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Testing the FlatBuffers Lua library
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Using the FlatBuffers Lua library
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<h1 id="flatbuffers_guide_use_lua">Use in Lua</h1>
<h2 id="before-you-get-started">Before you get started</h2>
<p>Before diving into the FlatBuffers usage in Lua, it should be noted that the
<a href="../../tutorial/">Tutorial</a> page has a complete guide to general
FlatBuffers usage in all of the supported languages (including Lua). This
page is designed to cover the nuances of FlatBuffers usage, specific to
Lua.</p>
<p>You should also have read the <a href="../../building/">Building</a>
documentation to build <code>flatc</code> and should be familiar with
<a href="../../flatc/">Using the schema compiler</a> and
<a href="../../schema/">Writing a schema</a>.</p>
<h2 id="flatbuffers-lua-library-code-location">FlatBuffers Lua library code location</h2>
<p>The code for the FlatBuffers Lua library can be found at
<code>flatbuffers/lua</code>. You can browse the library code on the
<a href="https://github.com/google/flatbuffers/tree/master/lua">FlatBuffers GitHub page</a>.</p>
<h2 id="testing-the-flatbuffers-lua-library">Testing the FlatBuffers Lua library</h2>
<p>The code to test the Lua library can be found at <code>flatbuffers/tests</code>.
The test code itself is located in <a href="https://github.com/google/
flatbuffers/blob/master/tests/luatest.lua">luatest.lua</a>.</p>
<p>To run the tests, use the <a href="https://github.com/google/flatbuffers/
blob/master/tests/LuaTest.sh">LuaTest.sh</a> shell script.</p>
<p><em>Note: This script requires <a href="https://www.lua.org/">Lua 5.3</a> and
<a href="http://luajit.org/">LuaJIT</a> to be installed.</em></p>
<h2 id="using-the-flatbuffers-lua-library">Using the FlatBuffers Lua library</h2>
<p><em>Note: See <a href="../../tutorial/">Tutorial</a> for a more in-depth
example of how to use FlatBuffers in Lua.</em></p>
<p>There is support for both reading and writing FlatBuffers in Lua.</p>
<p>To use FlatBuffers in your own code, first generate Lua classes from your
schema with the <code>--lua</code> option to <code>flatc</code>. Then you can include both
FlatBuffers and the generated code to read or write a FlatBuffer.</p>
<p>For example, here is how you would read a FlatBuffer binary file in Lua:
First, require the module and the generated code. Then read a FlatBuffer binary
file into a <code>string</code>, which you pass to the <code>GetRootAsMonster</code> function:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code><span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">-- require the library</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">flatbuffers</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">require</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;flatbuffers&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">-- require the generated code</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">monster</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">require</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s2">&quot;MyGame.Sample.Monster&quot;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">-- read the flatbuffer from a file into a string</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">f</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">io.open</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;monster.dat&#39;</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="s1">&#39;rb&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">buf</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">f</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="nf">read</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="s1">&#39;*a&#39;</span><span class="p">)</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">f</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="nf">close</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">-- parse the flatbuffer to get an instance to the root monster</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">monster1</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">monster</span><span class="p">.</span><span class="nf">GetRootAsMonster</span><span class="p">(</span><span class="nv">buf</span><span class="p">,</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="mi">0</span><span class="p">)</span>
</code></pre></div>
<p>Now you can access values like this:</p>
<div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code><span class="w"> </span><span class="c1">-- use the : notation to access member data</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">hp</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">monster1</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="nf">Hp</span><span class="p">()</span>
<span class="w"> </span><span class="kd">local</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">pos</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="o">=</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">monster1</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="nf">Pos</span><span class="p">()</span>
</code></pre></div>
<h2 id="text-parsing">Text Parsing</h2>
<p>There currently is no support for parsing text (Schema's and JSON) directly
from Lua, though you could use the C++ parser through SWIG or ctypes. Please
see the C++ documentation for more on text parsing.</p>
<p><br></p>
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