## JSON GVariant Integration JSON GVariant Integration — Serialize and deserialize GVariant types |

## Synopsis

    JsonNode *          json_gvariant_serialize             (GVariant *variant);
    gchar *             json_gvariant_serialize_data        (GVariant *variant,
                                                             gsize *length);
    GVariant *          json_gvariant_deserialize           (JsonNode *json_node,
                                                             const gchar *signature,
                                                             GError **error);
    GVariant *          json_gvariant_deserialize_data      (const gchar *json,
                                                             gssize length,
                                                             const gchar *signature,
                                                             GError **error);

## Description

Use `json_gvariant_serialize()` and `json_gvariant_serialize_data()` to convert from any GVariant value to a JsonNode tree or its string representation.

Use `json_gvariant_deserialize()` and `json_gvariant_deserialize_data()` to obtain the GVariant value from a JsonNode tree or directly from a JSON string.

Since many GVariant data types cannot be directly represented as JSON, a GVariant type string (signature) should be provided to these methods in order to obtain a correct, type-contrained result. If no signature is provided, conversion can still be done, but the resulting GVariant value will be "guessed" from the JSON data types, according to the following table:

Table 2. Default JSON to GVariant conversion (without signature constrains)

JSON | GVariant
--- | ---
string | string (s)
int64 | int64 (x)
boolean | boolean (b)
double | double (d)
array | array of variants (av)
object | dictionary of string-variant (a{sv})
null | maybe variant (mv)

## Details

### json_gvariant_serialize ()

    JsonNode *          json_gvariant_serialize             (GVariant *variant);

Converts `variant` to a JSON tree.

`variant` : | A GVariant to convert
Returns : | A JsonNode representing the root of the JSON data structure obtained from `variant`. [transfer full]

Since 0.14

### json_gvariant_serialize_data ()

    gchar *             json_gvariant_serialize_data        (GVariant *variant,
                                                             gsize *length);

Converts `variant` to its JSON encoded string representation. This method is actually a helper function. It uses `json_gvariant_serialize()` to obtain the JSON tree, and then JsonGenerator to stringify it.

`variant` : | A GVariant to convert
`length` : | Return location for the length of the returned string, or `NULL`. [out][allow-none]
Returns : | The JSON encoded string corresponding to `variant`. [transfer full]

Since 0.14

### json_gvariant_deserialize ()

    GVariant *          json_gvariant_deserialize           (JsonNode *json_node,
                                                             const gchar *signature,
                                                             GError **error);

Converts a JSON data structure to a GVariant value using `signature` to resolve ambiguous data types. If no error occurs, the resulting GVariant is guaranteed to conform to `signature`.

If `signature` is not `NULL` but does not represent a valid GVariant type string, `NULL` is returned and error is set to `G_IO_ERROR_INVALID_ARGUMENT`. If a `signature` is provided but the JSON structure cannot be mapped to it, `NULL` is returned and error is set to `G_IO_ERROR_INVALID_DATA`. If `signature` is `NULL`, the conversion is done based strictly on the types in the JSON nodes.

The returned variant has a floating reference that will need to be sunk by the caller code.

`json_node` : | A JsonNode to convert
`signature` : | A valid GVariant type string, or `NULL`. [allow-none]
`error` : | A pointer to a GError
Returns : | A newly created, floating GVariant compliant with `signature`, or `NULL` on error. [transfer none]

Since 0.14

### json_gvariant_deserialize_data ()

    GVariant *          json_gvariant_deserialize_data      (const gchar *json,
                                                             gssize length,
                                                             const gchar *signature,
                                                             GError **error);

Converts a JSON string to a GVariant value. This method works exactly like `json_gvariant_deserialize()`, but takes a JSON encoded string instead. The string is first converted to a JsonNode using JsonParser, and then `json_gvariant_deserialize()` is called.

The returned variant has a floating reference that will need to be sunk by the caller code.

`json` : | A JSON data string
`length` : | The length of `json`, or -1 if `NULL`-terminated
`signature` : | A valid GVariant type string, or `NULL`. [allow-none]
`error` : | A pointer to a GError
Returns : | A newly created, floating GVariant compliant with `signature`, or `NULL` on error. [transfer none]

Since 0.14