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json/docs
Niels Lohmann d0de6a9111 Document std::optional<T> direct construction limitation (#5247)
* Document std::optional<T> direct-init/copy-init limitation with null

Add regression test pinning current behavior (CHECK_THROWS_AS) in the null
section of unit-conversions.cpp with detailed comment explaining the C++
language-level cause (std::optional's own converting constructor wins
overload resolution over basic_json::operator T()).

Add a warning callout in conversions.md documenting that direct construction/
assignment of std::optional<T> from JSON null throws type_error 302, with a
clear workaround (use get<std::optional<T>>() or get_to() instead, which
correctly produce std::nullopt).

This is a limitation at the language level: there is no SFINAE path to
distinguish "called from inside std::optional's own constructor" from "direct
call", so fixing it would require breaking changes to operator ValueType().
A permanent fix belongs in the 4.0 type-strictness redesign (#3453).

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Code <noreply@anthropic.com>

* Fix issue reference in std::optional test comment

Update the comment in the null section test to reference #5246 instead of
placeholder #XXXX, clarifying where the direct-init/copy-init limitation is tracked.

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

* Use CHECK_THROWS_AS_WITH for std::optional test assertions

Update the regression tests to use CHECK_THROWS_AS_WITH instead of
CHECK_THROWS_AS to verify both the exception type and the error message.

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

* Fix CI: use CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS, the macro that actually exists

CHECK_THROWS_AS_WITH is not a doctest macro; the correct one used throughout
this test suite is CHECK_THROWS_WITH_AS(expr, message, exception_type&), with
the message before the type and the type as a reference. The previous commit
didn't catch this because it only compiled the file standalone with default
settings; this TEST_CASE only compiles under
`#if !JSON_USE_IMPLICIT_CONVERSIONS`, which is why ci_test_noimplicitconversions
was the job that failed. Verified by building and running the test in that
exact configuration (JSON_USE_IMPLICIT_CONVERSIONS=0): 14/14 assertions pass.

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

* Run std::optional test under default implicit-conversions build too

TEST_CASE("std::optional") was guarded by #if !JSON_USE_IMPLICIT_CONVERSIONS,
so it only ever compiled in the non-default build with implicit conversions
disabled. This traces back to commit 1d7688aef (fixes #3859), which changed a
previously dead #ifndef JSON_USE_IMPLICIT_CONVERSIONS guard (the macro is
always defined by that point, so it never held) to #if !JSON_USE_IMPLICIT_CONVERSIONS
-- making the test compile for the first time, but only in the disabled-conversions
build. As a result, std::optional support had zero test coverage in the default
configuration almost every user builds with.

Verified the entire test case (all sections: null, string, bool, number, array,
object) compiles and passes identically with JSON_USE_IMPLICIT_CONVERSIONS both
on (default) and off -- nothing in it actually depends on the setting. Removing
the guard closes the coverage gap with no behavior change: 285 assertions pass
with implicit conversions on, 232 with them off (the difference comes from
other, unrelated conditionally-compiled tests in this file).

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

* 🎓 fix warning

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

---------

Signed-off-by: Niels Lohmann <mail@nlohmann.me>
Co-authored-by: Claude Code <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-07-09 19:03:49 +02:00
..
2025-04-11 10:41:14 +02:00
2025-04-11 10:41:14 +02:00
2025-04-11 10:41:14 +02:00

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