Review and extend the documentation, and check it in CI (#5638)

* Review and extend the documentation, and check it in CI

A review of all documentation pages found factual errors, dead links,
missing cross-references, and gaps in examples. This fixes them and adds
checks so the same problems are caught automatically.

Fixes:
- wrong signatures and version histories (operator!= C++20 member,
  binary() subtype type, get<PointerType>(), JSON_NO_THREAD_LOCAL, ...)
- stale descriptions (number parsing since #5283, UBJSON table, SAX
  example that no longer compiled, tsl::ordered_map advice)
- dead internal and external links; repology.org badges (the domain is
  suspended) replaced by badges that query the registries directly
- deprecation notes link the migration guide; the guide itself fixed

Additions:
- "See also" sections, cross-references, 25 runnable examples, 12
  Mermaid diagrams, new API pages for json_pointer::operator<=> and
  byte_container_with_subtype::operator==/!=
- landing page, guides for untrusted input and performance
- "unreleased" badge after versions newer than the latest release

Checks:
- strict documentation build (broken links/anchors fail it); CI and
  the publish workflow fetch the full history the build needs
- weekly external link check, Mermaid syntax check in CI
- check_structure.py: example titles, heading levels, alt texts,
  header links, docset index coverage; its unused-example check works
  again
- all examples produce the same output on every platform

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Keep the customer links that could not be fixed

A dead link on the customers page is still the evidence of where the
use of the library was documented. Keep the original URLs of the entries
without a working replacement (Marne, Cisco Webex Desk Camera, Philips
Hue, CyberArk) and exclude exactly these URLs from the link check.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Correct the duplicate-key recipe's claim about SAX positions

The SAX interface's key() receives no position either; only parse_error()
does. Also note that the recipe does not report the path to the repeated
key (see discussion #5085).

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Say the library is available as a single header and mention json_fwd.hpp

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Correct documentation errors found while hunting for bugs

- patch/patch_inplace: list the JSON pointer errors parse_error.106-109
  and out_of_range.402/404, and quote the actual parse_error.105 message.
- unflatten: list parse_error.106/107/108 and out_of_range.404.
- to_bson: list out_of_range.415 (binary subtype above 255) and note
  that 412 and 415 are new in 3.13.0.
- to_string: state that string_t must be convertible to std::string, also
  in the StringType requirements table.
- JSON Lines: a `while (input >> j)` loop also throws after the last value
  for concatenated JSON values; show a loop that works for both.
- BON8: a string gets 0xFF only if nothing follows it in the message; a
  string at the end of an array or object is ended by 0xFE.
- custom_string_type.hpp: add operator+=(char), which the "Always
  required" list asks for (json_pointer::to_string, flatten, unflatten,
  and diff did not compile), and an ADL int_to_string for diff and items.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

* Cache the release headers with functools.lru_cache

Codacy (Pylint) flagged the mutable default argument that header() used
as its cache. functools.lru_cache keeps the same memoization without it.
The script's output is unchanged.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>

---------

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
This commit is contained in:
Niels Lohmann
2026-10-02 11:32:15 +02:00
committed by GitHub
parent 48ff79647f
commit 63c10a51fc
276 changed files with 5318 additions and 624 deletions
+46 -2
View File
@@ -99,6 +99,25 @@ basic_json(basic_json&& other) noexcept;
elements of the pairs are treated as keys and the second elements are as values.
3. In all other cases, an array is created.
The following flowchart also takes into account what happens when `type_deduction` is `#!cpp false`, in which case
`manual_type` decides between object and array, and an object can only be forced if `init` actually matches rule 2
(or is empty):
```mermaid
flowchart TD
A(["initializer_list init"]) --> B{"empty, or every element is a 2-element<br/>array whose first element is a string?"}
B -->|"yes"| C{"type_deduction"}
B -->|"no"| D{"type_deduction"}
C -->|"true"| OBJ["create object"]
C -->|"false"| E{"manual_type"}
E -->|"object"| OBJ
E -->|"array"| ARR["create array"]
D -->|"true"| ARR
D -->|"false"| F{"manual_type"}
F -->|"array"| ARR
F -->|"object"| ERR["throw type_error.301"]
```
The rules aim to create the best fit between a C++ initializer list and JSON values. The rationale is as follows:
1. The empty initializer list is written as `#!cpp {}` which is exactly an empty JSON object.
@@ -171,8 +190,8 @@ basic_json(basic_json&& other) noexcept;
- `BasicJsonType` has different template arguments than `basic_json_t`.
**Note:** For cross-`basic_json` conversions to produce correct results, the target `basic_json`'s
`object_t::key_type` and `string_t` must be directly constructible from the source `basic_json`'s
corresponding types. See the description of overload (4) above for details on what happens when
[`object_t`](object_t.md)`::key_type` and [`string_t`](string_t.md) must be directly constructible from the source
`basic_json`'s corresponding types. See the description of overload (4) above for details on what happens when
this requirement is not met.
`U`:
@@ -347,6 +366,22 @@ basic_json(basic_json&& other) noexcept;
Note the output is platform-dependent.
??? example "Example: (4) create a JSON value from another `basic_json` specialization"
The example below shows how a `json` value is converted to an `ordered_json` value and back using the converting
constructor. Note how the original insertion order of `oj` is not restored, because it was already given up when
converting to `json`, whose `object_t` sorts by key.
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/basic_json__BasicJsonType.cpp"
```
Output:
```json
--8<-- "examples/basic_json__BasicJsonType.output"
```
??? example "Example: (5) create a container (array or object) from an initializer list"
The example below shows how JSON values are created from initializer lists.
@@ -417,6 +452,15 @@ basic_json(basic_json&& other) noexcept;
--8<-- "examples/basic_json__moveconstructor.output"
```
## See also
- [array](array.md) create a JSON array value, forcing array creation from an initializer list even when it looks like
an object
- [object](object.md) create a JSON object value, forcing object creation from an initializer list
- [binary](binary.md) create a JSON binary array value
- [operator=](operator=.md) copy assignment operator
- [Creating JSON values](../../features/creating_values.md) - the article on creating JSON values
## Version history
1. Since version 1.0.0.