RFile.hxx

Go to the documentation of this file.

/// \file ROOT/RFile.hxx
/// \ingroup Base ROOT7
/// \author Giacomo Parolini <giacomo.parolini@cern.ch>
/// \date 2025-03-19
/// \warning This is part of the ROOT 7 prototype! It will change without notice. Feedback
/// is welcome!
 
#ifndef ROOT7_RFile
#define ROOT7_RFile
 
#include <ROOT/RError.hxx>
 
#include <deque>
#include <functional>
#include <iostream>
#include <memory>
#include <string_view>
#include <typeinfo>
#include <variant>
 
class TFile;
class TIterator;
class TKey;
 
namespace ROOT {
namespace Experimental {
 
class RKeyInfo;
class RFile;
 
namespace Internal {
 
ROOT::RLogChannel &RFileLog();
 
/// Returns an **owning** pointer to the object referenced by `key`. The caller must delete this pointer.
/// This method is meant to only be used by the pythonization.
[[nodiscard]] void *RFile_GetObjectFromKey(RFile &file, const RKeyInfo &key);
 
} // namespace Internal
 
namespace Detail {
 
/// Given a "path-like" string (like foo/bar/baz), returns a pair `{ dirName, baseName }`.
/// `baseName` will be empty if the string ends with '/'.
/// `dirName` will be empty if the string contains no '/'.
/// `dirName`, if not empty, always ends with a '/'.
/// NOTE: this function does no semantic checking or path expansion, nor does it interact with the
/// filesystem in any way (so it won't follow symlink or anything like that).
/// Moreover it doesn't trim the path in any way, so any leading or trailing whitespaces will be preserved.
/// This function does not perform any copy: the returned string_views have the same lifetime as `path`.
std::pair<std::string_view, std::string_view> DecomposePath(std::string_view path);
 
}
 
class RFileKeyIterable;
 
/**
\class ROOT::Experimental::RKeyInfo
\ingroup RFile
\brief Information about an RFile object's Key.
 
Every object inside a ROOT file has an associated "Key" which contains metadata on the object, such as its name, type
etc.
Querying this information can be done via RFile::ListKeys(). Reading an object's Key
doesn't deserialize the full object, so it's a relatively lightweight operation.
*/
class RKeyInfo final {
   friend class ROOT::Experimental::RFile;
   friend class ROOT::Experimental::RFileKeyIterable;
 
public:
   enum class ECategory : std::uint16_t {
      kInvalid,
      kObject,
      kDirectory
   };
 
private:
   std::string fPath;
   std::string fTitle;
   std::string fClassName;
   std::uint16_t fCycle = 0;
   ECategory fCategory = ECategory::kInvalid;
 
public:
   /// Returns the absolute path of this key, i.e. the directory part plus the object name.
   const std::string &GetPath() const { return fPath; }
   /// Returns the base name of this key, i.e. the name of the object without the directory part.
   std::string GetBaseName() const { return std::string(Detail::DecomposePath(fPath).second); }
   const std::string &GetTitle() const { return fTitle; }
   const std::string &GetClassName() const { return fClassName; }
   std::uint16_t GetCycle() const { return fCycle; }
   ECategory GetCategory() const { return fCategory; }
};
 
/// The iterable returned by RFile::ListKeys()
class RFileKeyIterable final {
   using Pattern_t = std::string;
 
   TFile *fFile = nullptr;
   Pattern_t fPattern;
   std::uint32_t fFlags = 0;
 
public:
   class RIterator {
      friend class RFileKeyIterable;
 
      struct RIterStackElem {
         // This is ugly, but TList returns an (owning) pointer to a polymorphic TIterator...and we need this class
         // to be copy-constructible.
         std::shared_ptr<TIterator> fIter;
         std::string fDirPath;
 
         // Outlined to avoid including TIterator.h
         RIterStackElem(TIterator *it, const std::string &path = "");
         // Outlined to avoid including TIterator.h
         ~RIterStackElem();
 
         // fDirPath doesn't need to be compared because it's implied by fIter.
         bool operator==(const RIterStackElem &other) const { return fIter == other.fIter; }
      };
 
      // Using a deque to have pointer stability
      std::deque<RIterStackElem> fIterStack;
      Pattern_t fPattern;
      const TKey *fCurKey = nullptr;
      std::uint16_t fRootDirNesting = 0;
      std::uint32_t fFlags = 0;
 
      void Advance();
 
      // NOTE: `iter` here is an owning pointer (or null)
      RIterator(TIterator *iter, Pattern_t pattern, std::uint32_t flags);
 
   public:
      using iterator = RIterator;
      using iterator_category = std::input_iterator_tag;
      using difference_type = std::ptrdiff_t;
      using value_type = RKeyInfo;
      using pointer = const value_type *;
      using reference = const value_type &;
 
      iterator &operator++()
      {
         Advance();
         return *this;
      }
      value_type operator*();
      bool operator!=(const iterator &rh) const { return !(*this == rh); }
      bool operator==(const iterator &rh) const { return fIterStack == rh.fIterStack; }
   };
 
   RFileKeyIterable(TFile *file, std::string_view rootDir, std::uint32_t flags)
      : fFile(file), fPattern(std::string(rootDir)), fFlags(flags)
   {
   }
 
   RIterator begin() const;
   RIterator end() const;
};
 
/**
\class ROOT::Experimental::RFile
\ingroup RFile
\brief An interface to read from, or write to, a ROOT file, as well as performing other common operations.
 
Please refer to the documentation of TFile for the details related to how data and executable code can be stored
in ROOT files.
 
## When and why should you use RFile
 
RFile is a modern and minimalistic interface to ROOT files, both local and remote, that can be used instead of TFile
when you only need basic Put/Get operations and don't need the more advanced TFile/TDirectory functionalities.
It provides:
- a simple interface that makes it easy to do things right and hard to do things wrong;
- more robustness and better error reporting for those operations;
- clearer ownership semantics expressed through the type system.
 
RFile doesn't cover the entirety of use cases covered by TFile/TDirectory/TDirectoryFile and is not
a 1:1 replacement for them.  It is meant to simplify the most common use cases by following newer standard C++
practices.
 
## Ownership model
 
RFile handles ownership via smart pointers, typically std::unique_ptr.
 
When getting an object from the file (via RFile::Get) you get back a unique copy of the object. Calling `Get` on the
same object twice produces two independent clones of the object. The ownership over that object is solely on the caller
and not shared with the RFile. Therefore, the object will remain valid after closing or destroying the RFile that
generated it. This also means that any modification done to the object are **not** reflected to the file automatically:
to update the object in the file you need to write it again (via RFile::Overwrite).
 
RFile::Put and RFile::Overwrite are the way to write objects to the file. Both methods take a const reference to the
object to write and don't change the ownership of the object in any way. Calling Put or Overwrite doesn't guarantee that
the object is immediately written to the underlying storage: to ensure that, you need to call RFile::Flush (or close the
file).
 
## Directories
 
Even though there is no equivalent of TDirectory in the RFile API, directories are still an existing concept in RFile
(since they are a concept in the ROOT binary format). However they are for now only interacted with indirectly, via the
use of filesystem-like string-based paths. If you Put an object in an RFile under the path "path/to/object", "object"
will be stored under directory "to" which is in turn stored under directory "path". This hierarchy is encoded in the
ROOT file itself and it can provide some optimization and/or conveniences when querying objects.
 
For the most part, it is convenient to think about RFile in terms of a key-value storage where string-based paths are
used to refer to arbitrary objects. However, given the hierarchical nature of ROOT files, certain filesystem-like
properties are applied to paths, for ease of use: the '/' character is treated specially as the directory separator;
multiple '/' in a row are collapsed into one (since RFile doesn't allow directories with empty names).
 
At the moment, RFile doesn't allow getting directories via Get, nor writing ones via Put (this may change in the
future).
 
## Sample usage
Opening an RFile (for writing) and writing an object to it:
~~~{.cpp}
auto rfile = ROOT::RFile::Recreate("my_file.root");
auto myObj = TH1D("h", "h", 10, 0, 1);
rfile->Put(myObj.GetName(), myObj);
~~~
 
Opening an RFile (for reading) and reading an object from it:
~~~{.cpp}
auto rfile = ROOT::RFile::Open("my_file.root");
auto myObj = file->Get<TH1D>("h");
~~~
*/
class RFile final {
   friend void *Internal::RFile_GetObjectFromKey(RFile &file, const RKeyInfo &key);
 
   /// Flags used in PutInternal()
   enum PutFlags {
      /// When encountering an object at the specified path, overwrite it with the new one instead of erroring out.
      kPutAllowOverwrite = 0x1,
      /// When overwriting an object, preserve the existing one and create a new cycle, rather than removing it.
      kPutOverwriteKeepCycle = 0x2,
   };
 
   std::unique_ptr<TFile> fFile;
 
   // Outlined to avoid including TFile.h
   explicit RFile(std::unique_ptr<TFile> file);
 
   /// Gets object `path` from the file and returns an **owning** pointer to it.
   /// The caller should immediately wrap it into a unique_ptr of the type described by `type`.
   [[nodiscard]] void *GetUntyped(std::string_view path,
                                  std::variant<const char *, std::reference_wrapper<const std::type_info>> type) const;
 
   /// Writes `obj` to file, without taking its ownership.
   void PutUntyped(std::string_view path, const std::type_info &type, const void *obj, std::uint32_t flags);
 
   /// \see Put
   template <typename T>
   void PutInternal(std::string_view path, const T &obj, std::uint32_t flags)
   {
      PutUntyped(path, typeid(T), &obj, flags);
   }
 
   /// Given `path`, returns the TKey corresponding to the object at that path (assuming the path is fully split, i.e.
   /// "a/b/c" always means "object 'c' inside directory 'b' inside directory 'a'").
   /// IMPORTANT: `path` must have been validated/normalized via ValidateAndNormalizePath() (see RFile.cxx).
   TKey *GetTKey(std::string_view path) const;
 
public:
   enum EListKeyFlags {
      kListObjects = 1 << 0,
      kListDirs = 1 << 1,
      kListRecursive = 1 << 2,
   };
 
   // This is arbitrary, but it's useful to avoid pathological cases
   static constexpr int kMaxPathNesting = 1000;
 
   ///// Factory methods /////
 
   /// Opens the file for reading. `path` may be a regular file path or a remote URL.
   /// \throw ROOT::RException if the file at `path` could not be opened.
   static std::unique_ptr<RFile> Open(std::string_view path);
 
   /// Opens the file for reading/writing, overwriting it if it already exists.
   /// \throw ROOT::RException if a file could not be created at `path` (e.g. if the specified
   /// directory tree does not exist).
   static std::unique_ptr<RFile> Recreate(std::string_view path);
 
   /// Opens the file for updating, creating a new one if it doesn't exist.
   /// \throw ROOT::RException if the file at `path` could neither be read nor created
   /// (e.g. if the specified directory tree does not exist).
   static std::unique_ptr<RFile> Update(std::string_view path);
 
   ///// Instance methods /////
 
   // Outlined to avoid including TFile.h
   ~RFile();
 
   /// Retrieves an object from the file.
   /// `path` should be a string such that `IsValidPath(path) == true`, otherwise an exception will be thrown.
   /// See \ref ValidateAndNormalizePath() for info about valid path names.
   /// If the object is not there returns a null pointer.
   template <typename T>
   std::unique_ptr<T> Get(std::string_view path) const
   {
      void *obj = GetUntyped(path, typeid(T));
      return std::unique_ptr<T>(static_cast<T *>(obj));
   }
 
   /// Puts an object into the file.
   /// The application retains ownership of the object.
   /// `path` should be a string such that `IsValidPath(path) == true`, otherwise an exception will be thrown.
   /// See \ref ValidateAndNormalizePath() for info about valid path names.
   ///
   /// Throws a RException if `path` already identifies a valid object or directory.
   /// Throws a RException if the file was opened in read-only mode.
   template <typename T>
   void Put(std::string_view path, const T &obj)
   {
      PutInternal(path, obj, /* flags = */ 0);
   }
 
   /// Puts an object into the file, overwriting any previously-existing object at that path.
   /// The application retains ownership of the object.
   ///
   /// If an object already exists at that path, it is kept as a backup cycle unless `backupPrevious` is false.
   /// Note that even if `backupPrevious` is false, any existing cycle except the latest will be preserved.
   ///
   /// Throws a RException if `path` is already the path of a directory.
   /// Throws a RException if the file was opened in read-only mode.
   template <typename T>
   void Overwrite(std::string_view path, const T &obj, bool backupPrevious = true)
   {
      std::uint32_t flags = kPutAllowOverwrite;
      flags |= backupPrevious * kPutOverwriteKeepCycle;
      PutInternal(path, obj, flags);
   }
 
   /// Writes all objects and the file structure to disk.
   /// Returns the number of bytes written.
   size_t Flush();
 
   /// Flushes the RFile if needed and closes it, disallowing any further reading or writing.
   void Close();
 
   /// Returns an iterable over all keys of objects and/or directories written into this RFile starting at path
   /// `basePath` (defaulting to include the content of all subdirectories).
   /// By default, keys referring to directories are not returned: only those referring to leaf objects are.
   /// If `basePath` is the path of a leaf object, only `basePath` itself will be returned.
   /// `flags` is a bitmask specifying the listing mode.
   /// If `(flags & kListObject) != 0`, the listing will include keys of non-directory objects (default);
   /// If `(flags & kListDirs) != 0`, the listing will include keys of directory objects;
   /// If `(flags & kListRecursive) != 0`, the listing will recurse on all subdirectories of `basePath` (default),
   /// otherwise it will only list immediate children of `basePath`.
   ///
   /// Example usage:
   /// ~~~{.cpp}
   /// for (RKeyInfo key : file->ListKeys()) {
   ///     /* iterate over all objects in the RFile */
   ///     cout << key.GetPath() << ";" << key.GetCycle() << " of type " << key.GetClassName() << "\n";
   /// }
   /// for (RKeyInfo key : file->ListKeys("", kListDirs|kListObjects|kListRecursive)) {
   ///     /* iterate over all objects and directories in the RFile */
   /// }
   /// for (RKeyInfo key : file->ListKeys("a/b", kListObjects)) {
   ///     /* iterate over all objects that are immediate children of directory "a/b" */
   /// }
   /// for (RKeyInfo key : file->ListKeys("foo", kListDirs|kListRecursive)) {
   ///     /* iterate over all directories under directory "foo", recursively */
   /// }
   /// ~~~
   RFileKeyIterable ListKeys(std::string_view basePath = "", std::uint32_t flags = kListObjects | kListRecursive) const
   {
      return RFileKeyIterable(fFile.get(), basePath, flags);
   }
 
   /// Retrieves information about the key of object at `path`, if one exists.
   std::optional<RKeyInfo> GetKeyInfo(std::string_view path) const;
 
   /// Prints the internal structure of this RFile to the given stream.
   void Print(std::ostream &out = std::cout) const;
};
 
} // namespace Experimental
} // namespace ROOT
 
#endif