# Parsing ProtoBuf Text Format
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-protobuf-text-format/84721
**Category:** General Usage
**Tags:** question, io, serialization, protobuf
**Created:** [July 24, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-protobuf-text-format/84721 "2022-07-24T18:24:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@FireCrumb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/FireCrumb)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-protobuf-text-format/84721/1 "2022-07-24T18:24:13Z")
Hi, I’m trying to use [ProtoBuf.jl](https://github.com/JuliaIO/ProtoBuf.jl) to deserialize objects.
Managed to [generate code from .proto files](https://github.com/JuliaIO/ProtoBuf.jl/blob/master/PROTOC.md)
Now I want to read and write objects with [Protocol Buffer Text Format Language Specification](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/text-format-spec).
However, I could only find [usage for binary readproto/writeproto](https://github.com/JuliaIO/ProtoBuf.jl/blob/master/USAGE.md).
How can I use [TextFormat](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/cpp/google.protobuf.text_format)?
Thanks!
---
### Author:  [@drvi](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/drvi)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-protobuf-text-format/84721/2 "2022-07-25T05:18:49Z")
Not ideal, but you should be able to convert the text format to binary with `protoc` using the `--encode`/`--decode` flags, see this [SO answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/18877167).
---
### Author:  [@FireCrumb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/FireCrumb)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2022, 2:20am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-protobuf-text-format/84721/3 "2022-07-27T02:20:05Z")
Thanks!
I was able to build this solution:
```julia
using ProtoBuf
using protoc_jll
export protobuf_from_text, protobuf_to_text
# important: .proto files are required in runtime!
const _proj_path = normpath(joinpath(@ __FILE__ , "..", ".."))
const _proto_path = joinpath(_proj_path, "common")
const _plugin_dir = abspath(joinpath(dirname(pathof(ProtoBuf)), "..", "plugin"))
const _plugin = joinpath(_plugin_dir, Sys.iswindows() ? "protoc-gen-julia_win.bat" : "protoc-gen-julia")
const ENV_ = copy(ENV)
ENV_["PATH"] = string(_plugin_dir, Sys.iswindows() ? ";" : ":", ENV_["PATH"])
ENV_["JULIA"] = joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, Base.julia_exename())
function protobuf_from_text(input::String, proto_type::Type{T}, proto_file="default.proto") where {T <: ProtoType}
args = `--proto_path=$_proto_path --encode=mynamespace.$proto_type $proto_file`
protoc_jll.protoc() do protoc_path
inbuf = PipeBuffer()
write(inbuf, input)
outbuf = PipeBuffer()
run(pipeline(setenv(`$protoc_path --plugin=protoc-gen-julia=$_plugin $args`, ENV_); stdin=inbuf, stdout=outbuf))
return readproto(outbuf, proto_type())::T
end
end
function protobuf_to_text(input::T, proto_file="default.proto") where {T <: ProtoType}
proto_type = typeof(input)
args = `--proto_path=$_proto_path --decode=mynamespace.$proto_type $proto_file`
protoc_jll.protoc() do protoc_path
inbuf = PipeBuffer()
writeproto(inbuf, input)
outbuf = PipeBuffer()
run(pipeline(setenv(`$protoc_path --plugin=protoc-gen-julia=$_plugin $args`, ENV_); stdin=inbuf, stdout=outbuf))
return read(outbuf, String)
end
end
```
---
### Author:  [@FireCrumb](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/FireCrumb)
#### Post date: [November 9, 2022, 8:59am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/parsing-protobuf-text-format/84721/4 "2022-11-09T08:59:17Z")
Updated code for [ProtoBuf.jl 1.0.0](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/ann-protobuf-jl-1-0-0/85885/11)
```julia
# important: .proto files are required in runtime!
const _proj_path = normpath(joinpath(@ __FILE__ , "..", ".."))
const _proto_path = "some_path"
const ENV_ = copy(ENV)
ENV_["JULIA"] = joinpath(Sys.BINDIR, Base.julia_exename())
function protobuf_from_text(
input::String,
proto_type::Type{T},
proto_file = "my.proto"
) where {T}
proto_type_name = string(Base.typename(proto_type).wrapper)
args = `--proto_path=$_proto_path --encode=namespace.$proto_type_name $proto_file`
protoc_jll.protoc() do protoc_path
inbuf = PipeBuffer()
write(inbuf, input)
outbuf = PipeBuffer()
run(pipeline(setenv(`$protoc_path $args`, ENV_); stdin = inbuf, stdout = outbuf))
d = ProtoDecoder(outbuf)
return decode(d, proto_type)::T
end
end
function protobuf_to_text(input::T, proto_file = "my.proto") where {T}
proto_type = typeof(input)
proto_type_name = string(Base.typename(proto_type).wrapper)
args = `--proto_path=$_proto_path --decode=namespace.$proto_type_name $proto_file`
protoc_jll.protoc() do protoc_path
inbuf = PipeBuffer()
e = ProtoEncoder(inbuf)
encode(e, input)
outbuf = PipeBuffer()
run(pipeline(setenv(`$protoc_path $args`, ENV_); stdin = inbuf, stdout = outbuf))
return read(outbuf, String)
end
end
```