Add editable json_documents: set, push_back, insert, and erase

basic_json_document gets a second template parameter, Editable
(false by default), plus the aliases json_editable_document,
json_editable_view, ordered_json_editable_document and
ordered_json_editable_view.

Editable documents can change values and structure without
rewriting the source text: set()/push_back() on values, keys,
array indices and JSON pointers; insert() before an array
element; erase() of an object key, array index or JSON pointer.

New values and element sequences go into edit storage that the
document owns and never moves, so views keep referring to their
value across edits and a parsed node never moves. Read-only
documents walk the plain node array and are unaffected.

Strings are checked for UTF-8 on entry, so dump() of an editable
document never throws type_error.316. Binary values cannot be
stored (type_error.319).

A seeded differential test applies random edits to an editable
document and to the equivalent ordered_json and compares both
after every step.

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
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Niels Lohmann committed 2026-10-06 10:48:07 +02:00
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@@ -187,14 +187,77 @@ a number to its parsed `#!cpp double`/`#!cpp int64_t` value.
[`operator<<`](../api/basic_json_view/operator_ltlt.md) writes a view to a stream the way `basic_json`'s does, using
the stream's `width`/`fill` for indentation.
## Editing a document
Everything above is read-only: a `json_document`/`json_view` lets you look at a parsed text without copying it, but
not change it. [`basic_json_document<BasicJsonType, true>`](../api/basic_json_document/index.md) -- more conveniently
spelled [`json_editable_document`](../api/json_editable_document.md) or
[`ordered_json_editable_document`](../api/ordered_json_editable_document.md) -- also lets you
[`set`](../api/basic_json_document/set.md) a value, [`push_back`](../api/basic_json_document/push_back.md) onto or
[`insert`](../api/basic_json_document/insert.md) into an array, and [`erase`](../api/basic_json_document/erase.md)
an object member or an array element, still without ever building a `basic_json` tree for parts you do not touch.
`#!cpp Editable` defaults to `#!cpp false`, so `json_document`/`ordered_json_document` are unaffected -- they carry
none of the bookkeeping edits need, and calling `set`/`push_back`/`insert`/`erase` on one is a compile error, not a
runtime one.
### Why: editing without reformatting
The `#!cpp 19.90` price from [above](#writing-a-view-back) is exactly the kind of value that makes editing a `json`
or `ordered_json` value in place lossy. Say you parse a configuration file, patch one field, and write it back:
- **`json`** re-sorts every key on the way in (`object_t` is a `#!cpp std::map`) and rewrites every number to its
shortest round-trip form on the way out -- a one-field patch turns into a diff that reorders the whole file and
rewrites `#!cpp 19.90` to `#!cpp 19.9`.
- **`ordered_json`** keeps the key order, but still rewrites every number the same way: parsing has already reduced
it to a `#!cpp double`/`#!cpp int64_t`, and there is no way back to how it was spelled in the source text.
An editable document keeps both. [`dump()`](../api/basic_json_view/dump.md) of an edited document writes members in
document order -- a member [`set`](../api/basic_json_document/set.md) added goes at the end, exactly where it was
inserted, and an [`erase`](../api/basic_json_document/erase.md)d member simply leaves a gap: everything around it
keeps its place -- and [`number_format::source`](../api/basic_json_view/number_format.md) keeps the exact spelling
of every number an edit did not itself touch; a number an edit *did* touch is written the way
[`BasicJsonType::dump()`](../api/basic_json/dump.md) would write it, since there is no source spelling for a brand
new value.
??? example "Example: patch a configuration, keeping member order and number spellings"
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/json_editable_document.cpp"
```
Output:
```json
--8<-- "examples/json_editable_document.output"
```
### What stays valid, and what an edit costs
The source text itself is **never written**, and the parsed index never moves -- a value keeps the node it was
parsed into for as long as it is not itself replaced. So every [view](../api/basic_json_view/index.md) taken before
an edit, including a previously obtained [`root()`](../api/basic_json_document/root.md), stays valid and, if it
still refers to the edited value, sees the edit; a view of a value a later edit drops or replaces just keeps showing
what it last held. New values go to storage the document allocates and owns on demand. The one thing an edit does
invalidate is the **iterators** taken over an edited array or object: the first time one of its elements is set,
appended to, inserted into, or erased, its elements move from the parsed, fixed layout to a growable block of links
so that [`push_back`](../api/basic_json_document/push_back.md) can later grow it in amortized constant time --
existing elements are not touched, but an iterator that was walking the old layout no longer matches. A string
obtained with
[`get_string()`](../api/basic_json_view/get_string.md) is unaffected either way and stays valid across further
edits. See [`basic_json_document`'s Edits](../api/basic_json_document/index.md#edits) for the details, and
[`set`'s Exception safety](../api/basic_json_document/set.md#exception-safety) for what an edit guarantees if it
throws (the *basic* guarantee, not the strong one `dump()` and the read-only functions provide). How edits are kept in
the index is described in the [architecture overview](../home/architecture.md#node-index-of-json-views).
## Choosing between `json`, `ordered_json`, the SAX interface, and `json_view`
| | [`json`](../api/json.md) / [`ordered_json`](../api/ordered_json.md) | [SAX interface](parsing/sax_interface.md) | [`json_document`](../api/json_document.md) / [`json_view`](../api/json_view.md) |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Ownership** | owns every value | owns nothing; you decide what to keep, in your handler | borrows or owns the *text*; the index is always owned by the document |
| **Mutability** | freely mutable | not applicable (a one-shot event stream) | read-only |
| **What you get** | a full tree you can read, write, and keep as long as you like | a sequence of callbacks; whatever your handler builds from them | a flat index plus, on demand, [`materialize()`](../api/basic_json_view/materialize.md)d `json`/`ordered_json` values for the parts you actually use |
| **Typical use** | general-purpose JSON handling: config, request/response bodies you build or modify, anything you hold onto | validating or projecting a text into your own data structure without ever holding the whole thing as JSON | large or high-volume input where you only need part of it, or need it repeatedly, and can keep the source text (or a copy) alive for as long as the document lives |
| | [`json`](../api/json.md) / [`ordered_json`](../api/ordered_json.md) | [SAX interface](parsing/sax_interface.md) | [`json_document`](../api/json_document.md) / [`json_view`](../api/json_view.md) | [`json_editable_document`](../api/json_editable_document.md) / [`json_editable_view`](../api/json_editable_view.md) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Ownership** | owns every value | owns nothing; you decide what to keep, in your handler | borrows or owns the *text*; the index is always owned by the document | same as `json_document`; edits go to storage the document owns |
| **Mutability** | freely mutable | not applicable (a one-shot event stream) | read-only | [`set`](../api/basic_json_document/set.md)/[`push_back`](../api/basic_json_document/push_back.md)/[`insert`](../api/basic_json_document/insert.md)/[`erase`](../api/basic_json_document/erase.md) edit in place; the source text is never rewritten |
| **What you get** | a full tree you can read, write, and keep as long as you like | a sequence of callbacks; whatever your handler builds from them | a flat index plus, on demand, [`materialize()`](../api/basic_json_view/materialize.md)d `json`/`ordered_json` values for the parts you actually use | the same, plus [`dump()`](../api/basic_json_view/dump.md) of an edited document that keeps the member order and, with [`number_format::source`](../api/basic_json_view/number_format.md), the spelling of every untouched number |
| **Typical use** | general-purpose JSON handling: config, request/response bodies you build or modify, anything you hold onto | validating or projecting a text into your own data structure without ever holding the whole thing as JSON | large or high-volume input where you only need part of it, or need it repeatedly, and can keep the source text (or a copy) alive for as long as the document lives | a document you read, patch a few fields of, and write back -- a configuration file, for instance -- where the rest of it should come back exactly as it was |
## Version history