cDIF for TypeScript

This is a parser and serializer for cDIF, an intuitive and versatile textual data interchange format. The package is written in TypeScript, so it includes type definitions. It is up to date with cDIF version 1.0.2.

To install:

npm install @mkacct/cdif

Basic usage

The following examples demonstrate the most basic usage of this library. The behavior can be customized in many ways; please see the documentation for details.

CDIF version

The CDIF constructor takes one optional argument, which is the major version of the cDIF specification by which it should abide. (If it is omitted, the latest version will be assumed.)

const cdif = new CDIF(); // defaults to latest version
const cdif1 = new CDIF(1);

Parsing

CDIF.parse() can be used to parse any cDIF text (with or without # directives).

An optional second argument (not shown in the example) may be supplied to configure the parser; check the documentation for all available parser configuration options.

const cdif = new CDIF();
const cdifText: string = /* input cDIF text */;
const value: unknown = cdif.parse(cdifText); // JS value

Serialization

CDIF.serialize() returns a plain cDIF value (no # directives), while CDIF.serializeFile() allows you to add various file format elements to the output. (Check the documentation for all available file formatter configuration options.)

While not strictly necessary, configuration options are used in this example to enable formatted ("pretty-printed") output. They are supplied as an optional second argument to both CDIF.serialize() and CDIF.serializeFile(); check the documentation for all available serializer configuration options.

const cdif = new CDIF();
const value: unknown = /* input JS value */;
const serializerOptions: CDIFSerializerOptions = {
    indent: "\t", // or any other string (ex. "    "), or omit to output as one line
    structureEntrySeparator: ";" // or ","
};
// For general use:
const valueText: string = cdif.serialize(value, serializerOptions); // cDIF value text
// For file output:
const fileText: string = cdif.serializeFile(value, serializerOptions, {
    cdifVersionString: "1.0.2"
}); // cDIF file text (includes initial "cDIF" directive)

Documentation

Check the GitHub wiki for documentation, including guides and API reference.