paketto (Japanese for "packet") is a small library for serializing and deserializing data in JavaScript. It is fast, lightweight and has no dependencies.
- Simple API
- Small size
- No dependencies
- Supports primitive types out of the box
- Supports custom types
- Supports nested objects and arrays
- Optional built-in serializers for common types (Array, Map, Set, etc.)
See API documentation.
These types are supported out of the box:
- UInt8
- UInt16
- UInt32
- Int8
- Int16
- Int32
- Float32
- Float64
- String
- Boolean
- Null
- Undefined
- NaN
- Infinity
- NegativeInfinity
This package also includes serializers for common types.
- Array
- Uint8Array
- Uint16Array
- Uint32Array
- Int8Array
- Int16Array
- Int32Array
- Float32Array
- Map
- Set
These serializers can be registered using addBuiltInSerializers().
npm install paketto --saveor
yarn add pakettoimport { serialize, deserialize } from "paketto";
// or import * as paketto from "paketto"; and use methods as paketto.serialize, paketto.deserialize etc.
const buf = new Uint8Array(1024); // We don't need a buffer that big, but it's fine for this example.
let offset = 0;
offset = serialize(buf, 123, offset); // serialized as UInt8
offset = serialize(buf, 6660, offset); // serialized as UInt16
offset = serialize(buf, 666000, offset); // serialized as UInt32
offset = serialize(buf, -42, offset); // serialized as Int8
offset = serialize(buf, 123.456, offset); // serialized as Float32
offset = serialize(buf, "Hello world!", offset); // serialized as String
let deserialized = deserialize(buf, 0);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 123
deserialized = deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 6660
deserialized = deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 666000
deserialized = deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // -42
deserialized = deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 123.456
deserialized = deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // "Hello world!"<html>
<head>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/paketto@latest/dist/paketto.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<script>
const buf = new Uint8Array(1024);
let offset = 0;
offset = paketto.serialize(buf, 123, offset);
offset = paketto.serialize(buf, 6660, offset);
offset = paketto.serialize(buf, 666000, offset);
offset = paketto.serialize(buf, -42, offset);
offset = paketto.serialize(buf, 123.456, offset);
offset = paketto.serialize(buf, "Hello world!", offset);
let deserialized = paketto.deserialize(buf, 0);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 123
deserialized = paketto.deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 6660
deserialized = paketto.deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 666000
deserialized = paketto.deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // -42
deserialized = paketto.deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // 123.456
deserialized = paketto.deserialize(buf, deserialized.offset);
console.log(deserialized.value); // "Hello world!"
</script>
</body>
</html>When using serialize(), paketto will automatically choose the smallest
type that can fit the value. For example, 123 will be serialized as UInt8,
-123 will be serialized as Int8, 300 will be serialized as UInt16, etc.
There is a small 1 byte overhead for each serialized value.
Packet in the example above has the following structure:
| Type | Size | Value |
|---|---|---|
| UInt8 | 1 | Type of the next value (UInt8) |
| UInt8 | 1 | 123 |
| UInt8 | 1 | Type of the next value (UInt16) |
| UInt16 | 2 | 6660 |
| UInt8 | 1 | Type of the next value (UInt32) |
| UInt32 | 4 | 666000 |
| UInt8 | 1 | Type of the next value (Int8) |
| Int8 | 1 | -42 |
| UInt8 | 1 | Type of the next value (Float32) |
| Float32 | 4 | 123.456 |
| UInt8 | 1 | Type of the next value (String) |
| UInt16 | 2 | Length of the string (12) |
| UInt16 | 2 | "H" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "e" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "l" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "l" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "o" |
| UInt16 | 2 | " " |
| UInt16 | 2 | "w" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "o" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "r" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "l" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "d" |
| UInt16 | 2 | "!" |
| Total | 34 |
If you don't want the overhead, you can use primitive serializers directly.
This is less convenient, but it's probably faster, and it has no overhead.
import { serializeString, deserializeString } from "paketto";
const buf = new Uint8Array(26);
serializeString(buf, "Hello world!", 0);
const deserialized = deserializeString(buf, 0);
console.log(deserialized.value); // "Hello world!"You can also register your own serializers.
import { addCustomSerializer, serializeFloat32, deserializeFloat32 } from "paketto";
class Vector2 {
constructor(public x: number, public y: number) {}
}
addCustomSerializer(
// Type to serialize (any object that has .constructor property)
Vector2,
// Serializer function
(buf, value, offset) => {
offset = serializeFloat32(buf, value.x, offset);
offset = serializeFloat32(buf, value.y, offset);
return offset;
},
// Deserializer function
(buf, offset) => {
const deserializedX = deserializeFloat32(buf, offset);
offset = deserializedX.offset;
const deserializedY = deserializeFloat32(buf, offset);
offset = deserializedY.offset;
return {
offset,
value: new Vector2(deserializedX.value, deserializedY.value),
};
},
// Unique ID for this type. Must be between 50 and 255.
50
);