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>
This commit is contained in:
Niels Lohmann committed 2026-10-07 16:42:38 +02:00
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# <small>nlohmann::basic_json_document::</small>set
```cpp
// (1)
template<typename V>
view_type set(view_type target, V&& value);
// (2)
template<typename V>
view_type set(view_type object, string_view_t key, V&& value);
// (3)
template<typename I, typename V>
view_type set(view_type array, I idx, V&& value);
// (4)
template<typename V>
view_type set(const json_pointer& ptr, V&& value);
```
Only an **editable** document (`#!cpp Editable == true`, e.g. [`json_editable_document`](../json_editable_document.md))
has `set`; calling it on a read-only `basic_json_document` fails to compile (`#!cpp static_assert`).
1. Replaces the value `target` refers to with `value`.
2. Sets the member `key` of the object `object` to `value`: assigns it if `object` already has a member with this
key -- the first one, should the key occur more than once, and the later duplicates are then dropped (see the
[Notes](#notes) below) -- or appends a new member at the end otherwise. A [null](../basic_json_view/is_null.md)
`object` first becomes an empty object.
3. Assigns `value` to the element at index `idx` of the array `array`, which must already exist (`#!cpp idx <
array.size()`).
4. Sets the value the JSON pointer `ptr` refers to, relative to [`root()`](root.md), to `value`. The *parent* of the
target must already exist: an object member is set as in 2. (added if it does not exist yet), an array element is
assigned as in 3., and a last reference token of `#!cpp "-"`, or equal to the size of the array, appends `value`
instead, exactly as [`push_back`](push_back.md) would. An empty `ptr` sets [`root()`](root.md) itself, as in 1.
In every overload, `value` is accepted three ways: a [`basic_json_view`](../basic_json_view/index.md) of *any*
document -- read-only or editable, and it does not have to be `target`'s/`object`'s/`array`'s own document -- which
is copied so that nothing is shared with the source document afterward; a `BasicJsonType` value; or anything
`BasicJsonType` can be constructed from (numbers, strings, `#!cpp bool`, `#!cpp nullptr`, containers, ...).
## Template parameters
`V`
: the type of `value`, deduced; see above for what is accepted.
`I`
: an integral type other than `#!cpp bool`, deduced (overloads taking a `#!cpp bool` or a non-integral type for
`idx` do not participate in overload resolution).
## Parameters
`target` (in)
: the value to replace
`object` (in)
: the object (or null value) whose member to set
`array` (in)
: the array whose element to assign
`key` (in)
: the key of the member to set
`idx` (in)
: the index of the element to assign; a negative value throws (see [Exceptions](#exceptions))
`ptr` (in)
: a JSON pointer to the value to set, relative to `root()`
`value` (in)
: the new value
## Return value
1. a view of `target`, now holding `value`
2. a view of the member `key` of `object`, now holding `value`
3. a view of the element `idx` of `array`, now holding `value`
4. a view of the value `ptr` refers to, now holding `value`
## Exception safety
Basic exception safety: `value` is fully encoded -- including the checks below -- into storage owned by the document
before anything already reachable from [`root()`](root.md) is touched, so a failure while encoding `value` (an
invalid argument, or `#!cpp std::bad_alloc`) leaves the document completely unchanged, other than memory allocated
for the encoding that is not reclaimed. A failure of a later allocation -- while an edited array or object switches
from its parsed layout to a growable block, see [Notes](#notes) -- can still leave a partial effect, such as a
[null](../basic_json_view/is_null.md) `object`/`array` argument already turned into an empty object/array even
though `value` itself was not linked in.
## Exceptions
1. Throws [`type_error.302`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error302) if `value` is a
[discarded](../basic_json_view/is_discarded.md) view, or a [discarded](../basic_json/is_discarded.md)
`BasicJsonType` value (e.g. `#!cpp BasicJsonType(value_t::discarded)`) -- an object or array `value`, of either
kind, is fine and is encoded as a whole subtree.
2. Throws [`type_error.305`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error305) if `object` is neither an object
nor null -- the same message [`operator[]`](../basic_json_view/operator%5B%5D.md) throws for a string argument on
such a value. Throws [`type_error.316`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error316) if `key` is not
valid UTF-8, with the same message [`BasicJsonType::dump()`](../basic_json/dump.md) gives for that string.
Also throws what 1. throws for `value`.
3. Throws `type_error.305` if `array` is not an array -- the same message `operator[]` throws for a numeric argument
on such a value. Throws [`out_of_range.401`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range401) if `idx` is
negative, or if `#!cpp idx >= array.size()`. Also throws what 1. throws for `value`.
4. Throws what [`at`](../basic_json_view/at.md) throws (overload 3) for resolving `ptr`'s parent, except that a
missing object member or an array index equal to the array's size at the very last reference token is not an
error there (it becomes a new member or an appended element) instead of
[`out_of_range.403`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range403)/[`out_of_range.402`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range402).
For the last reference token itself: if the parent is an object (or a primitive value, where it throws
`type_error.305`), throws what 2. throws; if the parent is an array, throws what 3. throws for an index that is
out of range, or, for a token that is not a valid array index,
[`parse_error.106`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionparse_error106) (a leading `#!cpp '0'`),
[`parse_error.109`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionparse_error109) (not a number),
[`out_of_range.410`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range410) (too large for `size_type`), or
[`out_of_range.404`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptionout_of_range404) (an empty token). Also throws what 1.
throws for `value`.
Every overload also throws [`type_error.319`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptiontype_error319) if `value` is (or
contains) a binary value -- `BasicJsonType` can hold one, but a `json_document` cannot -- and
[`invalid_iterator.202`](../../home/exceptions.md#jsonexceptioninvalid_iterator202) ("view does not belong to this
document") if `target`/`object`/`array` is a [discarded](../basic_json_view/is_discarded.md) view or a view of a
*different* document (overloads 1-3 only; overload 4 always starts from this document's own [`root()`](root.md)).
## Complexity
1. Linear in the size of `value` (encoding it into the document's storage): constant for a scalar, linear in the
number of nested values for an array or object. If `target` is itself an array or object that spans more than one
node in its parent's original, unedited layout, and `value` is a scalar, replacing it additionally costs time
linear in the number of elements of that parent, the *first* time -- see [Notes](#notes).
2. Linear in the number of members of `object`, to find an existing member with `key`, plus the complexity of 1. for
`value`.
3. Constant, plus the complexity of 1. for `value`.
4. Linear in the number of reference tokens of `ptr` and, for each token, in the number of members of the object at
that level or the index into the array (as [`at`](../basic_json_view/at.md)), plus the complexity of 2. or 3. for
the last token.
## Notes
!!! info "Duplicate keys"
If `object` already has more than one member with `key` (2.), the *first* one is assigned `value` and every
later member with the same key is removed -- so that a lookup, an iteration, and
[`materialize()`](../basic_json_view/materialize.md) of `object` afterward all agree on a single value for
`key`, the same way [`operator[]`](../basic_json_view/operator%5B%5D.md) already picks the first occurrence of a
duplicate key for reading. See the [Notes on duplicate keys](../basic_json_view/operator%5B%5D.md#notes) of
`operator[]`.
Setting a member (2.) or an element (3., through 4.) of an array or object whose elements have not been edited
before switches it from its parsed layout to a growable block holding links to its elements; a later
[`push_back`](push_back.md) or `set` on the same container reuses that block, growing it (amortized constant time)
only once it runs out of room. This never moves an element itself -- only where the container's *links* to its
elements live -- so a view of an element stays valid, but any iterator already taken over the container is
invalidated, since it was walking the old layout. See [Edits](index.md#edits) for what stays valid across an edit in
general.
The same switch happens, for the same reason, when overload 1. replaces a multi-node array/object value with a
scalar: the *parent's* element sequence is what has to switch to links, not `target` itself, because the parent
originally stepped over `target`'s whole subtree by its node count, which no longer applies once `target` is a
one-node scalar.
## Examples
??? example "Example: (1)/(2)/(3)/(4) replace a value, set a member, assign an element, set via a JSON pointer"
The example below edits a small configuration document -- replacing a value, adding an object member, assigning
an array element, and reaching a field through a JSON pointer -- and shows what
[`dump()`](../basic_json_view/dump.md) preserves that is lost once the same edits are made on a `BasicJsonType`
value instead: the order object members were written in, and the exact spelling of a number that was never
touched.
```cpp
--8<-- "examples/basic_json_document__set.cpp"
```
Output:
```json
--8<-- "examples/basic_json_document__set.output"
```
## See also
- [push_back](push_back.md) - append to an array
- [insert](insert.md) - insert an element into an array
- [erase](erase.md) - remove an object member, an array element, or the value a JSON pointer refers to
- [root](root.md) - the view of the root value, the starting point of overload 4
- [`basic_json_view::dump`](../basic_json_view/dump.md) - serialize the document, keeping an untouched number's
spelling with `#!cpp number_format::source`
- [Edits](index.md#edits) - what an edit guarantees, for every overload
- [Editing a document](../../features/json_view.md#editing-a-document) - why editable documents keep the source
text's order and number spelling
## Version history
- Added in version 3.13.0.