Decode MessagePack, igbinary, Protobuf and Avro values with Display As #3607

Problem

Display As has seven formats: Raw Value, Text, UUID, two Unix timestamps, JSON and PHP Serialized (features/json-viewer.mdx:14-22, apple/TablePro/Core/Services/Formatting/ValueDisplayFormat.swift:12-19). A binary column that holds a compact serialization shows only hex:

• MessagePack, common for cache payloads and job queues.
• igbinary, the binary form of PHP serialization, which the PHP Serialized viewer does not read.
• Protobuf and Avro. On Kafka, a topic whose values are Avro or Protobuf shows the raw bytes, five-byte wire-format prefix included (databases/kafka.mdx:151-152).

The UUID format also renders the bytes in stored order (apple/TablePro/Core/Services/Formatting/ValueDisplayFormatter.swift:56-74). A MySQL column filled with UUID_TO_BIN(uuid, 1), which moves the time fields to the front, renders as a UUID that differs from the one the application wrote.

Proposed solution

• MessagePack on binary columns: decoded into the JSON tree viewer, read-only, with badges for bin, ext and timestamp values.
• igbinary on binary columns: decoded into the PHP serialized viewer's tree.
• Protobuf on binary columns: with no schema, the wire format as field numbers and wire types. With a .proto file or descriptor set chosen for the column, field names and types.
• Avro on binary columns: decoded with a writer schema file chosen for the column.
• On Kafka, a value with the wire-format prefix reads its schema ID, and when the connection names a Schema Registry URL, the Avro or Protobuf schema is fetched from it.
• UUID (Swapped Time) for UUID_TO_BIN(uuid, 1) columns, and an edit typed as a UUID is written back in the same byte order.
• Each format behaves like the existing ones: set per column and scoped to the connection and table, rendering only, a single copied cell copies the decoded text, and filters and highlight rules still read the stored value (features/filtering.mdx:32).
• A value that does not decode falls back to hex, and the viewer says why.

Done when: each format decodes a fixture written by its reference library, a broken value falls back to hex, and a UUID_TO_BIN(uuid, 1) value renders as the UUID passed in.

Alternatives considered

Copy the hex out and decode it with a script, or write a view that decodes on the server where the engine can.

Platform

macOS

Related database type

N/A / General