal is a std::pair of a string and a child // Get the label of the node std::string name = animal.first; // Get the content of the node std::string color = animal.second.data(); animals.push_back(std::make_pair(name, color)); }
Since
animal.secondis a
ptree, we can also call call
get()or
get_child()in the case our node wasn't just a string.
A bit more complexe example is given by a list of values. Each element of the list is actualy a
std::pair("", value)(where value is a
ptree). It doesnt means that reading it is harder.
std::vector<std::string> fruits; for (pt::ptree::value_type &fruit : root.get_child("fruits")) { // fruit.first contain the string "" fruits.push_back(fruit.second.data()); }
In the case the values arent string, we can just call
fruit.second.get_value<T>()in place of
fruit.second.data().
Deeper : matrices
There is nothing now to enable reading of matrices, but it's a good way to check that you anderstood the reading of list. But enought talking, let's have a look at the code.int matrix[3][3]; int x = 0; for (pt::ptree::value_type &row : root.get_child("matrix")) { int y = 0; for (pt::ptree::value_type &cell : row.second) { matrix[x][y] = cell.second.get_value<int>(); y++; } x++; }
You can now read any kind of JSON tree. The next step is being able to read them.
Writing JSON
Let's say that now, we wan't to produce this tree from our application's data. To do that, all we have to do is build aptreecontaining our data.
We start with an empty tree :
pt::ptree root; //... // Once our ptree was constructed, we can generate JSON on standard output pt::write_json(std::cout, root);
Add values
Puting values in a tree can be acomplished with theput()method.
root.put("height", height); root.put("some.complex.path", "bonjour");
As you can see, very boring.
Add a list of objects
No big deel here, although we now useadd_child()to put our
animalnode at the root.
// Create a node
pt::ptree animals_node;
// Add animals as childs
for (auto &animal : animals)animals_node.put(animal.first, animal.second);
// Add the new node to the root
root.add_child("animals", animals_node);
Add many nodes with the same name
Now start the tricky tricks. If you want to add more than one time a node namedfish, you can't call the
put()method. The call
node.put("name", value)will replace the existing node named
name. But you can do it by manually pushing your nodes, as demonstrated bellow.
// Add two objects with the same name pt::ptree fish1; fish1.put_value("blue"); pt::ptree fish2; fish2.put_value("yellow"); oroot.push_back(std::make_pair("fish", fish1)); oroot.push_back(std::make_pair("fish", fish2));
Add a list of values
If you remember, list are mades of nodes with empty name. Se we have to build node with empty names, and then use thepush_back()once again to add all those unnamed childs.
// Add a list pt::ptree fruits_node; for (auto &fruit : fruits) { // Create an unnamed node containing the value pt::ptree fruit_node; fruit_node.put("", fruit); // Add this node to the list. fruits_node.push_back(std::make_pair("", fruit_node)); } root.add_child("fruits", fruits_node);
Add a matrix
We already have all the tools needed to export our matrix. But let's demonstrate how to do it.// Add a matrix pt::ptree matrix_node; for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) { pt::ptree row; for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) { // Create an unnamed value pt::ptree cell; cell.put_value(matrix[i][j]); // Add the value to our row row.push_back(std::make_pair("", cell)); } // Add the row to our matrix matrix_node.push_back(std::make_pair("", row)); } // Add the node to the root root.add_child("matrix", matrix_node);
References
You can download aC++ example and the
input JSON file for experimenting. Compile it with
clang++ -std=c++11 example.cpp -o example.
Some links related :
The official documentation
A post on stack overflow
Rem : At the moment, the boost::property_tree library doesn't output typed value. But we can expect that it will be corrected soon.
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