From 8f5d784e71396e3bb581feea69c53e22573a2247 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: MatrixEditor <58256046+MatrixEditor@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2026 13:55:06 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] docs(tutorial): add Transformer tutorial

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+.. _tutorial-transformer:
+
+Transformer
+===========
+
+Sometimes the most convenient Python-facing representation of a value isn't the same as
+its representation on the wire. A percentage might be stored as a single scaled byte, or
+a MAC address as six raw bytes instead of a colon-separated string. Rather than writing a
+brand-new struct class from scratch every time this happens, wrap an *existing* one with
+:class:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer` and only describe the translation between the two
+representations.
+
+Several built-in structs are themselves just :class:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer`
+subclasses: :class:`~caterpillar.py.Const` (enforces a constant value),
+:class:`~caterpillar.py.Enum` (maps between raw values and Python enum members),
+:code:`ZLibCompressed` and derivates (compress/decompress a nested struct), and
+:class:`~caterpillar.py.MACAddress` (formats six raw bytes as a colon-separated string).
+
+A basic example
+----------------
+
+Suppose a byte should be exposed as a floating-point ratio between :code:`0.0` and
+:code:`1.0` instead of a raw :code:`0`-:code:`255` integer. Subclass
+:class:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer`, wrap the underlying :code:`uint8` field, and
+override :meth:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer.encode` and
+:meth:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer.decode`:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+    :caption: A custom Transformer scaling a byte to a ratio
+
+    # generic typing parameters read as [IN, IN_TRANSFORMED, OUT, OUT_TRANSFORMED]
+    class Percentage(Transformer[float, int, float, int]):
+        def __init__(self) -> None:
+            super().__init__(uint8)
+
+        def encode(self, obj: float, context) -> int:
+            return round(obj * 255)
+
+        def decode(self, parsed: int, context) -> float:
+            return parsed / 255
+
+.. tab-set::
+    :sync-group: syntax
+
+    .. tab-item:: Default Syntax
+        :sync: default
+
+        .. code-block:: python
+
+            @struct
+            class Progress:
+                percent: Percentage()
+
+    .. tab-item:: Extended Syntax (>=2.8.0)
+        :sync: extended
+
+        .. code-block:: python
+
+            @struct
+            class Progress:
+                percent: f[float, Percentage()]
+
+Unpacking calls the wrapped :code:`uint8` field first, then :code:`decode` on its result;
+packing does the reverse, calling :code:`encode` first and feeding its result to the
+wrapped field's :code:`__pack__`:
+
+>>> unpack(Progress, b"\x80")
+Progress(percent=0.5019607843137255)
+>>> pack(Progress(percent=0.5))
+b'\x80'
+
+Typing
+------
+
+:class:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer` is generic over four type parameters, describing
+the two representations on either side of the translation:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    class Transformer(Generic[_IT, _IT_transformed, _OT, _OT_transformed], FieldStruct[_IT, _OT]):
+        ...
+
+- :code:`_IT` - the type accepted from user code when *packing* (the argument to
+  :code:`encode`).
+- :code:`_IT_transformed` - the type produced by :code:`encode`, i.e. what the wrapped
+  struct expects to pack.
+- :code:`_OT_transformed` - the type produced by the wrapped struct when *unpacking*,
+  i.e. the argument to :code:`decode`.
+- :code:`_OT` - the type produced by :code:`decode`, i.e. the type user code ultimately
+  sees.
+
+For :code:`Percentage` above, both directions share the same pair of types - :code:`float`
+on the Python side, :code:`int` on the wire - so it is declared as
+:code:`Transformer[float, int, float, int]`.
+
+For the full API, see :class:`~caterpillar.fields.Transformer` in the library reference.