How do you use a variable stored in a boost spirit closure as input to a boost spirit loop parser?

Question

I would like to use a parsed value as the input to a loop parser.

The grammar defines a header that specifies the (variable) size of the following string. For example, say the following string is the input to some parser.

12\r\nTest Payload

The parser should extract the 12, convert it to an unsigned int and then read twelve characters. I can define a boost spirit grammar that compiles, but an assertion in the boost spirit code fails at runtime.

#include <iostream>
#include <boost/spirit.hpp>

using namespace boost::spirit;

struct my_closure : public closure<my_closure, std::size_t> {
member1 size;
};

struct my_grammar : public grammar<my_grammar> {
template <typename ScannerT>
struct definition {
 typedef rule<ScannerT> rule_type;
 typedef rule<ScannerT, my_closure::context_t> closure_rule_type;

 closure_rule_type header;
 rule_type payload;
 rule_type top;

 definition(const my_grammar &self)
 {
  using namespace phoenix;
  header = uint_p[header.size = arg1];
  payload = repeat_p(header.size())[anychar_p][assign_a(self.result)];
  top = header >> str_p("\r\n") >> payload;
 }

 const rule_type &start() const { return top; }
};

my_grammar(std::string &p_) : result(p_) {}
std::string &result;
};

int
main(int argc, char **argv)
{
const std::string content = "12\r\nTest Payload";
std::string payload;
my_grammar g(payload);
if (!parse(content.begin(), content.end(), g).full) {
 std::cerr << "there was a parsing error!\n";
 return -1;
}
std::cout << "Payload: " << payload << std::endl;
return 0;
}

Is it possible to tell spirit that the closure variable should be evaluated lazily? Is this behaviour supported by boost spirit?

Answer 1

What you are looking for is lazy_p, check the example here: http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_35_0/libs/spirit/doc/the_lazy_parser.html

Answer 2

This is much easier with the new qi parser available in Spirit 2. The following code snippet provides a full example that mostly works. An unexpected character is being inserted into the final result.

#include <iostream>
#include <string>

#include <boost/version.hpp>
#include <boost/spirit/include/qi.hpp>
#include <boost/spirit/include/qi_repeat.hpp>
#include <boost/spirit/include/qi_grammar.hpp>
#include <boost/spirit/include/phoenix_core.hpp>
#include <boost/spirit/include/phoenix_operator.hpp>

using boost::spirit::qi::repeat;
using boost::spirit::qi::uint_;
using boost::spirit::ascii::char_;
using boost::spirit::ascii::alpha;
using boost::spirit::qi::_1;
namespace phx = boost::phoenix;
namespace qi = boost::spirit::qi;

template <typename P, typename T>
void test_parser_attr(
    char const* input, P const& p, T& attr, bool full_match = true)
{
    using boost::spirit::qi::parse;

    char const* f(input);
    char const* l(f + strlen(f));
    if (parse(f, l, p, attr) && (!full_match || (f == l)))
        std::cout << "ok" << std::endl;
    else
        std::cout << "fail" << std::endl;
}

static void
straight_forward()
{
    std::string str;
    int n;
    test_parser_attr("12\r\nTest Payload",
                     uint_[phx::ref(n) = _1] >> "\r\n" >> repeat(phx::ref(n))[char_],
                     str);
    std::cout << "str.length() == " << str.length() << std::endl;
    std::cout << n << "," << str << std::endl;  // will print "12,Test Payload"
}

template <typename P, typename T>
void
test_phrase_parser(char const* input, P const& p,
                   T& attr, bool full_match = true)
{
    using boost::spirit::qi::phrase_parse;
    using boost::spirit::qi::ascii::space;

    char const* f(input);
    char const* l(f + strlen(f));
    if (phrase_parse(f, l, p, space, attr) && (!full_match || (f == l)))
        std::cout << "ok" << std::endl;
    else
        std::cout << "fail" << std::endl;
}

template <typename Iterator>
struct test_grammar
    : qi::grammar<Iterator, std::string(), qi::locals<unsigned> > {

    test_grammar()
        : test_grammar::base_type(my_rule)
    {
        using boost::spirit::qi::_a;
        my_rule %= uint_[_a = _1] >> "\r\n" >> repeat(_a)[char_];
    }

    qi::rule<Iterator, std::string(), qi::locals<unsigned> > my_rule;
};

static void
with_grammar_local_variable()
{
    std::string str;
    test_phrase_parser("12\r\nTest Payload", test_grammar<const char*>(), str);
    std::cout << str << std::endl;  // will print "Test Payload"
}

int
main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    std::cout << "boost version: " << BOOST_LIB_VERSION << std::endl;

    straight_forward();
    with_grammar_local_variable();

    return 0;
}