What is borsh?
The borsh npm package is a JavaScript implementation of the Binary Object Representation Serializer for Hashing (BORSH) serialization format. It is used to serialize and deserialize complex data structures in a compact binary format, which is particularly useful in blockchain and other performance-critical applications.
What are borsh's main functionalities?
Serialization
This feature allows you to serialize JavaScript objects into a binary format. The code sample demonstrates how to define a schema for a class and serialize an instance of that class.
const borsh = require('borsh');
class Greeting {
constructor({ message }) {
this.message = message;
}
}
const schema = new Map([
[Greeting, { kind: 'struct', fields: [['message', 'string']] }]
]);
const greeting = new Greeting({ message: 'Hello, world!' });
const serialized = borsh.serialize(schema, greeting);
console.log(serialized);
Deserialization
This feature allows you to deserialize binary data back into JavaScript objects. The code sample shows how to deserialize a binary array into an instance of a class using a predefined schema.
const borsh = require('borsh');
class Greeting {
constructor({ message }) {
this.message = message;
}
}
const schema = new Map([
[Greeting, { kind: 'struct', fields: [['message', 'string']] }]
]);
const serialized = new Uint8Array([10, 0, 0, 0, 72, 101, 108, 108, 111, 44, 32, 119, 111, 114, 108, 100, 33]);
const deserialized = borsh.deserialize(schema, Greeting, serialized);
console.log(deserialized);
Other packages similar to borsh
protobufjs
protobufjs is a JavaScript implementation of Protocol Buffers, a language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible mechanism for serializing structured data. It is similar to borsh in that it provides efficient serialization and deserialization of complex data structures, but it uses a different format and is more widely adopted in various industries.
msgpack-lite
msgpack-lite is a JavaScript implementation of the MessagePack serialization format. Like borsh, it provides a compact binary format for serializing and deserializing data. However, MessagePack is a more general-purpose format and is used in a variety of applications beyond blockchain.
avsc
avsc is a JavaScript library for working with Avro, a data serialization system. Avro is similar to borsh in that it provides a compact binary format for data serialization, but it also includes features for schema evolution and is widely used in big data applications.
Borsh JS
Borsh JS is an implementation of the Borsh binary serialization format for
JavaScript and TypeScript projects.
Borsh stands for Binary Object Representation Serializer for Hashing. It is meant to be used in security-critical projects as it prioritizes consistency,
safety, speed, and comes with a strict specification.
Examples
Serializing an object
const value = new Test({ x: 255, y: 20, z: '123', q: [1, 2, 3] });
const schema = new Map([[Test, { kind: 'struct', fields: [['x', 'u8'], ['y', 'u64'], ['z', 'string'], ['q', [3]]] }]]);
const buffer = borsh.serialize(schema, value);
Deserializing an object
const newValue = borsh.deserialize(schema, Test, buffer);
Type Mappings
Borsh | TypeScript |
---|
u8 integer | number |
u16 integer | number |
u32 integer | number |
u64 integer | BN |
u128 integer | BN |
f32 float | N/A |
f64 float | N/A |
fixed-size byte array | Uint8Array |
UTF-8 string | string |
option | null or type |
map | N/A |
set | N/A |
structs | any |
Contributing
Install dependencies:
yarn install
Continuesly build with:
yarn dev
Run tests:
yarn test
Run linter
yarn lint
Publish
Prepare dist
version by running:
yarn build
When publishing to npm use np.
License
This repository is distributed under the terms of both the MIT license and the Apache License (Version 2.0).
See LICENSE-MIT and LICENSE-APACHE for details.