CppMicroServices

C++ Micro Services: Module Properties
Module Properties

A C++ Micro Services Module provides meta-data in the form of so-called properties about itself. Properties are key - value pairs where the key is of type std::string and the value of type Any. The following properties are always set by the C++ Micro Services library and cannot be altered by the module author:

  • module.id - The unique id of the module (type long)
  • module.name - The human readable name of the module (type std::string)
  • module.location - The full path to the module's shared library on the file system (type std::string)

Module authors can add custom properties by providing a manifest.json file, embedded as a top-level resource into the module (see The Resources System). The root value of the Json file must be a Json object. An example manifest.json file would be:

{
"module.version" : "1.0.2",
"module.description" : "This module provides an awesome service",
"authors" : [ "John Doe", "Douglas Reynolds", "Daniel Cannady" ],
"rating" : 5
}

All Json member names of the root object will be available as property keys in the module containing the manifest.json file. The C++ Micro Services library specifies the following standard keys for re-use in manifest.json files:

  • module.version - The version of the module (type std::string). The version string must be a valid version identifier, as specified in the ModuleVersion class.
  • module.vendor - The vendor name of the module (type std::string)
  • module.description - A description for the module (type std::string)
  • module.autoload_dir - A custom auto-load directory for the module (type std::string). If not set, this property defaults to the module's library name.
Note
Some of the properties mentioned above may also be accessed via dedicated methods in the Module class, e.g. Module::GetName() or Module::GetVersion().

When parsing the manifest.json file, the Json types are mapped to C++ types and stored in instances of the Any class. The mapping is as follows:

Json C++ (Any)
object std::map<std::string,Any>
array std::vector<Any>
string std::string
number int or double
true bool
false bool
null Any()