bson

What is bson?

The bson npm package is a library that allows you to serialize and deserialize data in BSON format. BSON, short for Binary JSON, is a binary-encoded serialization of JSON-like documents. It is designed to be efficient in both storage space and scan-speed. The bson package is commonly used when working with MongoDB, as MongoDB uses BSON as its document storage format.

What are bson's main functionalities?

Serialization

This feature allows you to convert a JavaScript object into a BSON formatted buffer. This is useful for storing and transmitting data in a compact binary form.

{"const BSON = require('bson'); const bson = new BSON(); const doc = { hello: 'world' }; const data = bson.serialize(doc); console.log(data); // <Buffer 16 00 00 00 02 68 65 6c 6c 6f 00 06 00 00 00 77 6f 72 6c 64 00 00>"}

Deserialization

This feature allows you to convert BSON data back into a JavaScript object. This is useful when you need to read data that was stored or transmitted in BSON format.

{"const BSON = require('bson'); const bson = new BSON(); const data = Buffer.from('160000000268656c6c6f0006000000776f726c640000', 'hex'); const doc = bson.deserialize(data); console.log(doc); // { hello: 'world' }"}

Other packages similar to bson

msgpack5

msgpack5 is a package that implements the MessagePack serialization format. MessagePack is an efficient binary serialization format that is similar to BSON but is not tied to MongoDB. It aims to be more compact and faster than JSON.

protobufjs

protobufjs is a package that allows you to serialize and deserialize data using Google's Protocol Buffers. Protocol Buffers are similar to BSON in that they provide a way to encode structured data in an efficient binary format, but they require a predefined schema and are more focused on cross-language compatibility.

cbor

cbor is a package that implements the CBOR (Concise Binary Object Representation) data format. Like BSON, CBOR is a binary format that can serialize and deserialize JavaScript objects. However, CBOR is designed to be more compact and to have a wider range of data types than BSON.

README

BSON parser

BSON is short for "Binary JSON," and is the binary-encoded serialization of JSON-like documents. You can learn more about it in the specification.

Table of Contents

• Usage
• Bugs/Feature Requests
• Installation
• Documentation
• FAQ

Bugs / Feature Requests

Think you've found a bug? Want to see a new feature in bson? Please open a case in our issue management tool, JIRA:

1. Create an account and login: jira.mongodb.org
2. Navigate to the NODE project: jira.mongodb.org/browse/NODE
3. Click Create Issue - Please provide as much information as possible about the issue and how to reproduce it.

Bug reports in JIRA for all driver projects (i.e. NODE, PYTHON, CSHARP, JAVA) and the Core Server (i.e. SERVER) project are public.

Usage

To build a new version perform the following operations:

npm install
npm run build

Node.js or Bundling Usage

When using a bundler or Node.js you can import bson using the package name:

import { BSON, EJSON, ObjectId } from 'bson';
// or:
// const { BSON, EJSON, ObjectId } = require('bson');

const bytes = BSON.serialize({ _id: new ObjectId() });
console.log(bytes);
const doc = BSON.deserialize(bytes);
console.log(EJSON.stringify(doc));
// {"_id":{"$oid":"..."}}

Browser Usage

If you are working directly in the browser without a bundler please use the .mjs bundle like so:

<script type="module">
  import { BSON, EJSON, ObjectId } from './lib/bson.mjs';

  const bytes = BSON.serialize({ _id: new ObjectId() });
  console.log(bytes);
  const doc = BSON.deserialize(bytes);
  console.log(EJSON.stringify(doc));
  // {"_id":{"$oid":"..."}}
</script>

Installation

npm install bson

Documentation

Objects

EJSON : object

Functions

setInternalBufferSize(size)

Sets the size of the internal serialization buffer.

serialize(object) ⇒ Buffer

Serialize a Javascript object.

serializeWithBufferAndIndex(object, buffer) ⇒ Number

Serialize a Javascript object using a predefined Buffer and index into the buffer, useful when pre-allocating the space for serialization.

deserialize(buffer) ⇒ Object

Deserialize data as BSON.

calculateObjectSize(object) ⇒ Number

Calculate the bson size for a passed in Javascript object.

deserializeStream(data, startIndex, numberOfDocuments, documents, docStartIndex, [options]) ⇒ Number

Deserialize stream data as BSON documents.

EJSON

• EJSON

  • .parse(text, [options])

  • .stringify(value, [replacer], [space], [options])

  • .serialize(bson, [options])

  • .deserialize(ejson, [options])

EJSON.parse(text, [options])

Param	Type	Default	Description
text	string
[options]	object		Optional settings
[options.relaxed]	boolean	true	Attempt to return native JS types where possible, rather than BSON types (if true)

Parse an Extended JSON string, constructing the JavaScript value or object described by that string.

Example

const { EJSON } = require('bson');
const text = '{ "int32": { "$numberInt": "10" } }';

// prints { int32: { [String: '10'] _bsontype: 'Int32', value: '10' } }
console.log(EJSON.parse(text, { relaxed: false }));

// prints { int32: 10 }
console.log(EJSON.parse(text));

EJSON.stringify(value, [replacer], [space], [options])

Param	Type	Default	Description
value	object		The value to convert to extended JSON
[replacer]	function | array		A function that alters the behavior of the stringification process, or an array of String and Number objects that serve as a whitelist for selecting/filtering the properties of the value object to be included in the JSON string. If this value is null or not provided, all properties of the object are included in the resulting JSON string
[space]	string | number		A String or Number object that's used to insert white space into the output JSON string for readability purposes.
[options]	object		Optional settings
[options.relaxed]	boolean	true	Enabled Extended JSON's relaxed mode
[options.legacy]	boolean	true	Output in Extended JSON v1

Converts a BSON document to an Extended JSON string, optionally replacing values if a replacer function is specified or optionally including only the specified properties if a replacer array is specified.

Example

const { EJSON } = require('bson');
const Int32 = require('mongodb').Int32;
const doc = { int32: new Int32(10) };

// prints '{"int32":{"$numberInt":"10"}}'
console.log(EJSON.stringify(doc, { relaxed: false }));

// prints '{"int32":10}'
console.log(EJSON.stringify(doc));

EJSON.serialize(bson, [options])

Param	Type	Description
bson	object	The object to serialize
[options]	object	Optional settings passed to the stringify function

Serializes an object to an Extended JSON string, and reparse it as a JavaScript object.

EJSON.deserialize(ejson, [options])

Param	Type	Description
ejson	object	The Extended JSON object to deserialize
[options]	object	Optional settings passed to the parse method

Deserializes an Extended JSON object into a plain JavaScript object with native/BSON types

setInternalBufferSize(size)

Param	Type	Description
size	number	The desired size for the internal serialization buffer

Sets the size of the internal serialization buffer.

serialize(object)

Param	Type	Default	Description
object	Object		the Javascript object to serialize.
[options.checkKeys]	Boolean		the serializer will check if keys are valid.
[options.serializeFunctions]	Boolean	false	serialize the javascript functions (default:false).
[options.ignoreUndefined]	Boolean	true	ignore undefined fields (default:true).

Serialize a Javascript object.

Returns: Buffer - returns the Buffer object containing the serialized object.

serializeWithBufferAndIndex(object, buffer)

Param	Type	Default	Description
object	Object		the Javascript object to serialize.
buffer	Buffer		the Buffer you pre-allocated to store the serialized BSON object.
[options.checkKeys]	Boolean		the serializer will check if keys are valid.
[options.serializeFunctions]	Boolean	false	serialize the javascript functions (default:false).
[options.ignoreUndefined]	Boolean	true	ignore undefined fields (default:true).
[options.index]	Number		the index in the buffer where we wish to start serializing into.

Serialize a Javascript object using a predefined Buffer and index into the buffer, useful when pre-allocating the space for serialization.

Returns: Number - returns the index pointing to the last written byte in the buffer.

deserialize(buffer)

Param	Type	Default	Description
buffer	Buffer		the buffer containing the serialized set of BSON documents.
[options.evalFunctions]	Object	false	evaluate functions in the BSON document scoped to the object deserialized.
[options.cacheFunctions]	Object	false	cache evaluated functions for reuse.
[options.useBigInt64]	Object	false	when deserializing a Long will return a BigInt.
[options.promoteLongs]	Object	true	when deserializing a Long will fit it into a Number if it's smaller than 53 bits
[options.promoteBuffers]	Object	false	when deserializing a Binary will return it as a node.js Buffer instance.
[options.promoteValues]	Object	false	when deserializing will promote BSON values to their Node.js closest equivalent types.
[options.fieldsAsRaw]	Object		allow to specify if there what fields we wish to return as unserialized raw buffer.
[options.bsonRegExp]	Object	false	return BSON regular expressions as BSONRegExp instances.
[options.allowObjectSmallerThanBufferSize]	boolean	false	allows the buffer to be larger than the parsed BSON object.

Deserialize data as BSON.

Returns: Object - returns the deserialized Javascript Object.

calculateObjectSize(object)

Param	Type	Default	Description
object	Object		the Javascript object to calculate the BSON byte size for.
[options.serializeFunctions]	Boolean	false	serialize the javascript functions (default:false).
[options.ignoreUndefined]	Boolean	true	ignore undefined fields (default:true).

Calculate the bson size for a passed in Javascript object.

Returns: Number - returns the number of bytes the BSON object will take up.

deserializeStream(data, startIndex, numberOfDocuments, documents, docStartIndex, [options])

Param	Type	Default	Description
data	Buffer		the buffer containing the serialized set of BSON documents.
startIndex	Number		the start index in the data Buffer where the deserialization is to start.
numberOfDocuments	Number		number of documents to deserialize.
documents	Array		an array where to store the deserialized documents.
docStartIndex	Number		the index in the documents array from where to start inserting documents.
[options]	Object		additional options used for the deserialization.
[options.evalFunctions]	Object	false	evaluate functions in the BSON document scoped to the object deserialized.
[options.cacheFunctions]	Object	false	cache evaluated functions for reuse.
[options.promoteLongs]	Object	true	when deserializing a Long will fit it into a Number if it's smaller than 53 bits
[options.promoteBuffers]	Object	false	when deserializing a Binary will return it as a node.js Buffer instance.
[options.promoteValues]	Object	false	when deserializing will promote BSON values to their Node.js closest equivalent types.
[options.fieldsAsRaw]	Object		allow to specify if there what fields we wish to return as unserialized raw buffer.
[options.bsonRegExp]	Object	false	return BSON regular expressions as BSONRegExp instances.

Deserialize stream data as BSON documents.

Returns: Number - returns the next index in the buffer after deserialization x numbers of documents.

Error Handling

It is our recommendation to use BSONError.isBSONError() checks on errors and to avoid relying on parsing error.message and error.name strings in your code. We guarantee BSONError.isBSONError() checks will pass according to semver guidelines, but errors may be sub-classed or their messages may change at any time, even patch releases, as we see fit to increase the helpfulness of the errors.

Any new errors we add to the driver will directly extend an existing error class and no existing error will be moved to a different parent class outside of a major release. This means BSONError.isBSONError() will always be able to accurately capture the errors that our BSON library throws.

Hypothetical example: A collection in our Db has an issue with UTF-8 data:

let documentCount = 0;
const cursor = collection.find({}, { utf8Validation: true });
try {
  for await (const doc of cursor) documentCount += 1;
} catch (error) {
  if (BSONError.isBSONError(error)) {
    console.log(`Found the troublemaker UTF-8!: ${documentCount} ${error.message}`);
    return documentCount;
  }
  throw error;
}

React Native

BSON requires that TextEncoder, TextDecoder, atob, btoa, and crypto.getRandomValues are available globally. These are present in most Javascript runtimes but require polyfilling in React Native. Polyfills for the missing functionality can be installed with the following command:

npm install --save react-native-get-random-values text-encoding-polyfill base-64

The following snippet should be placed at the top of the entrypoint (by default this is the root index.js file) for React Native projects using the BSON library. These lines must be placed for any code that imports BSON.

// Required Polyfills For ReactNative
import {encode, decode} from 'base-64';
if (global.btoa == null) {
  global.btoa = encode;
}
if (global.atob == null) {
  global.atob = decode;
}
import 'text-encoding-polyfill';
import 'react-native-get-random-values';

Finally, import the BSON library like so:

import { BSON, EJSON } from 'bson';

This will cause React Native to import the node_modules/bson/lib/bson.cjs bundle (see the "react-native" setting we have in the "exports" section of our package.json.)

Technical Note about React Native module import

The "exports" definition in our package.json will result in BSON's CommonJS bundle being imported in a React Native project instead of the ES module bundle. Importing the CommonJS bundle is necessary because BSON's ES module bundle of BSON uses top-level await, which is not supported syntax in React Native's runtime hermes.

FAQ

Why does undefined get converted to null?

The undefined BSON type has been deprecated for many years, so this library has dropped support for it. Use the ignoreUndefined option (for example, from the driver ) to instead remove undefined keys.

How do I add custom serialization logic?

This library looks for toBSON() functions on every path, and calls the toBSON() function to get the value to serialize.

const BSON = require('bson');

class CustomSerialize {
  toBSON() {
    return 42;
  }
}

const obj = { answer: new CustomSerialize() };
// "{ answer: 42 }"
console.log(BSON.deserialize(BSON.serialize(obj)));

Changelog

5.1.0 (2023-03-16)

Features

• NODE-4789: support Map stringification in EJSON (#567) (c70c82d)