Generic Python Protobuf <-> Dictionary: encoder/decoder functions

pb_generic_dict_codec.py

from google.protobuf.json_format import MessageToDict
from google.protobuf.json_format import ParseDict

def encode(dictObj, pb_class):
    """Takes in a dict and returns the serialized binary of pb_class"""
    # pb = dict_to_protobuf(pb_class, dict)
    pb = pb_class()
    pb = ParseDict(dictObj, pb, ignore_unknown_fields=True)
    return pb.SerializeToString()

def decode(bin, pb_class):
    """Takes the serialized {value for value in variable}binary of an instance of the pb_class and returns a dict"""
    pb = pb_class()
    pb.ParseFromString(bin)
    return MessageToDict(pb, including_default_value_fields=True, preserving_proto_field_name=True)