Confusing google protobuf field
I'm analysing some protobuf data using https://protogen.marcgravell.com/decode and i cannot make sense of this:
I'm reading through the protobuf encoding guide and i can see the data doesn't have to be a string, but rather something length-delimited string, bytes, embedded messages, packed repeated fields
What i don't understand is why it has a perfectly good string apples1 in field 105, but then 3x random empty payloads for the same field 105? Is this just some oddness with the 3rd parties use of protbufs that i'm looking at, or is it something else i'm missing?
Thanks in advance.
c++ protocol-buffers
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
add a comment |
I'm analysing some protobuf data using https://protogen.marcgravell.com/decode and i cannot make sense of this:
I'm reading through the protobuf encoding guide and i can see the data doesn't have to be a string, but rather something length-delimited string, bytes, embedded messages, packed repeated fields
What i don't understand is why it has a perfectly good string apples1 in field 105, but then 3x random empty payloads for the same field 105? Is this just some oddness with the 3rd parties use of protbufs that i'm looking at, or is it something else i'm missing?
Thanks in advance.
c++ protocol-buffers
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
Well, theapple1string suggests that this is test data, but in real life situations there's nothing particularly unusual about empty string fields, think e.g. address line 2.
– 500 - Internal Server Error
Nov 13 '18 at 18:19
add a comment |
I'm analysing some protobuf data using https://protogen.marcgravell.com/decode and i cannot make sense of this:
I'm reading through the protobuf encoding guide and i can see the data doesn't have to be a string, but rather something length-delimited string, bytes, embedded messages, packed repeated fields
What i don't understand is why it has a perfectly good string apples1 in field 105, but then 3x random empty payloads for the same field 105? Is this just some oddness with the 3rd parties use of protbufs that i'm looking at, or is it something else i'm missing?
Thanks in advance.
c++ protocol-buffers
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
I'm analysing some protobuf data using https://protogen.marcgravell.com/decode and i cannot make sense of this:
I'm reading through the protobuf encoding guide and i can see the data doesn't have to be a string, but rather something length-delimited string, bytes, embedded messages, packed repeated fields
What i don't understand is why it has a perfectly good string apples1 in field 105, but then 3x random empty payloads for the same field 105? Is this just some oddness with the 3rd parties use of protbufs that i'm looking at, or is it something else i'm missing?
Thanks in advance.
c++ protocol-buffers
c++ protocol-buffers
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
edited Nov 13 '18 at 18:16
Spark
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
asked Nov 13 '18 at 13:12
SparkSpark
4031320
4031320
Well, theapple1string suggests that this is test data, but in real life situations there's nothing particularly unusual about empty string fields, think e.g. address line 2.
– 500 - Internal Server Error
Nov 13 '18 at 18:19
add a comment |
Well, theapple1string suggests that this is test data, but in real life situations there's nothing particularly unusual about empty string fields, think e.g. address line 2.
– 500 - Internal Server Error
Nov 13 '18 at 18:19
Well, the
apple1 string suggests that this is test data, but in real life situations there's nothing particularly unusual about empty string fields, think e.g. address line 2.– 500 - Internal Server Error
Nov 13 '18 at 18:19
Well, the
apple1 string suggests that this is test data, but in real life situations there's nothing particularly unusual about empty string fields, think e.g. address line 2.– 500 - Internal Server Error
Nov 13 '18 at 18:19
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
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There's nothing especially unusual about empty strings; however, it is also entirely possible that they are sub-messages - just objects without any interesting properties. A nil (not assigned / null / etc) sub-message won't be present at all, but a non-nil sub-message without any interesting content will be: a zero-byte binary string (in protobuf terms).
Likewise: a bytes field that is explicitly assigned a zero-length buffer: will be a zero-byte binary string. And: a "packed" array with zero elements: will be a zero-byte binary string.
So: nothing unusual here - that's perfectly normal and expected protobuf for a range of scenarios.
Since the field number doesn't change, it sounds like something like:
repeated string whatever = 105;
i.e.
obj.Whatever = [ "apples1", "", "", "" ];
Odd, but not invalid.
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
add a comment |
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
There's nothing especially unusual about empty strings; however, it is also entirely possible that they are sub-messages - just objects without any interesting properties. A nil (not assigned / null / etc) sub-message won't be present at all, but a non-nil sub-message without any interesting content will be: a zero-byte binary string (in protobuf terms).
Likewise: a bytes field that is explicitly assigned a zero-length buffer: will be a zero-byte binary string. And: a "packed" array with zero elements: will be a zero-byte binary string.
So: nothing unusual here - that's perfectly normal and expected protobuf for a range of scenarios.
Since the field number doesn't change, it sounds like something like:
repeated string whatever = 105;
i.e.
obj.Whatever = [ "apples1", "", "", "" ];
Odd, but not invalid.
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
add a comment |
There's nothing especially unusual about empty strings; however, it is also entirely possible that they are sub-messages - just objects without any interesting properties. A nil (not assigned / null / etc) sub-message won't be present at all, but a non-nil sub-message without any interesting content will be: a zero-byte binary string (in protobuf terms).
Likewise: a bytes field that is explicitly assigned a zero-length buffer: will be a zero-byte binary string. And: a "packed" array with zero elements: will be a zero-byte binary string.
So: nothing unusual here - that's perfectly normal and expected protobuf for a range of scenarios.
Since the field number doesn't change, it sounds like something like:
repeated string whatever = 105;
i.e.
obj.Whatever = [ "apples1", "", "", "" ];
Odd, but not invalid.
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
add a comment |
There's nothing especially unusual about empty strings; however, it is also entirely possible that they are sub-messages - just objects without any interesting properties. A nil (not assigned / null / etc) sub-message won't be present at all, but a non-nil sub-message without any interesting content will be: a zero-byte binary string (in protobuf terms).
Likewise: a bytes field that is explicitly assigned a zero-length buffer: will be a zero-byte binary string. And: a "packed" array with zero elements: will be a zero-byte binary string.
So: nothing unusual here - that's perfectly normal and expected protobuf for a range of scenarios.
Since the field number doesn't change, it sounds like something like:
repeated string whatever = 105;
i.e.
obj.Whatever = [ "apples1", "", "", "" ];
Odd, but not invalid.
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
There's nothing especially unusual about empty strings; however, it is also entirely possible that they are sub-messages - just objects without any interesting properties. A nil (not assigned / null / etc) sub-message won't be present at all, but a non-nil sub-message without any interesting content will be: a zero-byte binary string (in protobuf terms).
Likewise: a bytes field that is explicitly assigned a zero-length buffer: will be a zero-byte binary string. And: a "packed" array with zero elements: will be a zero-byte binary string.
So: nothing unusual here - that's perfectly normal and expected protobuf for a range of scenarios.
Since the field number doesn't change, it sounds like something like:
repeated string whatever = 105;
i.e.
obj.Whatever = [ "apples1", "", "", "" ];
Odd, but not invalid.
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
answered Nov 13 '18 at 18:49
Marc Gravell♦Marc Gravell
779k19221292541
779k19221292541
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
add a comment |
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
Ahh that makes more sense, thanks for your help Marc, and the decoding tool!
– Spark
Nov 13 '18 at 22:02
add a comment |
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Well, the
apple1string suggests that this is test data, but in real life situations there's nothing particularly unusual about empty string fields, think e.g. address line 2.– 500 - Internal Server Error
Nov 13 '18 at 18:19