-- | -- Module: Capnp.Tutorial -- Description: Tutorial for the Haskell Cap'N Proto library. -- -- This module provides a tutorial on the overall usage of the library. Note that -- it does not aim to provide a thorough introduction to capnproto itself; see -- for general information. -- -- Each of the example programs described here can also be found in the @examples/@ -- subdirectory in the source repository. {-# OPTIONS_GHC -Wno-unused-imports #-} module Capnp.Tutorial ( -- * Overview -- $overview -- * Setup -- $setup -- * Serialization -- $serialization -- ** High Level API -- $highlevel -- *** Example -- $highlevel-example -- *** Code Generation Rules -- $highlevel-codegen-rules -- ** Low Level API -- $lowlevel -- *** Example -- $lowlevel-example -- *** Write Support -- $lowlevel-write -- * RPC -- $rpc ) where -- So haddock references work: import System.IO (stdout) import qualified Data.ByteString as BS import qualified Data.Text as T import Capnp import Capnp.Classes (FromStruct) -- $overview -- -- This module provides an overview of the capnp library. -- $setup -- -- In order to generate code from schema files, you will first need to make -- sure the @capnp@ and @capnpc-haskell@ binaries are in your @$PATH@. The -- former ships with the capnproto reference implementation; see -- . The latter is included with this -- library; to install it you can run the command: -- -- > cabal v2-install capnp --installdir=$DIR -- -- which will compile the package and create the @capnpc-haskell@ executable -- at @$DIR/capnpc-haskell@. -- $serialization -- -- The serialization API is roughly divided into two parts: a low level API -- and a high level API. The high level API eschews some of the benefits of -- the wire format in favor of a more convenient interface. -- $highlevel -- -- The high level API exposes capnproto values as regular algebraic data -- types. -- -- On the plus side: -- -- * This makes it easier to work with capnproto values using idiomatic -- Haskell code -- * Because we have to parse the data up-front we can *validate* the data -- up front, so (unlike the low level API), you will not have to deal with -- errors while traversing the message. -- -- Both of these factors make the high level API generally more pleasant -- to work with and less error-prone than the low level API. -- -- The downside is that you can't take advantage of some of the novel -- properties of the wire format. In particular: -- -- * It is theoretically slower, as there is a marshalling step involved -- (actual performance has not been measured). -- * You can't mmap a file and read in only part of it. -- * You can't modify a message in-place. -- $highlevel-example -- -- As a running example, we'll use the following schema (borrowed from the -- C++ implementation's documentation): -- -- > # addressbook.capnp -- > @0xcd6db6afb4a0cf5c; -- > -- > struct Person { -- > id @0 :UInt32; -- > name @1 :Text; -- > email @2 :Text; -- > phones @3 :List(PhoneNumber); -- > -- > struct PhoneNumber { -- > number @0 :Text; -- > type @1 :Type; -- > -- > enum Type { -- > mobile @0; -- > home @1; -- > work @2; -- > } -- > } -- > -- > employment :union { -- > unemployed @4 :Void; -- > employer @5 :Text; -- > school @6 :Text; -- > selfEmployed @7 :Void; -- > # We assume that a person is only one of these. -- > } -- > } -- > -- > struct AddressBook { -- > people @0 :List(Person); -- > } -- -- Once the @capnp@ and @capnpc-haskell@ executables are installed and in -- your @$PATH@ (see the Setup section above), you can generate code for -- this schema by running: -- -- > capnp compile -ohaskell addressbook.capnp -- -- This will create the following files relative to the current directory: -- -- * Capnp\/Gen\/Addressbook.hs -- * Capnp\/Gen\/Addressbook\/Pure.hs -- * Capnp\/Gen\/ById\/Xcd6db6afb4a0cf5c/Pure.hs -- * Capnp\/Gen\/ById\/Xcd6db6afb4a0cf5c.hs -- -- The modules under @ById@ are an implementation detail. -- @Capnp\/Gen\/Addressbook.hs@ is generated code for use with the low level API. -- @Capnp\/Gen\/Addressbook\/Pure.hs@ is generated code for use with the high -- level API. The latter will export the following data declarations (cleaned up -- for readability). -- -- > module Capnp.Gen.Addressbook.Pure where -- > -- > import Data.Int -- > import Data.Text (Text) -- > import Data.Vector (Vector) -- > import Data.Word -- > -- > data AddressBook = AddressBook -- > { people :: Vector Person -- > } -- > -- > data Person = Person -- > { id :: Word32 -- > , name :: Text -- > , email :: Text -- > , phones :: Vector Person'PhoneNumber -- > , employment :: Person'employment -- > } -- > -- > data Person'PhoneNumber = Person'PhoneNumber -- > { number :: Text -- > , type_ :: Person'PhoneNumber'Type -- > } -- > -- > data Person'employment -- > = Person'employment'unemployed -- > | Person'employment'employer Text -- > | Person'employment'school Text -- > | Person'employment'selfEmployed -- > | Person'employment'unknown' Word16 -- > -- > data Person'PhoneNumber'Type -- > = Person'PhoneNumber'Type'mobile -- > | Person'PhoneNumber'Type'home -- > | Person'PhoneNumber'Type'work -- > | Person'PhoneNumber'Type'unknown' Word16 -- -- Note that we use the single quote character as a namespace separator for -- namespaces within a single capnproto schema. -- -- The module also exports instances of several type classes: -- -- * 'Show' -- * 'Read' -- * 'Eq' -- * 'Generic' from "GHC.Generics" -- * 'Default' from the @data-default@ package. -- * A number of type classes defined by the @capnp@ package. -- * Capnproto enums additionally implement the 'Enum' type class. -- -- Using the @Default@ instance to construct values means that your -- existing code will continue to work if new fields are added in the -- schema, but it also makes it easier to forget to set a field if you had -- intended to. The instance maps @'def'@ to the default value as defined by -- capnproto, so leaving out newly-added fields will do The Right Thing. -- -- The module "Capnp" exposes the most frequently used -- functionality from the capnp package. We can write an address book -- message to standard output using the high-level API like so: -- -- > {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-} -- > -- Note that DuplicateRecordFields is usually needed, as the generated -- > -- code relys on it to resolve collisions in capnproto struct field -- > -- names: -- > {-# LANGUAGE DuplicateRecordFields #-} -- > import Capnp.Gen.Addressbook.Pure -- > -- > -- Note that Capnp re-exports `def`, as a convienence -- > import Capnp (putValue, def) -- > -- > import qualified Data.Vector as V -- > -- > main = putValue AddressBook -- > { people = V.fromList -- > [ Person -- > { id = 123 -- > , name = "Alice" -- > , email = "alice@example.com" -- > , phones = V.fromList -- > [ def -- > { number = "555-1212" -- > , type_ = Person'PhoneNumber'Type'mobile -- > } -- > ] -- > , employment = Person'employment'school "MIT" -- > } -- > , Person -- > { id = 456 -- > , name = "Bob" -- > , email = "bob@example.com" -- > , phones = V.fromList -- > [ def -- > { number = "555-4567" -- > , type_ = Person'PhoneNumber'Type'home -- > } -- > , def -- > { number = "555-7654" -- > , type_ = Person'PhoneNumber'Type'work -- > } -- > ] -- > , employment = Person'employment'selfEmployed -- > } -- > ] -- > } -- -- 'putValue' is equivalent to @'hPutValue' 'stdout'@; 'hPutValue' may be used -- to write to an arbitrary handle. -- -- We can use 'getValue' (or alternately 'hGetValue') to read in a message: -- -- > -- ... -- > -- > import Capnp (getValue, defaultLimit) -- > -- > -- ... -- > -- > main = do -- > value <- getValue defaultLimit -- > print (value :: AddressBook) -- -- Note the type annotation; there are a number of interfaces in the -- library which dispatch on return types, and depending on how they are -- used you may have to give GHC a hint for type inference to succeed. -- The type of 'getValue' is: -- -- @'getValue' :: 'FromStruct' 'ConstMsg' a => 'Int' -> 'IO' a@ -- -- ...and so it may be used to read in any struct type. -- -- 'defaultLimit' is a default value for the traversal limit, which acts to -- prevent denial of service vulnerabilities; See the documentation in -- "Capnp.TraversalLimit" for more information. 'getValue' uses this -- argument both to catch values that would cause excessive resource usage, -- and to simply limit the overall size of the incoming message. The -- default is approximately 64 MiB. -- -- If an error occurs, an exception will be thrown of type 'Error' from the -- "Capnp.Errors" module. -- $highlevel-codegen-rules -- -- The complete rules for how capnproto types map to Haskell are as follows: -- -- * Integer types and booleans map to the obvious corresponding Haskell -- types. -- * @Float32@ and @Float64@ map to 'Float' and 'Double', respectively. -- * @Void@ maps to the unit type, @()@. -- * Lists map to 'Vector's from the Haskell vector package. Note that -- right now we use boxed vectors for everything; at some point this will -- likely change for performance reasons. Using the functions from -- "Data.Vector.Generic" will probably decrease the amount of code you -- will need to modify when upgrading. -- * @Text@ maps to (strict) 'T.Text' from the Haskell `text` package. -- * @Data@ maps to (strict) 'BS.ByteString's -- * Type constructor names are the fully qualified (within the schema file) -- capnproto name, using the single quote character as a namespace -- separator. -- * Structs map to record types. The name of the data constructor is the -- same as the name of the type constructor. -- * Groups are treated mostly like structs, except that the data constructor -- (but not the type constructor) has an extra trailing single-quote. This -- is to avoid name collisions that would otherwise be possible. -- * Field names map to record fields with the same names. Names that are -- Haskell keywords have an underscore appended to them, e.g. @type_@ in -- the above example. These names are not qualified; we use the -- @DuplicateRecordFields@ extension to disambiguate them. -- * Union fields result in an auxiliary type definition named -- @\'\@. For an example, see the -- mapping of the `employment` field above. -- * Unions and enums map to sum types, each of which has a special -- `unknown'` variant (note the trailing single quote). This variant will -- be returned when parsing a message which contains a union tag greater -- than what was defined in the schema. This is most likely to happen -- when dealing with data generated by software using a newer version -- of the same schema. The argument to the data constructor is the value -- of the tag. -- * Union variants with arguments of type `Void` map to data constructors -- with no arguments. -- * The type for an anonymous union has the same name as its containing -- struct with an extra single quote on the end. You can think of this as -- being like a field with the empty string as its name. The Haskell -- record accessor for this field is named `union'` (note the trailing -- single quote). -- * As a special case, if a struct consists entirely of one anonymous -- union, the type for the struct itself is omitted, and the name of the -- type for the union does not have the trailing single quote (so its -- name is what the name of the struct type would be). -- * Fields of type `AnyPointer` map to the types defined in -- @Capnp.Untyped.Pure@. -- * Interfaces generate associated type classes and client types; see -- the section on RPC. -- $lowlevel -- -- The low level API exposes a much more imperative interface than the -- high-level API. Instead of algebraic data types, types are exposed as -- opaque wrappers around references into a message, and accessors are -- generated for the fields. This API is much closer in spirit to that of -- the C++ reference implementation. -- -- Because the low level interfaces do not parse and validate the message -- up front, accesses to the message can result in errors. Furthermore, the -- traversal limit needs to be tracked to avoid denial of service attacks. -- -- Because of this, access to the message must occur inside of a monad -- which is an instance of `MonadThrow` from the exceptions package, and -- `MonadLimit`, which is defined in "Capnp.TraversalLimit". We define -- a monad transformer `LimitT` for the latter. -- $lowlevel-example -- -- We'll use the same schema as above for our example. Instead of standard -- algebraic data types, the module `Capnp.Addressbook` primarily defines -- newtype wrappers, which should be treated as opaque, and accessor -- functions for the various fields. -- -- @ -- newtype AddressBook msg = ... -- -- get_Addressbook'people :: ReadCtx m msg => AddressBook msg -> m (List msg (Person msg)) -- -- newtype Person msg = ... -- -- get_Person'id :: ReadCtx m msg => Person msg -> m Word32 -- get_Person'name :: ReadCtx m msg => Person msg -> m (Text msg) -- @ -- -- `ReadCtx` is a type synonym: -- -- @ -- type ReadCtx m msg = (Message m msg, MonadThrow m, MonadLimit m) -- @ -- -- Note the following: -- -- * The generated data types are parametrized over a `msg` type. This is -- the type of the message in which the value is contained. This can be -- either 'ConstMsg' in the case of an immutable message, or @'MutMsg' s@ -- for a mutable message (where `s` is the state token for the monad in -- which the message may be mutated). -- * The `Text` and `List` types mentioned in the type signatures are types -- defined within the capnp library, and are similarly views into the -- underlying message. -- * Access to the message happens in a monad which affords throwing -- exceptions, tracking the traversal limit, and of course reading the -- message. -- -- The snippet below prints the names of each person in the address book: -- -- > {-# LANGUAGE ScopedTypeVariables #-} -- > import Prelude hiding (length) -- > -- > import Capnp.Gen.Addressbook -- > import Capnp -- > (ConstMsg, defaultLimit, evalLimitT, getValue, index, length, textBytes) -- > -- > import Control.Monad (forM_) -- > import Control.Monad.Trans (lift) -- > import qualified Data.ByteString.Char8 as BS8 -- > -- > main = do -- > addressbook :: AddressBook ConstMsg <- getValue defaultLimit -- > evalLimitT defaultLimit $ do -- > people <- get_AddressBook'people addressbook -- > forM_ [0..length people - 1] $ \i -> do -- > name <- index i people >>= get_Person'name >>= textBytes -- > lift $ BS8.putStrLn name -- -- Note that we use the same `getValue` function as in the high-level -- example above. -- $lowlevel-write -- -- Writing messages using the low-level API has a similarly imperative feel. -- The below constructs the same message as in our high-level example above: -- -- > import Capnp.Gen.Addressbook -- > -- > import Capnp -- > ( MutMsg -- > , PureBuilder -- > , cerialize -- > , createPure -- > , defaultLimit -- > , index -- > , newMessage -- > , newRoot -- > , putMsg -- > ) -- > -- > import qualified Data.Text as T -- > -- > main = -- > let Right msg = createPure defaultLimit buildMsg -- > in putMsg msg -- > -- > buildMsg :: PureBuilder s (MutMsg s) -- > buildMsg = do -- > -- newMessage allocates a new, initially empty, mutable message: -- > msg <- newMessage -- > -- > -- newRoot allocates a new struct as the root object of the message. -- > -- In this case the type of the struct can be inferred from our later -- > -- use of AddressBook's accessors: -- > addressbook <- newRoot msg -- > -- > -- new_* accessors allocate a new value of the correct type for a -- > -- given field. These functions accordingly only exist for types -- > -- which are encoded as pointers (structs, lists, bytes...). In -- > -- the case of lists, these take an extra argument specifying a -- > -- the length of the list: -- > people <- new_AddressBook'people 2 addressbook -- > -- > -- Index gets an object at a specified location in a list. Cap'N Proto -- > -- lists are flat arrays, and in the case of structs the structs are -- > -- unboxed, so there is no need to allocate each element: -- > alice <- index 0 people -- > -- > -- set_* functions set the value of a field. For fields of non-pointer -- > -- types (integers, bools...), We can just pass the value we want to set_*, -- > -- rather than allocating via new_* first: -- > set_Person'id alice 123 -- > -- > -- 'cerialize' is used to marshal a value into a message. Below, we copy -- > -- the text for Alice's name and email address into the message, and then -- > -- use Person's set_* functions to attach the resulting objects to our -- > -- Person: -- > set_Person'name alice =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "Alice") -- > set_Person'email alice =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "alice@example.com") -- > -- > phones <- new_Person'phones 1 alice -- > mobilePhone <- index 0 phones -- > set_Person'PhoneNumber'number mobilePhone =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "555-1212") -- > set_Person'PhoneNumber'type_ mobilePhone Person'PhoneNumber'Type'mobile -- > -- > -- Setting union fields is slightly awkward; we have an auxiliary type -- > -- for the union field, which we must get_* first: -- > employment <- get_Person'employment alice -- > -- > -- Then, we can use set_* to set both the tag of the union and the -- > -- value: -- > set_Person'employment'school employment =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "MIT") -- > -- > bob <- index 1 people -- > set_Person'id bob 456 -- > set_Person'name bob =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "Bob") -- > set_Person'email bob =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "bob@example.com") -- > -- > phones <- new_Person'phones 2 bob -- > homePhone <- index 0 phones -- > set_Person'PhoneNumber'number homePhone =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "555-4567") -- > set_Person'PhoneNumber'type_ homePhone Person'PhoneNumber'Type'home -- > workPhone <- index 1 phones -- > set_Person'PhoneNumber'number workPhone =<< cerialize msg (T.pack "555-7654") -- > set_Person'PhoneNumber'type_ workPhone Person'PhoneNumber'Type'work -- > employment <- get_Person'employment bob -- > set_Person'employment'selfEmployed employment -- > -- > pure msg -- $rpc -- -- This package supports level 1 Cap'n Proto RPC. The tuotrial will demonstrate the most -- basic features of the RPC system with example: an echo server & client. For a larger -- example which demos more of the protocol's capabilities, see the calculator example -- in the source repository's @examples/@ directory. -- -- Given the schema: -- -- > @0xd0a87f36fa0182f5; -- > -- > interface Echo { -- > echo @0 (query :Text) -> (reply :Text); -- > } -- -- In the low level module, the code generator generates a newtype wrapper called @Echo@ -- around a capability. -- -- Most of the interesting stuff is in the high-level module (but note that you can still -- do RPC using low-level serialization APIs). The code generator will create an API like -- (after a bit of cleanup): -- -- > newtype Echo = Echo Client -- > -- > class MonadIO m => Echo'server_ m cap where -- > echo'echo :: cap -> Server.MethodHandler m Echo'echo'params Echo'echo'results -- > -- > instance Echo'server_ IO Echo -- > -- > export_Echo :: Echo'server_ IO a => Supervisors -> a -> STM Echo -- -- The type @Echo@ is a handle to an object (possibly remote), which can be used to -- make method calls. It is a newtype wrapper around a 'Client', which provides -- similar facilities, but doesn't know about the schema. -- -- To provide an implementation of the @Echo@ interface, you need an instance of the -- @Echo'server_@ type class. The @export_Echo@ function is used to convert such an -- instance into a handle to the object that can be passed around. -- -- Each time you call @export_Function@, it creates a thread that handles incoming -- messages in sequence. -- -- Note that capnproto does not have a notion of "clients" and "servers" in the -- traditional networking sense; the two sides of a connection are symmetric. In -- capnproto terminology, a "client" is a handle for calling methods, and a "server" -- is an object that handles methods -- but there may be many of either or both of -- these on each side of a connection. -- -- Here is an an echo (networking) server using this interface: -- -- > {-# LANGUAGE MultiParamTypeClasses #-} -- > {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-} -- > import Network.Simple.TCP (serve) -- > -- > import Capnp (def, defaultLimit) -- > -- 'Capnp.Rpc' exposes the most commonly used parts of the RPC system: -- > import Capnp.Rpc -- > (ConnConfig(..), handleConn, pureHandler, socketTransport, toClient) -- > -- > import Capnp.Gen.Echo.Pure -- > -- > -- | A type to declare an instance on: -- > data MyEchoServer = MyEchoServer -- > -- > -- The main logic of an echo server: -- > instance Echo'server_ IO MyEchoServer where -- > -- Each method of an interface generates a corresponding -- > -- method in its type class. The name of the method is prefixed -- > -- with the name of the interface, so method bar on interface -- > -- Foo will be called foo'bar. -- > -- -- > -- The type of a method is left abstract, and functions like -- > -- 'pureHandler' are used to construct method handlers; see the -- > -- "Handling method calls" section in the docs for 'Capnp.Rpc'. -- > echo'echo = pureHandler $ \MyEchoServer params -> -- > pure def { reply = query params } -- > -- > main :: IO () -- > main = serve "localhost" "4000" $ \(sock, _addr) -> -- > -- once we get a network connection, we use 'handleConn' to start -- > -- the rpc subsystem on that connection. It takes a transport with -- > -- which to send messages, and a config. -- > handleConn (socketTransport sock defaultLimit) def -- > { getBootstrap = \sup -> -- > -- The only setting we override in this example is our -- > -- bootstrap interface. The bootstrap interface is a "default" -- > -- object that clients can request on startup. By default -- > -- there is none, here we provide a client for our echo server. -- > Just . toClient <$> export_Echo sup MyEchoServer -- > } -- -- The echo client looks like: -- -- > {-# LANGUAGE OverloadedStrings #-} -- > module Examples.Rpc.EchoClient (main) where -- > -- > import Network.Simple.TCP (connect) -- > -- > import Capnp (def, defaultLimit) -- > import Capnp.Rpc (ConnConfig(..), handleConn, socketTransport, wait, (?)) -- > -- > import Capnp.Gen.Echo.Pure -- > -- > main :: IO () -- > main = connect "localhost" "4000" $ \(sock, _addr) -> -- > handleConn (socketTransport sock defaultLimit) def -- > -- In this case, we leave 'getBootstrap' empty and set -- > -- 'withBootstrap', which will request the other side's -- > -- bootstrap interface. If a non-Nothing value is supplied for -- > -- 'withBootstrap', 'handleConn' will exit (and disconnect) -- > -- when it completes. -- > { withBootstrap = Just $ \_sup client -> -- > -- Clients also have instances of their server_ classes, so -- > -- can use these instances to call methods on the remote -- > -- object. The '?' is the message send operator. -- > -- -- > -- The method call _immediately_ returns, yielding a promise -- > -- that will be fulfilled when the results of the call actually -- > -- arive. We use 'wait' to wait for the promise to resolve, -- > -- display the result to the user, and then exit. -- > echo'echo (Echo client) ? def { query = "Hello, World!" } -- > >>= wait -- > >>= print -- > }