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1As part of the 3.10 release of Google.Protobuf, experimental proto2 support has been released. This document outlines the new changes brought about to include proto2 support. This does not break existing proto3 support and users may continue to use proto3 features without changing their current code. Again the generated code and public API associated with proto2 is experimental and subject to change in the future. APIs for proto2 may be added, removed, or adjusted as feedback is received.
2Generated code for proto2 may also be modified by adding, removing, or adjusting APIs as feedback is received.
3
4### Enabling proto2 features
5
6For information about specific proto2 features, please read the [proto2 language guide](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto).
7
8Much like other languages, proto2 features are used with proto2 files with the syntax declaration `syntax = "proto2";`. However, please note, proto3 is still the recommended version of protobuf and proto2 support is meant for legacy system interop and advanced uses.
9
10# Generated code
11
12### Messages
13
14Messages in proto2 files are very similar to their proto3 counterparts. They expose the usual property for getting and setting,  but they also include properties and methods to handle field presence.
15
16For `optional`/`required` field XYZ, a `HasXYZ` property is included for checking presence and a `ClearXYZ` method is included for clearing the value.
17
18```proto
19message Foo {
20    optional Bar bar = 1;
21    required Baz baz = 2;
22}
23```
24```cs
25var foo = new Foo();
26Assert.IsNull(foo.Bar);
27Assert.False(foo.HasBar);
28foo.Bar = new Bar();
29Assert.True(foo.HasBar);
30foo.ClearBar();
31```
32
33### Messages with extension ranges
34
35Messages which define extension ranges implement the `IExtendableMessage` interface as shown below.
36See inline comments for more info.
37
38```cs
39public interface IExtendableMessage<T> : IMessage<T> where T : IExtendableMessage<T>
40{
41    // Gets the value of a single value extension. If the extension isn't present, this returns the default value.
42    TValue GetExtension<TValue>(Extension<T, TValue> extension);
43    // Gets the value of a repeated extension. If the extension hasn't been set, this returns null to prevent unnecessary allocations.
44    RepeatedField<TValue> GetExtension<TValue>(RepeatedExtension<T, TValue> extension);
45    // Gets the value of a repeated extension. This will initialize the value of the repeated field and will never return null.
46    RepeatedField<TValue> GetOrInitializeExtension<TValue>(RepeatedExtension<T, TValue> extension);
47    // Sets the value of the extension
48    void SetExtension<TValue>(Extension<T, TValue> extension, TValue value);
49    // Returns whether the extension is present in the message
50    bool HasExtension<TValue>(Extension<T, TValue> extension);
51    // Clears the value of the extension, removing it from the message
52    void ClearExtension<TValue>(Extension<T, TValue> extension);
53    // Clears the value of the repeated extension, removing it from the message. Calling GetExtension after this will always return null.
54    void ClearExtension<TValue>(RepeatedExtension<T, TValue> extension);
55}
56```
57
58### Extensions
59
60Extensions are generated in static containers like reflection classes and type classes.
61For example for a file called `foo.proto` containing extensions in the file scope, a
62`FooExtensions` class is created containing the extensions defined in the file scope.
63For easy access, this class can be used with `using static` to bring all extensions into scope.
64
65```proto
66option csharp_namespace = "FooBar";
67extend Foo {
68    optional Baz foo_ext = 124;
69}
70message Baz {
71    extend Foo {
72        repeated Baz repeated_foo_ext = 125;
73    }
74}
75```
76```cs
77public static partial class FooExtensions {
78    public static readonly Extension<Foo, Baz> FooExt = /* initialization */;
79}
80
81public partial class Baz {
82    public partial static class Extensions {
83        public static readonly RepeatedExtension<Foo, Baz> RepeatedFooExt = /* initialization */;
84    }
85}
86```
87```cs
88using static FooBar.FooExtensions;
89using static FooBar.Baz.Extensions;
90
91var foo = new Foo();
92foo.SetExtension(FooExt, new Baz());
93foo.GetOrInitializeExtension(RepeatedFooExt).Add(new Baz());
94```
95
96# APIs
97
98### Message initialization
99
100Initialization refers to checking the status of required fields in a proto2 message. If a message is uninitialized, not all required fields are set in either the message itself or any of its submessages. In other languages, missing required fields throw errors depending on the merge method used. This could cause unforeseen errors at runtime if the incorrect method is used.
101However, in this implementation, parsers and input streams don't check messages for initialization on their own and throw errors. Instead it's up to you to handle messages with missing required fields in whatever way you see fit.
102Checking message initialization can be done manually via the `IsInitialized` extension method in `MessageExtensions`.
103
104### Extension registries
105
106Just like in Java, extension registries can be constructed to parse extensions when reading new messages
107from input streams. The API is fairly similar to the Java API with some added bonuses with C# syntax sugars.
108
109```proto
110message Baz {
111    extend Foo {
112        optional Baz foo_ext = 124;
113    }
114}
115```
116```cs
117var registry = new ExtensionRegistry()
118{
119    Baz.Extensions.FooExt
120};
121var foo = Foo.Factory.WithExtensionRegistry(registry).ParseFrom(input);
122Assert.True(foo.HasExtension(Bas.Extensions.FooExt));
123var fooNoRegistry = Foo.Factory.ParseFrom(input);
124Assert.False(foo.HasExtension(Bas.Extensions.FooExt));
125```
126
127### Custom options
128
129Due to their limited use and lack of type safety, the original `CustomOptions` APIs are now deprecated. Using the new generated extension identifiers, you can access extensions safely through the GetOption APIs. Note that cloneable values such as
130repeated fields and messages will be deep cloned.
131
132Example based on custom options usage example [here](https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/issues/5007#issuecomment-411604515).
133```cs
134foreach (var service in input.Services)
135{
136    Console.WriteLine($"  {service.Name}");
137    foreach (var method in service.Methods)
138    {
139        var rule = method.GetOption(AnnotationsExtensions.Http);
140        if (rule != null)
141        {
142            Console.WriteLine($"    {method.Name}: {rule}");
143        }
144        else
145        {
146            Console.WriteLine($"    {method.Name}: no HTTP binding");
147        }
148    }
149}
150```
151
152### Reflection
153
154Reflection APIs have been extended to enable accessing the new proto2 portions of the library and generated code.
155
156 * FieldDescriptor.Extension
157    * Gets the extension identifier behind an extension field, allowing it to be added to an ExtensionRegistry
158 * FieldDescriptor.IsExtension
159    * Returns whether a field is an extension of another type.
160 * FieldDescriptor.ExtendeeType
161    * Returns the extended type of an extension field
162 * IFieldAccessor.HasValue
163    * Returns whether a field's value is set. For proto3 fields, throws an InvalidOperationException.
164 * FileDescriptor.Syntax
165    * Gets the syntax of a file
166 * FileDescriptor.Extensions
167    * An immutable list of extensions defined in the file
168 * MessageDescriptor.Extensions
169    * An immutable list of extensions defined in the message
170
171```cs
172var extensions = Baz.Descriptor.Extensions.GetExtensionsInDeclarationOrder(Foo.Descriptor);
173var registry = new ExtensionRegistry();
174registry.AddRange(extensions.Select(f => f.Extension));
175
176var baz = Foo.Descriptor.Parser.WithExtensionRegistry(registry).ParseFrom(input);
177foreach (var field in extensions)
178{
179    if (field.Accessor.HasValue(baz))
180    {
181        Console.WriteLine($"{field.Name}: {field.Accessor.GetValue(baz)}");
182    }
183}
184```
185