1  # BSER Binary Serialization
 2  
 3  BSER is a binary serialization scheme that can be used as an alternative to JSON.
 4  BSER uses a framed encoding that makes it simpler to use to stream a sequence of
 5  encoded values.
 6  
 7  It is intended to be used for local-IPC only and strings are represented as binary
 8  with no specific encoding; this matches the convention employed by most operating
 9  system filename storage.
10  
11  For more details about the serialization scheme see
12  [Watchman's docs](https://facebook.github.io/watchman/docs/bser.html).
13  
14  ## API
15  
16  ```js
17  var bser = require('bser');
18  ```
19  
20  ### bser.loadFromBuffer
21  
22  The is the synchronous decoder; given an input string or buffer,
23  decodes a single value and returns it.  Throws an error if the
24  input is invalid.
25  
26  ```js
27  var obj = bser.loadFromBuffer(buf);
28  ```
29  
30  ### bser.dumpToBuffer
31  
32  Synchronously encodes a value as BSER.
33  
34  ```js
35  var encoded = bser.dumpToBuffer(['hello']);
36  console.log(bser.loadFromBuffer(encoded)); // ['hello']
37  ```
38  
39  ### BunserBuf
40  
41  The asynchronous decoder API is implemented in the BunserBuf object.
42  You may incrementally append data to this object and it will emit the
43  decoded values via its `value` event.
44  
45  ```js
46  var bunser = new bser.BunserBuf();
47  
48  bunser.on('value', function(obj) {
49    console.log(obj);
50  });
51  ```
52  
53  Then in your socket `data` event:
54  
55  ```js
56  bunser.append(buf);
57  ```
58  
59  ## Example
60  
61  Read BSER from socket:
62  
63  ```js
64  var bunser = new bser.BunserBuf();
65  
66  bunser.on('value', function(obj) {
67    console.log('data from socket', obj);
68  });
69  
70  var socket = net.connect('/socket');
71  
72  socket.on('data', function(buf) {
73    bunser.append(buf);
74  });
75  ```
76  
77  Write BSER to socket:
78  
79  ```js
80  socket.write(bser.dumpToBuffer(obj));
81  ```