The tsv project introduces a new format for data serialization/deserialization, which is text-based and deals with tabular data.
The problem
At serde's point of view, the classic tsv is only applicable to the schema of (a sequence of) a struct composed of primitives( integer, floats, strings etc). The specification has to be extended to allow arbitrary schemas, such as a struct of a struct.
The solution
This project extends the spec by placing sequences in columns. See this file for specification.
It uses serde crate for serialization/deserialization, and reflection crate for generating column names and dealing with enums.
Notice
If you impl Serialize/Deserialize for your types to tell serde they are sequences/maps, do make sure their schemata() and Vec::schemata()/HashMap::schemata() are isomorphic.
Pros
-
Simple.
The only requirement for end users to use tsv files is to understand what a table is. It is deadly simple as a configuration file format for non-technical users. -
Available.
You can use Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice/LibreOffie Calc and text editors that support elastic tabstops to view/edit tsv files.
And it is easy to write tsv by hand if you have read all the 63 lines of the spec.
Cons
-
Not efficiency-oriented.
-
Not self-descripting.
License
Under MIT.
Example
A cargo configuration file written in tsv format could look like the following table( with spaces replacing tabs ):
deps
package lib value
name version authors keyword macro name Version Path
tsv 0.1.0 oooutlk tsv X serde 1.0
tab trees ~/trees
table
serde
Serialization
#[derive(Serialize,Reflection)]
struct Package {
name : String,
version : String,
authors : Vec<String>,
keyword : Vec<String>,
}
#[derive(Serialize,Reflection)]
struct Lib {
#[serde(rename="macro")]
proc_macro : bool,
}
#[derive(Serialize,Reflection)]
enum PkgSpecifier {
Version( String ),
Path( String ),
}
#[derive(Serialize,Reflection)]
struct CargoTsv {
package : Package,
lib : Lib,
deps : BTreeMap<String,PkgSpecifier>,
}
let mut deps = BTreeMap::new();
deps.insert( "serde".to_string(),
PkgSpecifier::Version( "1.0".to_string() ));
deps.insert( "trees".to_string(),
PkgSpecifier::Path( "~/trees".to_string() ));
let cargo_tsv = CargoTsv {
package : Package {
name : "tsv".to_string(),
version : "0.1.0".to_string(),
authors : vec![ "oooutlk".to_string() ],
keyword : vec![
"tsv".to_string(),
"tab".to_string(),
"table".to_string(),
"serde".to_string() ],
},
lib: Lib{ proc_macro: false },
deps,
};
let result = to_string( &cargo_tsv, Config::default() ).unwrap();
let expected = read_file( "test/cargo.tsv" ).unwrap();
assert_eq!( result, expected );
Deserialization
#[derive(Deserialize,Reflection,Debug,PartialEq)]
struct Package {
name : String,
version : String,
authors : Vec<String>,
keyword : Vec<String>,
}
#[derive(Deserialize,Reflection,Debug,PartialEq)]
struct Lib {
#[serde(rename="macro")]
proc_macro : bool,
}
#[derive(Deserialize,Reflection,Debug,PartialEq)]
enum PkgSpecifier {
Version( String ),
Path( String ),
}
#[derive(Deserialize,Reflection,Debug,PartialEq)]
struct CargoTsv {
package : Package,
lib : Lib,
deps : BTreeMap<String,PkgSpecifier>,
}
let mut deps = BTreeMap::new();
deps.insert( "serde".to_string(),
PkgSpecifier::Version( "1.0".to_string() ));
deps.insert( "trees".to_string(),
PkgSpecifier::Path( "~/trees".to_string() ));
let expected = CargoTsv {
package: Package {
name : "tsv".to_string(),
version : "0.1.0".to_string(),
authors : vec![ "oooutlk".to_string() ],
keyword : vec![
"tsv".to_string(),
"tab".to_string(),
"table".to_string(),
"serde".to_string() ],
},
lib: Lib{ proc_macro: false },
deps,
};
let input = read_file( "test/cargo.tsv" ).unwrap();
let mut env = Env::default();
let result: CargoTsv = from_str( &input,
CargoTsv::schemata(), &mut env ).unwrap();
assert_eq!( result, expected );