phoriah / rbx-dom

Roblox DOM and (de)serialization implementation in Rust

rbx-dom

rbx-dom is a collection of cross-platform libraries that enables any software to interact with Roblox instances.

Documentation about the project is hosted at dom.rojo.space.

At this moment, we do not specify a MSRV for any project in rbx-dom. If you need to build one of these libraries with an outdated version of Rust, please open an issue explaining what blockers there are to you updating Cargo, what version you would need us to support, and why.

rbx_dom_weak

Weakly-typed Roblox DOM implementation. Defines types for representing instances and properties on them.

rbx_types

Contains Roblox's value types like Vector3 and NumberSequence. Used by crates like rbx_dom_weak and a future rbx_dom_strong crate to let them share types and conversions.

rbx_xml

Serializer and deserializer for for Roblox's XML model and place formats, rbxmx and rbxlx.

rbx_binary

Serializer and deserializer for for Roblox's binary model and place formats, rbxm and rbxl.

rbx_reflection

Roblox reflection types for working with Instances in external tooling.

rbx_reflection_database

Bundled reflection database using types from rbx_reflection. Intended for users migrating from rbx_reflection 4.x and users who need reflection information statically.

rbx_reflector

Command line utility to generate a reflection database for rbx_dom_lua and rbx_reflection_database.

rbx_util

Command line utility to convert and debug Roblox model files.

rbx_dom_lua

Roblox Lua implementation of DOM APIs, allowing Instance reflection from inside Roblox. Uses a data format that's compatible with rbx_dom_weak to facilitate communication with applications outside Roblox about instances.

Property Type Coverage

Property Type	Example Property	rbx_types	rbx_dom_lua	rbx_xml	rbx_binary
Axes	ArcHandles.Axes	✔	✔	✔	✔
BinaryString	Terrain.MaterialColors	✔	➖	✔	✔
Bool	Part.Anchored	✔	✔	✔	✔
BrickColor	Part.BrickColor	✔	✔	✔	✔
Bytecode	N/A	❌	⛔	❌	❌
CFrame	Camera.CFrame	✔	✔	✔	✔
Color3	Lighting.Ambient	✔	✔	✔	✔
Color3uint8	Part.BrickColor	✔	✔	✔	✔
ColorSequence	Beam.Color	✔	✔	✔	✔
Content	Decal.Texture	✔	✔	✔	✔
Enum	Part.Shape	✔	✔	✔	✔
Faces	Handles.Faces	✔	✔	✔	✔
Float32	Players.RespawnTime	✔	✔	✔	✔
Float64	Sound.PlaybackLoudness	✔	✔	✔	✔
Font	TextLabel.Font	✔	✔	✔	✔
Int32	Frame.ZIndex	✔	✔	✔	✔
Int64	Player.UserId	✔	✔	✔	✔
NumberRange	ParticleEmitter.Lifetime	✔	✔	✔	✔
NumberSequence	Beam.Transparency	✔	✔	✔	✔
OptionalCFrame	Model.WorldPivotData	✔	✔	✔	✔
PhysicalProperties	Part.CustomPhysicalProperties	✔	✔	✔	✔
ProtectedString	ModuleScript.Source	✔	✔	✔	✔
Ray	RayValue.Value	✔	✔	✔	✔
Rect	ImageButton.SliceCenter	✔	✔	✔	✔
Ref	Model.PrimaryPart	✔	✔	✔	✔
Region3	N/A	✔	✔	❌	❌
Region3int16	Terrain.MaxExtents	✔	✔	❌	❌
SecurityCapabilities	Folder.SecurityCapabilities	✔	❌	✔	✔
SharedString	N/A	✔	✔	✔	✔
String	Instance.Name	✔	✔	✔	✔
UDim	UIListLayout.Padding	✔	✔	✔	✔
UDim2	Frame.Size	✔	✔	✔	✔
UniqueId	Instance.UniqueId	✔	❌	✔	✔
Vector2	ImageLabel.ImageRectSize	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vector2int16	N/A	✔	✔	✔	❌
Vector3	Part.Size	✔	✔	✔	✔
Vector3int16	TerrainRegion.ExtentsMax	✔	✔	✔	✔
QDir	Studio.Auto-Save Path	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔
QFont	Studio.Font	⛔	⛔	⛔	⛔

✔ Implemented | ❌ Unimplemented | ➖ Partially Implemented | ⛔ Never

Outcome

This project has unveiled a handful of interesting bugs and quirks in Roblox!

• GuiMain.DisplayOrder is uninitialized, so its default value isn't stable
• MaxPlayersInternal and PreferredPlayersInternal on Players are scriptable and accessible by the command bar
• Instantiating a NetworkClient will turn your edit session into a game client and stop you from sending HTTP requests
• ContentProvider.RequestQueueSize is mistakenly marked as serializable
• Trying to invoke game:GetService("Studio") causes a unique error: singleton Studio already exists
• Color3 properties not serialized as Color3uint8 would have their colors mistakenly clamped in the XML place format. This was bad for properties on Lighting.
• ColorSequence's XML serialization contains an extra value per keypoint that was intended to be used as an envelope value, but was never implemented.

For Maintainers

Cutting new releases is not currently as optimized as it should be. While we work on improving it, packages need to be published in a specific order to make sense. The order that currently works well is:

1. rbx_types
2. rbx_dom_weak and rbx_reflection
3. rbx_reflection_database
4. rbx_binary and rbx_xml

The process for publishing these is:

1. Decide a new version number, following SemVer
2. Update changelog to list new release under its own heading
3. Adjust versions of local dependencies to be the new release (this is why releases must happen in a specific order)
4. Increment version in Cargo.toml
5. Add a git tag in the format library_name-vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH at the commit that incremented the Cargo version
6. Publish to Cargo

License

rbx-dom is available under the MIT license. See LICENSE.txt for details.