flatbuffers/docs/source/GoUsage.md

2.7 KiB

Use in Go

Before you get started

Before diving into the FlatBuffers usage in Go, it should be noted that the [Tutorial](@ref flatbuffers_guide_tutorial) page has a complete guide to general FlatBuffers usage in all of the supported languages (including Go). This page is designed to cover the nuances of FlatBuffers usage, specific to Go.

You should also have read the [Building](@ref flatbuffers_guide_building) documentation to build flatc and should be familiar with [Using the schema compiler](@ref flatbuffers_guide_using_schema_compiler) and [Writing a schema](@ref flatbuffers_guide_writing_schema).

FlatBuffers Go library code location

The code for the FlatBuffers Go library can be found at flatbuffers/go. You can browse the library code on the FlatBuffers GitHub page.

Testing the FlatBuffers Go library

The code to test the Go library can be found at flatbuffers/tests. The test code itself is located in [go_test.go](https://github.com/google/ flatbuffers/blob/master/tests/go_test.go).

To run the tests, use the [GoTest.sh](https://github.com/google/flatbuffers/ blob/master/tests/GoTest.sh) shell script.

Note: The shell script requires Go to be installed.

Using the FlatBuffers Go library

Note: See [Tutorial](@ref flatbuffers_guide_tutorial) for a more in-depth example of how to use FlatBuffers in Go.

FlatBuffers supports reading and writing binary FlatBuffers in Go.

To use FlatBuffers in your own code, first generate Go classes from your schema with the --go option to flatc. Then you can include both FlatBuffers and the generated code to read or write a FlatBuffer.

For example, here is how you would read a FlatBuffer binary file in Go: First, include the library and generated code. Then read a FlatBuffer binary file into a []byte, which you pass to the GetRootAsMonster function:

    import (
       example "MyGame/Example"
       flatbuffers "github.com/google/flatbuffers/go"

       io/ioutil
    )

    buf, err := ioutil.ReadFile("monster.dat")
    // handle err
    monster := example.GetRootAsMonster(buf, 0)

Now you can access values like this:

    hp := monster.Hp()
    pos := monster.Pos(nil)

Text Parsing

There currently is no support for parsing text (Schema's and JSON) directly from Go, though you could use the C++ parser through cgo. Please see the C++ documentation for more on text parsing.