[Boost-users] [property_tree] Writing comments in JSON format

Subject: [Boost-users] [property_tree] Writing comments in JSON format
From: Ruediger Berlich (ruediger.berlich_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-09-06 04:20:11

Hi there,

by trying it out with a modified debug_settings example, I can see that 
property_tree accepts Javascript ("//") comments inside of the JSON files it 
parses. 

I want to find out whether it makes sense to use JSON as an alternative to 
boost.program_options for configuration files. The idea would be to use a 
JavaScript-based GUI to modify or create the configuration files in a 
comfortable way and to use the same files as input for my C++-based 
programs.

As my configuration files are auto-generated by my objects and not everybody 
loves GUIs, I need to be able to add comments to a property_tree object, so 
that they are emitted during a "write_json" call.

The easiest way to add comments to the config files would be to just add a
"comment" data member. This would indeed be very useful for the JavaScript 
usecase, as comments can be integrated into the GUI / Browser, and would 
still give guidance to those wanting to modify the JSON files with a 
standard editor. However, this does not help me to write things like a 
header, or to add information targeted only at those who modify the files by 
hand. For these I still need to be able to generate "//"-style comments.

From the documentation I could not find out whether this can be done in a 
standard and portable way. Any pointer would be very welcome!

Thanks and Best Regard,
Ruediger