suitcase 0.12.0
A library for specifying/parsing/packing binary protocols
Keywords: suitcase,construct,declarative,dsl,protocol,binary,parser,builder,pack,unpack

Suitcase
========

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Suitcase is a library providing a set of primitives and helpers for
specifying and parsing protocols. Suitcase provides an internal DSL
(Domain Specific Language) for describing protocol frames. It seeks to
do for binary protocols what things like `Django’s
ORM <https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.8/topics/db/models/>`__ and
`Sqlalchemy’s Declarative
Syntax <http://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/latest/orm/tutorial.html#declare-a-mapping>`__
do for Database ORMs and adopts a similar, class-based syntax.

`View the Full
Documentation <https://digidotcom.github.io/python-suitcase>`__

The original version of suitcase was generously contributed by the
`Digi <http://www.digi.com/>`__ `Wireless Design
Services <http://www.digi.com/wireless-design-services/>`__. The
software is provided as Alpha software and has not undergone formal
testing but does ship with extensive unit testing.

`View the
Changelog <https://github.com/digidotcom/python-suitcase/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md>`__

Example
=======

The following example shows how you would use Suitcase to describe some
of the core network protocols that form the backbone of the internet:

.. code:: python

   from suitcase.fields import UBInt16, Payload, LengthField, Magic, \
       UBInt8Sequence, DispatchField, DispatchTarget, UBInt8, UBInt32, BitField, BitNum, \
       BitBool
   from suitcase.structure import Structure


   class TCPFrameHeader(Structure):
       source_address = UBInt16()
       destination_address = UBInt16()
       sequence_number = UBInt32()
       acknowledgement_number = UBInt32()
       options = BitField(16,
           data_offset=BitNum(4),
           reserved=BitNum(3),
           NS=BitBool(),
           CWR=BitBool(),
           ECE=BitBool(),
           URG=BitBool(),
           ACK=BitBool(),
           PSH=BitBool(),
           RST=BitBool(),
           SYN=BitBool(),
           FIN=BitBool()
       )
       window_size = UBInt16()
       checksum = UBInt16()
       urgent_pointer = UBInt16()
       # TODO: additional options if data_offset > 5


   class UDPFrame(Structure):
       source_port = UBInt16()
       destination_port = UBInt16()
       length = LengthField(UBInt16())
       checksum = UBInt16()
       data = Payload(length)


   class IPV4Frame(Structure):
       options = BitField(64,
           version=BitNum(4),
           internet_header_length=BitNum(4),
           differentiated_services_code_point=BitNum(6),
           explicit_congestion_notification=BitNum(2),
           total_length=BitNum(16),
           identification=BitNum(16),
           flags=BitNum(3),
           fragment_offset=BitNum(13),
       )
       time_to_live = UBInt8()
       protocol = DispatchField(UBInt8())
       header_checksum = UBInt16()
       source_ip_address = UBInt32()
       destination_ip_address = UBInt32()

From these declarative definitions, you can both create message
instances and pack them or parse bytes (including stream parsing) to get
objects that you can do with as you please.

For more information, including how to use the structures that you have
described, please refer to the `Full
Documentation <https://digidotcom.github.io/python-suitcase>`__.

Design Goals
============

The library seeks to adhere to these core principles:

-  Simple Interfaces

   Interfaces to the library should be simple and there should be a
   logical consistency in the library API. Internally, advanced language
   techniques are used, but the API consumer shouldn’t need to be aware
   of these details.

-  Declarative Syntax

   Wherever appropriate, the library should seek to provide a syntax for
   specifying protocols that is as declarative as possible. These
   declarations should be explicit and it should be clear what is being
   declared.

-  Informative Error Messages

   When implementing a protocol, you usually don’t get it right the
   first time. The library should use all available information to
   provide information to the API consumer that can help them figure out
   what is going wrong easily.

-  Common Use Cases Should Be Easy

   There are certain data types/patterns that are common amongst
   protocols. The library should include code to help with these cases
   to make the programmer’s life easier.

-  Less Common Use Cases Should Be Possible

   When there is a protocol that is significantly different than the
   norm, the library should still provide some useful code that can be
   reused. Some parts of the library might need to be abandoned, but the
   hope would be that one would not need to start from scratch.

License
=======

This software is open-source software. Copyright Digi International,
2015.

This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
file, you can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/.

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