byte-wrapper

Newtype wrappers for byte arrays and vectors with hex and base64 formatting.

This crate provides wrapper types that display byte data in human-readable encodings. HexArray<N> encodes fixed-length byte arrays as hex strings, and Base64Vec encodes variable-length byte vectors as base64 strings.

With the serde feature, both types implement Serialize and Deserialize, encoding as human-readable strings (hex or base64) in text formats like JSON, and as efficient raw bytes in binary formats like CBOR. You do not have to use the newtypes in your own type definitions; you can refer to them via #[serde(with = "...")] instead.

With the schemars08 feature, both types implement JsonSchema, including automatic opt-in replacement with typify and progenitor.

Types

• HexArray<N> encodes a fixed-length byte array as a hex string. (Requires the hex feature.)
• Base64Vec encodes a variable-length byte vector as a base64 string. (Requires the base64 feature.)

Examples

use byte_wrapper::HexArray;

let h = HexArray::new([0x01, 0x02, 0xab, 0xff]);
assert_eq!(h.to_string(), "0102abff");

let parsed: HexArray<4> = "0102abff".parse().unwrap();
assert_eq!(parsed, h);

With the serde feature:

use byte_wrapper::HexArray;
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct Record {
    checksum: HexArray<32>,
}

Using #[serde(with = "...")] on an existing byte array:

use byte_wrapper::HexArray;
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
struct Record {
    #[serde(with = "HexArray::<32>")]
    checksum: [u8; 32],
}

Alternatives

Several crates solve parts of this problem, often using slightly different approaches from byte-wrapper.

feature	byte-wrapper	serde-human-bytes 0.1.2	serde-encoded-bytes 0.2.1	serde_with 3.17.0	hex-buffer-serde 0.4.0	hexutil 0.1.0	serde-bytes-repr 0.3.0
newtype wrappers	yes	yes (hex only)	no	no	no	no	no
is_human_readable() switch	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	yes	no
Display / FromStr / Deref	yes	Deref only	no	no	no	Display / FromStr via macro	no
hex encoding	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
base64 encoding	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	yes
[u8; N] support	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	via macros	no
no_std	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no
JsonSchema (schemars)	yes	no	no	yes	no	no	no
#[serde(with)] support	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no

The closest alternatives are:

• serde-human-bytes, which provides newtypes with Deref, is_human_readable() switching, and both hex and base64 encoding, but lacks Display / FromStr and JsonSchema support.

• serde-encoded-bytes, which provides most of the features of this crate, and is more general in some ways, but doesn’t provide newtype or schemars support.

• serde_with, which offers schemars integration but does not check is_human_readable() by default.

Features

• hex: enables HexArray. Enabled by default.
• base64: enables Base64Vec (implies alloc). Enabled by default.
• alloc: enables alloc support (required by base64).
• serde: implements Serialize and Deserialize for enabled types. Not enabled by default.
• schemars08: derives JsonSchema for enabled types. Not enabled by default.

License

Licensed under either of Apache License, Version 2.0 or MIT license at your option.

Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in this crate by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.