Add local mode and nonlocal field tag

Some of the fields may only be needed for over-the-network transfer,
but can be skipped when encoding the object locally. For instance, if
the object is stored in a blob field in the database, but some parts
of it also are stored in other columns in the same row, we can save
some space by omitting these fields in the blobs.

This is achieved by adding `nonlocal` field tag, `WithEncodeLocal()`
encoder option and `WithDecodeLocal()` decoder option. The encoder and
the decoder skip fields with `nonlocal` tag when they're in the local
mode.

Author: ivan4th

decoder.go

@@ -44,8 +44,15 @@ func WithDecodeMaxNested(nested uint) decoderOpts {
 // WithDecodeMaxElements sets the maximum number of elements allowed in a collection.
 // The default value is 1 << 20.
 func WithDecodeMaxElements(elements uint32) decoderOpts {
-	return func(e *Decoder) {
-		e.maxElements = elements
+	return func(d *Decoder) {
+		d.maxElements = elements
+	}
+}
+
+// WithDecodeLocal instructs the decoder to skip decoding of fields with the `nonlocal` tag.
+func WithDecodeLocal() decoderOpts {
+	return func(d *Decoder) {
+		d.local = true
 	}
 }
 
@@ -67,6 +74,7 @@ type Decoder struct {
 	scratch     [9]byte
 	maxNested   uint
 	maxElements uint32
+	local       bool
 }
 
 func (d *Decoder) enterNested() error {
@@ -85,6 +93,12 @@ func (d *Decoder) read(buf []byte) (int, error) {
 	return io.ReadFull(d.r, buf)
 }
 
+// Local returns true if the decoder is using local mode, that is, skipping fields with
+// the `nonlocal` tag.
+func (d *Decoder) Local() bool {
+	return d.local
+}
+
 func DecodeByte(d *Decoder) (byte, int, error) {
 	n, err := d.read(d.scratch[:1])
 	if err != nil {

encoder.go

@@ -52,6 +52,13 @@ func WithEncodeMaxElements(elements uint32) encoderOpts {
 	}
 }
 
+// WithEncodeLocal instructs the encoder to skip encoding of fields with the `nonlocal` tag.
+func WithEncodeLocal() encoderOpts {
+	return func(e *Encoder) {
+		e.local = true
+	}
+}
+
 // NewEncoder returns a new encoder that writes to w.
 // If w implements io.StringWriter, the returned encoder will be more efficient in encoding strings.
 func NewEncoder(w io.Writer, opts ...encoderOpts) *Encoder {
@@ -71,6 +78,7 @@ type Encoder struct {
 	scratch     [9]byte
 	maxNested   uint
 	maxElements uint32
+	local       bool
 }
 
 func (e *Encoder) enterNested() error {
@@ -85,6 +93,12 @@ func (e *Encoder) leaveNested() {
 	e.maxNested++
 }
 
+// Local returns true if the encoder is using local mode, that is, skipping fields with
+// the `nonlocal` tag.
+func (e *Encoder) Local() bool {
+	return e.local
+}
+
 func EncodeByteSlice(e *Encoder, value []byte) (int, error) {
 	return EncodeByteSliceWithLimit(e, value, e.maxElements)
 }

examples/nonlocal.go

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+package examples
+
+//go:generate scalegen
+
+type StructWithNonLocalField struct {
+	Name   string `scale:"max=20"`
+	SomeID string `scale:"nonlocal,max=20"`
+}

examples/nonlocal_scale.go

@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+package examples
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"github.com/spacemeshos/go-scale"
+)
+
+func TestNonLocal(t *testing.T) {
+	s := StructWithNonLocalField{
+		Name:   "foo",
+		SomeID: "bar",
+	}
+
+	buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+	encoder := scale.NewEncoder(buf)
+	n, err := s.EncodeScale(encoder)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, 8, n)
+
+	decoder := scale.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(buf.Bytes()))
+	var s1 StructWithNonLocalField
+	n, err = s1.DecodeScale(decoder)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, 8, n)
+	require.Equal(t, s, s1)
+
+	buf = bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+	encoder = scale.NewEncoder(buf, scale.WithEncodeLocal())
+	n, err = s.EncodeScale(encoder)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, 4, n)
+
+	decoder = scale.NewDecoder(bytes.NewReader(buf.Bytes()), scale.WithDecodeLocal())
+	var s2 StructWithNonLocalField
+	n, err = s2.DecodeScale(decoder)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, 4, n)
+	require.Equal(t, StructWithNonLocalField{Name: "foo"}, s2)
+}

examples/nonlocal_test.go

@@ -31,8 +31,10 @@ type temp struct {
 	decode string
 }
 
+type action int
+
 const (
-	encode = iota
+	encode action = iota
 	decode
 )
 
@@ -119,7 +121,7 @@ var (
 	}
 )
 
-func getAction(tm temp, action int) string {
+func getAction(tm temp, action action) string {
 	switch action {
 	case encode:
 		return tm.encode
@@ -266,6 +268,7 @@ type scaleType struct {
 	Args           string
 	EncodeModifier string
 	DecodeModifier string
+	NonLocal       bool
 }
 
 func getDecodeModifier(parentType reflect.Type, field reflect.StructField) string {
@@ -277,6 +280,18 @@ func getDecodeModifier(parentType reflect.Type, field reflect.StructField) strin
 }
 
 func getScaleType(parentType reflect.Type, field reflect.StructField) (scaleType, error) {
+	st, err := getScaleTypeInner(parentType, field)
+	if err != nil {
+		return scaleType{}, err
+	}
+	st.NonLocal, err = nonLocal(field.Tag)
+	if err != nil {
+		return scaleType{}, fmt.Errorf("getting tags: %w", err)
+	}
+	return st, nil
+}
+
+func getScaleTypeInner(parentType reflect.Type, field reflect.StructField) (scaleType, error) {
 	decodeModifier := getDecodeModifier(parentType, field)
 	encodableType := reflect.TypeOf((*Encodable)(nil)).Elem()
 
@@ -374,7 +389,7 @@ func getTemplate(stype scaleType) temp {
 	}
 }
 
-func executeAction(action int, w io.Writer, tc *typeContext) error {
+func executeAction(action action, w io.Writer, tc *typeContext) error {
 	typ := tc.Type
 
 	tpl, err := template.New("").Parse(getAction(start, action))
@@ -396,6 +411,17 @@ func executeAction(action int, w io.Writer, tc *typeContext) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("getting scale type for %s: %w", typ, err)
 		}
 
+		if scaleType.NonLocal {
+			switch action {
+			case encode:
+				w.Write([]byte("if !enc.Local() "))
+			case decode:
+				w.Write([]byte("if !dec.Local() "))
+			default:
+				panic("BUG: bad action")
+			}
+		}
+
 		tctx := &typeContext{
 			Name:           field.Name,
 			Type:           field.Type,