class documentation

Any contains an arbitrary serialized protocol buffer message along with a URL that describes the type of the serialized message.

Protobuf library provides support to pack/unpack Any values in the form of utility functions or additional generated methods of the Any type.

Example 1: Pack and unpack a message in C++.

Foo foo = ...;
Any any;
any.PackFrom(foo);
...
if (any.UnpackTo(&foo)) {
  ...
}

Example 2: Pack and unpack a message in Java.

Foo foo = ...;
Any any = Any.pack(foo);
...
if (any.is(Foo.class)) {
  foo = any.unpack(Foo.class);
}
// or ...
if (any.isSameTypeAs(Foo.getDefaultInstance())) {
  foo = any.unpack(Foo.getDefaultInstance());
}

Example 3: Pack and unpack a message in Python.

foo = Foo(...)
any = Any()
any.Pack(foo)
...
if any.Is(Foo.DESCRIPTOR):
  any.Unpack(foo)
  ...

Example 4: Pack and unpack a message in Go

foo := &pb.Foo{...}
any, err := anypb.New(foo)
if err != nil {
  ...
}
...
foo := &pb.Foo{}
if err := any.UnmarshalTo(foo); err != nil {
  ...
}

The pack methods provided by protobuf library will by default use 'type.googleapis.com/full.type.name' as the type URL and the unpack methods only use the fully qualified type name after the last '/' in the type URL, for example "foo.bar.com/x/y.z" will yield type name "y.z".

JSON

The JSON representation of an Any value uses the regular representation of the deserialized, embedded message, with an additional field @type which contains the type URL. Example:

package google.profile;
message Person {
  string first_name = 1;
  string last_name = 2;
}

{
  "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.profile.Person",
  "firstName": <string>,
  "lastName": <string>
}

If the embedded message type is well-known and has a custom JSON representation, that representation will be embedded adding a field value which holds the custom JSON in addition to the @type field. Example (for message [google.protobuf.Duration][]):

{
  "@type": "type.googleapis.com/google.protobuf.Duration",
  "value": "1.212s"
}
Method __init__ Create a message from a source message and field values.
Method type_url.setter Set or clear the generated type_url field.
Method value.setter Set or clear the generated value field.
Property type_url A URL/resource name that uniquely identifies the type of the serialized protocol buffer message. This string must contain at least one "/" character. The last segment of the URL's path must represent the fully qualified name of the type (as in ...
Property value Must be a valid serialized protocol buffer of the above specified type.

Inherited from Message:

Class Method from_json Create a message from protobuf JSON mapping.
Class Method FromString Create a message by parsing protobuf wire-format bytes.
Class Method get_descriptor Return the message descriptor from the registry.
Class Method is_credentials Return True if a Python field contains credentials.
Class Method is_sensitive Return True if a Python field has the sensitive annotation.
Method __dir__ List generated fields, oneofs, and nested declarations.
Method __repr__ Render non-default fields without disclosing annotated secrets.
Method ByteSize Return the serialized protobuf wire size in bytes.
Method check_presence Check presence using a generated Python field name.
Method Clear Clear all fields, extensions, unknown fields, and the reset mask.
Method clear_extension Clear an extension value.
Method ClearField Clear a protobuf field or oneof and record it in the reset mask.
Method CopyFrom Replace this message with an independent copy of another message.
Method FindInitializationErrors Return paths of missing required fields.
Method get_extension Return an extension value.
Method get_full_update_reset_mask Create a reset mask from the current protobuf state.
Method get_mask Return the reset mask for field changes.
Method has_extension Return True if an extension has explicit presence.
Method HasField Return True if a protobuf field or oneof has explicit presence.
Method is_default Return True if a generated field has its default value.
Method IsInitialized Return True if every required field is initialized.
Method MergeFrom Merge fields from another message of the same generated type.
Method MergeFromString Merge protobuf wire-format bytes into this message.
Method ParseFromString Parse protobuf wire-format bytes and replace this message.
Method SerializeToString Serialize the message using protobuf wire format.
Method set_extension Set an extension value.
Method set_mask Set the reset mask for this message.
Method to_json Serialize this message using protobuf JSON mapping.
Method which_field_in_oneof Return the selected Python field name for a protobuf oneof.
Method WhichOneof Return the selected protobuf field name for a oneof.
Constant __DEPRECATION_DETAILS__ Undocumented
Constant __EXTENSION_REGISTRY__ Registry that decodes protobuf extensions.
Constant __FIELDS__ Runtime field data that the generator creates.
Constant __MAX_NESTING_DEPTH__ Maximum protobuf nesting depth for serialization, parsing, and initialization checks.
Constant __PB2_DESCRIPTOR__ Alias for code that expects a protobuf descriptor.
Constant __PROTO_DESCRIPTOR__ Message descriptor from the registry.
Constant __PY_TO_PB2__ Mapping from Python names to protobuf names.
Constant __REGISTRY__ Registry for the message and its descriptor.
Class Variable __PROTO_FULL_NAME__ Fully qualified protobuf message name.
Property Extensions Provide protobuf-compatible mapping access to extension values.
Class Method _fields_by_number Undocumented
Class Method _fields_by_proto_name Undocumented
Class Method _fields_by_python_name Undocumented
Class Method _from_string Deserialize internally without invoking generated user warnings.
Class Method _oneof_python_name Undocumented
Class Method _public_fields_by_proto_name Undocumented
Class Method _public_fields_by_python_name Undocumented
Static Method _format_map_key Undocumented
Static Method _repr_field Undocumented
Method _bind_child Undocumented
Method _bind_mutation Undocumented
Method _check_same_type Undocumented
Method _child_changed Undocumented
Method _clear_state Undocumented
Method _closed_enum_unknown Undocumented
Method _converted_view Undocumented
Method _decode_map_entry Undocumented
Method _detach_child Undocumented
Method _field_has_value Undocumented
Method _field_is_default Undocumented
Method _find_initialization_errors Undocumented
Method _get_field Undocumented
Method _initialize Initialize message state, optionally suppressing generated warnings.
Method _map Undocumented
Method _merge_from_string Undocumented
Method _nesting_limit Undocumented
Method _notify Undocumented
Method _record_reset Undocumented
Method _repeated Undocumented
Method _select Undocumented
Method _serialize_to_string Undocumented
Method _set_field Undocumented
Method _suspend_mutation Undocumented
Method _suspend_reset_mask Undocumented
Method _try_decode_field Undocumented
Method _write_field Undocumented
Instance Variable _extensions Undocumented
Instance Variable _mutation_suspended Undocumented
Instance Variable _on_mutation Undocumented
Instance Variable _oneofs Undocumented
Instance Variable _present Undocumented
Instance Variable _reset_mask Undocumented
Instance Variable _reset_mask_suspended Undocumented
Instance Variable _unknown_fields Undocumented
Instance Variable _values Undocumented
Instance Variable _views Undocumented
def __init__(self, initial_message: SerializableMessage | None = None, *, type_url: str | None | UnsetType = ..., value: bytes | None | UnsetType = ...): (source)

Create a message from a source message and field values.

@type_url.setter
def type_url(self, value: str | None): (source)

Set or clear the generated type_url field.

@value.setter
def value(self, value: bytes | None): (source)

Set or clear the generated value field.

A URL/resource name that uniquely identifies the type of the serialized protocol buffer message. This string must contain at least one "/" character. The last segment of the URL's path must represent the fully qualified name of the type (as in path/google.protobuf.Duration). The name should be in a canonical form (e.g., leading "." is not accepted).

In practice, teams usually precompile into the binary all types that they expect it to use in the context of Any. However, for URLs which use the scheme http, https, or no scheme, one can optionally set up a type server that maps type URLs to message definitions as follows:

  • If no scheme is provided, https is assumed.
  • An HTTP GET on the URL must yield a [google.protobuf.Type][] value in binary format, or produce an error.
  • Applications are allowed to cache lookup results based on the URL, or have them precompiled into a binary to avoid any lookup. Therefore, binary compatibility needs to be preserved on changes to types. (Use versioned type names to manage breaking changes.)

Note: this functionality is not currently available in the official protobuf release, and it is not used for type URLs beginning with type.googleapis.com. As of May 2023, there are no widely used type server implementations and no plans to implement one.

Schemes other than http, https (or the empty scheme) might be used with implementation specific semantics.

Must be a valid serialized protocol buffer of the above specified type.