Merge branch 'rework-schema-import-and-lookup'

[cl-protobufs.git] / cl-protobufs.rst

diff --git a/cl-protobufs.rst b/cl-protobufs.rst
index 166b92dee5f850907f90335f1c79cb7d046fef49..a5612384b1846f2e7c4d852ca8130fe24802dd56 100644 (file)
--- a/cl-protobufs.rst
+++ b/cl-protobufs.rst
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ Protobufs for Common Lisp
       2.1  .proto file to Lisp conversion
       2.2  CLOS classes to .proto conversion
       2.3  Using .proto files directly
+        2.3.1  A note on Lisp packages
       2.4  Using the Protobufs macros
         2.4.1  Protobufs types
         2.4.2  Protobufs service stubs
@@ -300,6 +301,25 @@ correspond to the Protobufs messages. (Note that it will also leave a
 system.)
 
 
+A note on Lisp packages
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+When using an existing .proto file directly, it will likely contain a
+``package`` line, but not a ``lisp_package`` line. CL-Protobufs needs
+to choose some package to use. Here is what it does:
+
+ - The package name from the ``package`` line is converted to a more
+   Lisp-like name, e.g., ``fortune_teller`` becomes ``fortune-teller``.
+ - If the Lisp package exists (i.e., you have previously used
+   ``defpackage`` to define the packaged), then CL-Protobufs just
+   uses it.
+ - If the Lisp package does not exist, CL-Protobufs creates a new
+   package of the given name that uses no other packages, not even
+   the ``common-lisp`` package. In addition, the symbols naming all
+   of the enum types, message types, field name and service method
+   names are exported from the new package.
+
+
 Using the Protobufs macros
 --------------------------
 
@@ -626,7 +646,7 @@ implementations that implement "streaming".
 
 
 Protobufs types
----------------
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 The following types are defined in the ``protobufs`` package:
 
@@ -656,15 +676,20 @@ Note that ``(or <T> null)`` corresponds to an optional field.
 
 
 Protobufs service stubs
------------------------
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 When you use the ``proto:define-service`` macro to define a service
 with some methods, the macro defines "stubs" (CLOS generic functions)
 for each of the methods in the service. Each method named ``foo`` gets
 a client stub and a server stub whose signatures are, respectively::
 
-  foo    (rpc-channel request &key callback) => response
-  do-foo (rpc-channel request) => response
+  call-foo  (rpc-channel request &key callback) => response
+  foo-impl  (rpc-channel request) => response
+
+These methods are interned in a different lisp package, ``XXX-RPC``,
+where ``XXX`` is the name of the lisp package into which the rest of
+the schema's symbols are interned. This is done so that message field
+accessors methods can't collide with the stubs.
 
 The type of *rpc-channel* is unspecified, but is meant to be a
 "channel" over which the RPC call will be done. The types of *request*
@@ -678,15 +703,15 @@ For example, this fragment defines four stubs::
     (get-color (get-color-request color))
     (add-color (add-color-request color)))
 
-The client stubs are ``get-color`` and ``add-color``, the server stubs
-are ``do-get-color`` and ``do-add-color``. An RPC library will implement
-a method for the client stub. You must fill in the server stub yourself;
-it will implement the desired functionality.
+The client stubs are ``call-get-color`` and ``call-add-color``, the
+server stubs are ``get-color-impl`` and ``add-color-impl``. An RPC
+library will implement a method for the client stub. You must fill in
+the server stub yourself; it will implement the desired functionality.
 
 The client stub also gets a single method defined for it that looks like
 something like this::
 
-  (defmethod foo (rpc-channel (request input-type) &key callback)
+  (defmethod call-foo (rpc-channel (request input-type) &key callback)
     (let ((call (and *rpc-package* *rpc-call-function*)))
       (funcall call rpc-channel method request :callback callback)))
 
@@ -950,6 +975,7 @@ CL-Protobufs includes some Lisp-only extensions that have no
 counterpart in Protobufs, but which "ground out" to compatible
 Protobufs code.
 
+
 Type aliases
 ------------