Reflect-C

A C89 library that adds reflection capabilities to C structs through code generation.

Features

• Zero runtime overhead - all metadata generated at compile time
• Struct field access by name
• No dynamic memory allocation during serialization
• Support for nested structs and arrays
• Field type validation
• C89 compatible
• MIT licensed

Basic Usage

1. Create a .PRE.h file (e.g. api/person.PRE.h) with your struct definitions:

// File: api/person.PRE.h
STRUCT(public, person)
    FIELD(name, char, *)       // String field
    FIELD(age, int, 0)         // Integer field 
    FIELD(active, bool, false) // Boolean field
STRUCT_END

// File: api/employee.PRE.h  
STRUCT(public, employee)
    FIELD_STRUCT_PTR(info, person, *)  // Nested person struct
    FIELD(id, int, 0)                  // Employee ID
    FIELD_PTR(department, char, *)     // Department name
    FIELD(salary, float, 0.0)          // Salary
STRUCT_END

2. Generate the reflection code:

# API_DIR points to folder containing .PRE.h files
# OUT specifies output filename (will create .c and .h)
make API_DIR=api OUT=generated_code

3. Use the generated code:

#include "generated_code.h"

// Create and initialize structs
struct person p = {
    .name = "John",
    .age = 25,
    .active = true
};

struct employee e = {
    .info = &p,
    .id = 12345,
    .department = "Engineering",
    .salary = 75000.0
};

// Access fields by name at runtime
struct reflectc *r = reflectc_from_employee(&e, REFLECTC_MODES_READONLY, NULL);

// Access fields including nested structs
int *id = reflectc_get(r, "id", strlen("id"))->value;
char *dept = *(char**)reflectc_get(r, "department", strlen("department"))->value;

// Access nested person struct fields
struct reflectc *person_info = *(struct reflectc**)reflectc_get(r, "info", strlen("info"))->value;
char *name = *(char**)reflectc_get(person_info, "name", strlen("name"))->value;

The reflection code is generated at compile time with zero runtime overhead. The generated structures can be used normally or accessed dynamically through the reflection API.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.