Getting Started
===============

Installation
++++++++++++

Installation from PyPI is as simple as running:

.. code-block:: sh

    python3 -m pip install -U betterproto

If you are using Windows, then the following should be used instead:

.. code-block:: sh

    py -3 -m pip install -U betterproto

To include the protoc plugin, install betterproto[compiler] instead of betterproto,
e.g.

.. code-block:: sh

    python3 -m pip install -U "betterproto[compiler]"

Compiling proto files
+++++++++++++++++++++


Given you installed the compiler and have a proto file, e.g ``example.proto``:

.. code-block:: proto

    syntax = "proto3";

    package hello;

    // Greeting represents a message you can tell a user.
    message Greeting {
      string message = 1;
    }

To compile the proto you would run the following:

You can run the following to invoke protoc directly:

.. code-block:: sh

    mkdir hello
    protoc -I . --python_betterproto_out=lib example.proto

or run the following to invoke protoc via grpcio-tools:

.. code-block:: sh

    pip install grpcio-tools
    python -m grpc_tools.protoc -I . --python_betterproto_out=lib example.proto


This will generate ``lib/__init__.py`` which looks like:

.. code-block:: python

    # Generated by the protocol buffer compiler.  DO NOT EDIT!
    # sources: example.proto
    # plugin: python-betterproto
    from dataclasses import dataclass

    import betterproto


    @dataclass
    class Greeting(betterproto.Message):
        """Greeting represents a message you can tell a user."""

        message: str = betterproto.string_field(1)


Then to use it:

.. code-block:: python

    >>> from lib import Greeting

    >>> test = Greeting()
    >>> test
    Greeting(message='')

    >>> test.message = "Hey!"
    >>> test
    Greeting(message="Hey!")

    >>> bytes(test)
    b'\n\x04Hey!'
    >>> Greeting().parse(serialized)
    Greeting(message="Hey!")


Async gRPC Support
++++++++++++++++++

The generated code includes `grpclib <https://grpclib.readthedocs.io/en/latest>`_ based
stub (client and server) classes for rpc services declared in the input proto files.
It is enabled by default.


Given a service definition similar to the one below:

.. code-block:: proto

    syntax = "proto3";

    package echo;

    message EchoRequest {
      string value = 1;
      // Number of extra times to echo
      uint32 extra_times = 2;
    }

    message EchoResponse {
      repeated string values = 1;
    }

    message EchoStreamResponse  {
      string value = 1;
    }

    service Echo {
      rpc Echo(EchoRequest) returns (EchoResponse);
      rpc EchoStream(EchoRequest) returns (stream EchoStreamResponse);
    }

The generated client can be used like so:

.. code-block:: python

    import asyncio
    from grpclib.client import Channel
    import echo


    async def main():
        channel = Channel(host="127.0.0.1", port=50051)
        service = echo.EchoStub(channel)
        response = await service.echo(value="hello", extra_times=1)
        print(response)

        async for response in service.echo_stream(value="hello", extra_times=1):
            print(response)

        # don't forget to close the channel when you're done!
        channel.close()

    asyncio.run(main())  # python 3.7 only

    # outputs
    EchoResponse(values=['hello', 'hello'])
    EchoStreamResponse(value='hello')
    EchoStreamResponse(value='hello')


The server-facing stubs can be used to implement a Python
gRPC server.
To use them, simply subclass the base class in the generated files and override the
service methods:

.. code-block:: python

    from echo import EchoBase
    from grpclib.server import Server
    from typing import AsyncIterator


    class EchoService(EchoBase):
        async def echo(self, value: str, extra_times: int) -> "EchoResponse":
            return value

        async def echo_stream(
            self, value: str, extra_times: int
        ) -> AsyncIterator["EchoStreamResponse"]:
            for _ in range(extra_times):
                yield value


    async def start_server():
        HOST = "127.0.0.1"
        PORT = 1337
        server = Server([EchoService()])
        await server.start(HOST, PORT)
        await server.serve_forever()

JSON
++++
Message objects include :meth:`betterproto.Message.to_json` and
:meth:`betterproto.Message.from_json` methods for JSON (de)serialisation, and
:meth:`betterproto.Message.to_dict`, :meth:`betterproto.Message.from_dict` for
converting back and forth from JSON serializable dicts.

For compatibility the default is to convert field names to
:attr:`betterproto.Casing.CAMEL`. You can control this behavior by passing a
different casing value, e.g:

.. code-block:: python

    @dataclass
    class MyMessage(betterproto.Message):
        a_long_field_name: str = betterproto.string_field(1)


    >>> test = MyMessage(a_long_field_name="Hello World!")
    >>> test.to_dict(betterproto.Casing.SNAKE)
    {"a_long_field_name": "Hello World!"}
    >>> test.to_dict(betterproto.Casing.CAMEL)
    {"aLongFieldName": "Hello World!"}

    >>> test.to_json(indent=2)
    '{\n  "aLongFieldName": "Hello World!"\n}'

    >>> test.from_dict({"aLongFieldName": "Goodbye World!"})
    >>> test.a_long_field_name
    "Goodbye World!"