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<title>Chapter 23. Boost.PropertyTree</title>
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<div><h2 class="title">
<a name="property_tree"></a>Chapter 23. Boost.PropertyTree</h2></div>
<div><div class="author"><h3 class="author">
<span class="firstname">Marcin</span> <span class="surname">Kalicinski</span>
</h3></div></div>
<div><div class="author"><h3 class="author">
<span class="firstname">Sebastian</span> <span class="surname">Redl</span>
</h3></div></div>
<div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2008-2010 Marcin Kalicinski</p></div>
<div><p class="copyright">Copyright © 2010-2013 Sebastian
Redl</p></div>
<div><div class="legalnotice">
<a name="property_tree.legal"></a><p>
Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt" target="_top">http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
</p>
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<div class="toc">
<p><b>Table of Contents</b></p>
<dl class="toc">
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree.html#property_tree.intro">What is Property Tree?</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/tutorial.html">Five Minute Tutorial</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/container.html">Property Tree as a Container</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/synopsis.html">Property Tree Synopsis</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/parsers.html">How to Populate a Property Tree</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/parsers.html#property_tree.parsers.xml_parser">XML Parser</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/parsers.html#property_tree.parsers.json_parser">JSON Parser</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/parsers.html#property_tree.parsers.ini_parser">INI Parser</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/parsers.html#property_tree.parsers.info_parser">INFO Parser</a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/accessing.html">How to Access Data in a Property
Tree</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/appendices.html">Appendices</a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html">Reference</a></span></dt>
<dd><dl>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.exceptions_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/exceptions.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.id_translator_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/id_translator.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.info_parser_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/info_parser.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.ini_parser_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/ini_parser.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.json_parser_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/json_parser.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.ptree_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/ptree.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.ptree_fwd_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/ptree_fwd.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.ptree_serialization_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/ptree_serialization.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.stream_translator_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/stream_translator.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.string_path_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/string_path.hpp></a></span></dt>
<dt><span class="section"><a href="property_tree/reference.html#header.boost.property_tree.xml_parser_hpp">Header <boost/property_tree/xml_parser.hpp></a></span></dt>
</dl></dd>
</dl>
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<div class="section">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="property_tree.intro"></a><a class="link" href="property_tree.html#property_tree.intro" title="What is Property Tree?">What is Property Tree?</a>
</h2></div></div></div>
<p>
The Property Tree library provides a data structure that stores an arbitrarily
deeply nested tree of values, indexed at each level by some key. Each node
of the tree stores its own value, plus an ordered list of its subnodes and
their keys. The tree allows easy access to any of its nodes by means of a path,
which is a concatenation of multiple keys.
</p>
<p>
In addition, the library provides parsers and generators for a number of data
formats that can be represented by such a tree, including XML, INI, and JSON.
</p>
<p>
Property trees are versatile data structures, but are particularly suited for
holding configuration data. The tree provides its own, tree-specific interface,
and each node is also an STL-compatible Sequence for its child nodes.
</p>
<p>
Conceptually, then, a node can be thought of as the following structure:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting"><span class="keyword">struct</span> <span class="identifier">ptree</span>
<span class="special">{</span>
<span class="identifier">data_type</span> <span class="identifier">data</span><span class="special">;</span> <span class="comment">// data associated with the node</span>
<span class="identifier">list</span><span class="special"><</span> <span class="identifier">pair</span><span class="special"><</span><span class="identifier">key_type</span><span class="special">,</span> <span class="identifier">ptree</span><span class="special">></span> <span class="special">></span> <span class="identifier">children</span><span class="special">;</span> <span class="comment">// ordered list of named children</span>
<span class="special">};</span>
</pre>
<p>
Both key_type and data_type are configurable to some extent, but will usually
be std::string or std::wstring, and the parsers only work with this kind of
tree.
</p>
<p>
Many software projects develop a similar tool at some point of their lifetime,
and property tree originated the same way. We hope the library can save many
from reinventing the wheel.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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<td align="left"><p><small>Last revised: December 14, 2015 at 09:19:09 GMT</small></p></td>
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