Greatly expanded README.md.

js/README.md

@@ -1,14 +1,134 @@
-This directory contains Protocol Buffer support for JavaScript.  This code works
+Protocol Buffers - Google's data interchange format
-in browsers and in Node.js.
+===================================================
 
-The packaging work for this is still in-progress.  For now you can just run the
+[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/google/protobuf.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/google/protobuf)
-tests.  First you need to build the main C++ distribution because the code
-generator for JavaScript is written in C++:
 
-   $ ./autogen.sh
+Copyright 2008 Google Inc.
-   $ ./configure
-   $ make
 
-Then you can run the JavaScript tests in this directory:
+This directory contains the JavaScript Protocol Buffers runtime library.
 
-   $ cd js && gulp test
+The library is currently compatible with:
+
+1. CommonJS-style imports (eg. `var protos = require('my-protos');`)
+2. Closure-style imports (eg. `goog.require('my.package.MyProto');`)
+
+Support for ES6-style imports is not implemented yet.  Browsers can
+be supported by using Browserify, webpack, Closure Compiler, etc. to
+resolve imports at compile time.
+
+To use Protocol Buffers with JavaScript, you need two main components:
+
+1. The protobuf runtime library.  You can install this with
+   `npm install google-protobuf`, or use the files in this directory.
+2. The Protocol Compiler `protoc`.  This translates `.proto` files
+   into `.js` files.  The compiler is not currently available via
+   npm -- you must download and compile it from GitHub or a tarball.
+
+
+Setup
+=====
+
+First, compile the Protocol Compiler.
+You can compile `protoc` from GitHub or a source tarball.  From the
+top level directory type:
+
+    $ ./autogen.sh  (only necessary for GitHub)
+    $ ./configure
+    $ make
+
+
+Once you have `protoc` compiled, you can run the tests by typing:
+
+    $ npm install
+    $ npm test
+
+This will run two separate copies of the tests: one that uses
+Closure Compiler style imports and one that uses CommonJS imports.
+You can see all the CommonJS files in `commonjs_out/`.
+If all of these tests pass, you know you have a working setup.
+
+
+Using Protocol Buffers in your own project
+==========================================
+
+To use Protocol Buffers in your own project, you need to integrate
+the Protocol Compiler into your build system.  The details are a
+little different depending on whether you are using Closure imports
+or CommonJS imports:
+
+Closure Imports
+---------------
+
+If you want to use Closure imports, your build should run a command
+like this:
+
+    $ protoc --js_out=library=myproto_libs,binary:. messages.proto base.proto
+
+For Closure imports, `protoc` will generate a single output file
+(`myproto_libs.js` in this example).  The generated file will `goog.provide()`
+all of the types defined in your .proto files.  For example, for the unit
+tests the generated files contain many `goog.provide` statements like:
+
+    goog.provide('proto.google.protobuf.DescriptorProto');
+    goog.provide('proto.google.protobuf.DescriptorProto.ExtensionRange');
+    goog.provide('proto.google.protobuf.DescriptorProto.ReservedRange');
+    goog.provide('proto.google.protobuf.EnumDescriptorProto');
+    goog.provide('proto.google.protobuf.EnumOptions');
+
+The generated code will also `goog.require()` many types in the core library,
+and they will require many types in the Google Closure library.  So make sure
+that your `goog.provide()` / `goog.require()` setup can find all of your
+generated code, the core library `.js` files in this directory, and the
+Google Closure library itself.
+
+Once you've done this, you should be able to import your types with
+statements like:
+
+    goog.require('proto.my.package.MyMessage');
+
+    var message = proto.my.package.MyMessage();
+
+CommonJS imports
+----------------
+
+If you want to use CommonJS imports, your build should run a command
+like this:
+
+    $ protoc --js_out=import_style=commonjs,binary:. messages.proto base.proto
+
+For CommonJS imports, `protoc` will spit out one file per input file
+(so `messages_pb.js` and `base_pb.js` in this example).  The generated
+code will depend on the core runtime, which should be in a file called
+`google-protobuf.js`.  If you are installing from `npm`, this file should
+already be built and available.  If you are running from GitHub, you need
+to build it first by running:
+
+    $ gulp dist
+
+Once you've done this, you should be able to import your types with
+statements like:
+
+    var messages = require('./messages_pb');
+
+    var message = new messages.MyMessage();
+
+API
+===
+
+The API is not well-documented yet.  Here is a quick example to give you an
+idea of how the library generally works:
+
+    var message = new MyMessage();
+
+    message.setName("John Doe");
+    message.setAge(25);
+    message.setPhoneNumbers(["800-555-1212", "800-555-0000"]);
+
+    // Serializes to a UInt8Array.
+    bytes = message.serializeBinary();
+
+    var message2 = new MyMessage();
+    message2.deserializeBinary(bytes);
+
+For more examples, see the tests.  You can also look at the generated code
+to see what methods are defined for your generated messages.