Merge pull request opencv#18858 from fegorsch:improve-persistence-doc

modules/core/include/opencv2/core/persistence.hpp

@@ -403,8 +403,8 @@ class CV_EXPORTS_W FileStorage
 
     /**
      * @brief Simplified writing API to use with bindings.
-     * @param name Name of the written object
-     * @param val Value of the written object
+     * @param name Name of the written object. When writing to sequences (a.k.a. "arrays"), pass an empty string.
+     * @param val Value of the written object.
      */
     CV_WRAP void write(const String& name, int val);
     /// @overload
@@ -437,9 +437,10 @@ class CV_EXPORTS_W FileStorage
     CV_WRAP void writeComment(const String& comment, bool append = false);
 
     /** @brief Starts to write a nested structure (sequence or a mapping).
-    @param name name of the structure (if it's a member of parent mapping, otherwise it should be empty
+    @param name name of the structure. When writing to sequences (a.k.a. "arrays"), pass an empty string.
     @param flags type of the structure (FileNode::MAP or FileNode::SEQ (both with optional FileNode::FLOW)).
-    @param typeName usually an empty string
+    @param typeName optional name of the type you store. The effect of setting this depends on the storage format.
+    I.e. if the format has a specification for storing type information, this parameter is used.
     */
     CV_WRAP void startWriteStruct(const String& name, int flags, const String& typeName=String());
 

modules/core/test/test_io.cpp

@@ -1640,6 +1640,32 @@ TEST(Core_InputOutput, FileStorage_free_file_after_exception)
     ASSERT_EQ(0, std::remove(fileName.c_str()));
 }
 
+TEST(Core_InputOutput, FileStorage_write_to_sequence)
+{
+    const std::vector<std::string> formatExts = { ".yml", ".json", ".xml" };
+    const std::string fileName = "FileStorage_write_to_sequence";
+
+    for (const auto& ext : formatExts)
+    {
+        FileStorage fs(fileName + ext, FileStorage::WRITE);
+        std::vector<int> in = { 23, 42 };
+        fs.startWriteStruct("some_sequence", cv::FileNode::SEQ);
+        for (int i : in)
+            fs.write("", i);
+        fs.endWriteStruct();
+        fs.release();
+
+        FileStorage fsIn(fileName + ext, FileStorage::READ);
+        FileNode seq = fsIn["some_sequence"];
+        FileNodeIterator it = seq.begin(), it_end = seq.end();
+        std::vector<int> out;
+        for (; it != it_end; ++it)
+            out.push_back((int)*it);
+
+        EXPECT_EQ(in, out);
+    }
+}
+
 TEST(Core_InputOutput, FileStorage_YAML_parse_multiple_documents)
 {
     const std::string filename = "FileStorage_YAML_parse_multiple_documents.yml";