extensions are always wrapped in #ifdef __GNUC__, so code using them compiles
correctly even on non-GNU compilers. This option is for purists only.
(using GNU extensions some warnings are eliminated, some ugly hacks and there
-is better argument type safety, so it's good to use them)
+is better argument type safety, so it\'s good to use them)
.TP
.B --no-touch-headers
-Don't touch the generated header file unless it really changed, this avoids
+Don\'t touch the generated header file unless it really changed, this avoids
spurious rebuilds, but can confuse some make systems (automake in particular),
so it is not enabled by default. Private header is still touched even if
unchanged however.
Do not write any output files, just check syntax of the input file.
.TP
.B --no-lines
-Do not print out the '#line' statements into the output. Useful for debugging
+Do not print out the \'#line\' statements into the output. Useful for debugging
the auto-generated generated code.
.TP
.B --no-self-alias
.PP
Because we need to parse out different parts of the typename, sometimes you
need to specify the typename with some special syntax. Types are specified in
-capitalized form and words are separated by ':'. The first word of the type
+capitalized form and words are separated by \':\'. The first word of the type
(which can be empty) is the "namespace". This fact is for example used for the
type checking macro and the type macro. For "Gtk:New:Button", the macros will
be GTK_IS_NEW_BUTTON and GTK_TYPE_NEW_BUTTON. This colon separated format of
.SH OUTPUT FILES
.PP
The filenames are created from the typename. The words are
-separated by '-' and all in lower case. For example for an object named
+separated by \'-\' and all in lower case. For example for an object named
"Gtk:New:Button", the files are \fBgtk-new-button.c\fR and
\fBgtk-new-button.h\fR.
If you are using C++ mode, the output .c file will in fact be a .cc file.
.SH INCLUDING NORMAL C CODE IN THE OUTPUT FILES
.PP
-To include some code directly in the output C file begin with '%{'
-on an empty line and end the code with a '%}' on an empty line. These
+To include some code directly in the output C file begin with \'%{\'
+on an empty line and end the code with a \'%}\' on an empty line. These
sections will appear in the output files in the order they are given.
There are several other \fIsections\fR to which you can put code. You can
-put it in the 'header' section (which can be abbreviated 'h') and it will
-go into the public header file. You can also put it in the 'privateheader'
-section (abbreviated 'ph') which will make the code go into the private
+put it in the \'header\' section (which can be abbreviated \'h\') and it will
+go into the public header file. You can also put it in the \'privateheader\'
+section (abbreviated \'ph\') which will make the code go into the private
header file. Sometimes you want some code (other includes) to appear before
the extern "C" and the protecting define. To do this you can put them
-into the 'headertop' (or 'ht') section. You may wish to include code or
-comments in all the files, which you can do by putting them into the 'all'
-(or 'a') section. Similarly, code you wish to appear at the top of all
-files go in the 'alltop' (or 'at') section. For example:
+into the \'headertop\' (or \'ht\') section. You may wish to include code or
+comments in all the files, which you can do by putting them into the \'all\'
+(or \'a\') section. Similarly, code you wish to appear at the top of all
+files go in the \'alltop\' (or \'at\') section. For example:
.nf
%alltop{
for this just as it does for the regular header file. If you do explicitly
include the regular header file, you should always include this private
header file below it. That is, if you use any private data members. If you
-don't, the private header file automatically includes the public header file,
+don\'t, the private header file automatically includes the public header file,
and thus the public header file will be indirectly included at the very top
of the file.
one is class wide (global) in scope and one is a virtual one, usually linked to
a normal data member or a class wide data member. The three normal data
members are public, protected and private. Public and protected are basically
-just entries in the object structure, while private has it's own dynamically
+just entries in the object structure, while private has it\'s own dynamically
allocated private structure. Protected members are always put after the public
one in the structure and are marked protected in the header file. There is
only one identifier allowed per typename unlike in normal C. Example:
.fi
.PP
Public and protected data members are accessed normally as members of
-the object struct. Example where 'i' is as above a public data member:
+the object struct. Example where \'i\' is as above a public data member:
.nf
object->i = 1;
The private data members are defined in a structure which is only available
inside the .c file, or by including a private header file. You must access
them using the structure _priv. Example
-where 'h' is the private data member (as in the above example):
+where \'h\' is the private data member (as in the above example):
.nf
object->_priv->h = NULL;
.fi
The _priv structure is defined in the \fB<basename>-private.h\fR.
-This file is automatically included if you don't include it yourself. You
+This file is automatically included if you don\'t include it yourself. You
should always explicitly include it in your .gob file if you explicitly also
include the main header file. The reason it is a separate header file is
that you can also include it in other places that need to access this objects
You can automatically initialize the public private and protected data members
without having to add an init method. The advantage here is that
initialization is kept close to the definition of the data member and thus
-it's easier to check. To do this, just add a '=' followed by a number or
+it\'s easier to check. To do this, just add a \'=\' followed by a number or
a token. It is also possible to include arbitrary C code for more elaborate
initializations by putting it all in curly braces. Note that the curly braces
will not be printed into the output, but since gob does not C parsing it needs
Most data stored as pointers needs to have a function called when the object
is finalized to either free the data. Gob will let you
define a function to be called on the data the object is finalized. This is
-achieved by putting 'destroywith' followed by a function name after the
+achieved by putting \'destroywith\' followed by a function name after the
variable definition. It is only called if the data you defined this on
is not NULL, so you cans specify functions which do not handle NULL. It
is very much like the GDestroyNotify function used in GTK+ and glib in many
.fi
The thing to remember with these is that there are many ways to do this
-and you'd better be consistent in your code in how you use the above things.
+and you\'d better be consistent in your code in how you use the above things.
Also defining a helper routine that will do the destruction will be a nicer
-thing to do if that's a possibility. The "destroy" keyword with code does
+thing to do if that\'s a possibility. The "destroy" keyword with code does
take up more space in the file and it may become more cluttered.
.PP
The data is zeroed out after being destroyed. This is to make debugging easier
.B "Automatic Unreffing:"
.PP
This is very much like the automatic destruction, but is instead run in the
-shutdown method (which is called from the "destroy" method of GtkObject).
-All data and other objects that you need to unref should be done here, and
-not at finalize time. The semantics are otherwise the same as for the
-"destroywith" and "destroy" keywords, except that you use "unrefwith"
-and "unref".
+dispose method (it is among other places called from the "destroy" method of
+GtkObject). All data and other objects that you need to unref should be
+done here, and not at finalize time. The semantics are otherwise the same
+as for the "destroywith" and "destroy" keywords, except that you use
+"unrefwith" and "unref".
.nf
public G:Object *foo = NULL
identifier "self" as pointer to the object instance. The type is defined as
one of the GObject type enums, but without the G_TYPE_ prefix. There are
also some attributes of a property which you can set. For example the
-following is a definition of an integer property 'height' which will
-be synchronized with a private integer data member also of the name 'height'.
+following is a definition of an integer property \'height\' which will
+be synchronized with a private integer data member also of the name \'height\'.
.nf
private int height;
.PP
The attributes are really optional though you should at least set some
of them.
-All property types have a 'nick' and a 'blurb' attribute and you should
+All property types have a \'nick\' and a \'blurb\' attribute and you should
set those accordingly. This will make runtime querying the object
nicer as things such as gui editors and class browsers can be more
-verbose about the class itself. You can use the '_("string")' notation
+verbose about the class itself. You can use the \'_("string")\' notation
instead of just "string", and that will mark the string for translation.
.PP
-Almost all types also have a 'default_value' attribute which sets the initial
+Almost all types also have a \'default_value\' attribute which sets the initial
value of this property (on object initialization, the set handler will be run
automatically with this value). This value will be overriden if the user
sets a value of this property on the call to g_object_new.
.PP
-All the numeric types (including CHAR) have 'minimum' and 'maximum'
+All the numeric types (including CHAR) have \'minimum\' and \'maximum\'
attributes which can restrict the range. If you do not specify these
the range will be the full range that the data type can handle.
.PP
-Types such as UNICHAR and BOOLEAN only have the 'nick', 'blurb' and
-'default_value' attributes.
+Types such as UNICHAR and BOOLEAN only have the \'nick\', \'blurb\' and
+\'default_value\' attributes.
.PP
-The ENUM type has an 'enum_type' attribute which is the exact
+The ENUM type has an \'enum_type\' attribute which is the exact
type of the enum. This is so that the property knows which exact
type you can set, rather then just knowing it is an enum. You should
always create an enum type specific for the enum itself (see section
on the enum types)
.PP
-Similarly FLAGS type has a 'flags_type' which again you should set to
+Similarly FLAGS type has a \'flags_type\' which again you should set to
the specific type of this flags data member.
.PP
-There is a STRING type which has only the extra 'default_value' attribute.
+There is a STRING type which has only the extra \'default_value\' attribute.
.PP
-The OBJECT type is one of the types that doesn't have a 'default_value' and it
-only has an 'object_type' attribute (in addition to nick and blurb of course)
+The OBJECT type is one of the types that doesn\'t have a \'default_value\' and it
+only has an \'object_type\' attribute (in addition to nick and blurb of course)
that is the exact object type that this property accepts.
.PP
There is a BOXED type which is a pointer which has a boxed type defined
(such that GObject knows how to copy and destroy this pointer). Here
-you will need to specify the 'boxed_type' attribute with the specific
+you will need to specify the \'boxed_type\' attribute with the specific
type of the boxed pointer.
.PP
-There is also a POINTER type, which has only the 'nick' and 'blurb'
+There is also a POINTER type, which has only the \'nick\' and \'blurb\'
attributes. This is for storing arbitrary pointers. You should be
careful with this one, as GObject knows nothing about the data
-stored at this pointer. It is somewhat like a 'void *' type.
+stored at this pointer. It is somewhat like a \'void *\' type.
.PP
-There is also the PARAM type for storing parameters with a 'param_type'
+There is also the PARAM type for storing parameters with a \'param_type\'
attribute.
.PP
You should notice that this list is pretty much like the list of g_param_spec_*
yet.
.PP
You can also specify extra flags, such as CONSTRUCT or CONSTRUCT_ONLY using the
-'flags' attribute. You can specify multiple flags by oring them together with
-'|'. These flags correspond to the GParamFlags enumeration except do not
+\'flags\' attribute. You can specify multiple flags by oring them together with
+\'|\'. These flags correspond to the GParamFlags enumeration except do not
include the G_PARAM_ prefix. So for example to define an enumeration property,
which is a CONSTRUCT_ONLY property, we could do the following:
.nf
.fi
.PP
The above example also gives an example of automatic linking to a standard data
-memember. By including the attribute 'link' a get and set handlers will be
+memember. By including the attribute \'link\' a get and set handlers will be
automatically added without having to type them by hand. This is useful for a
vast majority data types that are just linked to some standard data member and
do not need to do anything extra on get or set.
Another extra feature of properties is the possibility of automatically
exporing methods to get and set the property. That is without having to
use g_object_set and g_object_get. This is achieved by adding an
-'export' attribute to the list of property attributes.
+\'export\' attribute to the list of property attributes.
.PP
If you do not define a set or get handler, the property will automatically
be only readable or writable as appropriate.
Note however that the type safety only works completely on GNU C compilers.
The code will compile on other compilers but with minimal type safety.
For complete type safety it is useful to use the get/set methods that
-are defined by using the 'export' attribute.
+are defined by using the \'export\' attribute.
.PP
To get bettery type safety on some of the property types, you can specify
-the 'type' attribute which will add casts where appropriate in code dealing
+the \'type\' attribute which will add casts where appropriate in code dealing
with this property. This is especially useful for POINTER types. But
even for others.
later. You can also
define init and class_init methods with a special definition if you want
to add code to the constructors or you can just leave them out.
-You can also not define a body for a method, by just using ';' instead of a
-body. This will define an empty function. You can't do this for non-void
+You can also not define a body for a method, by just using \';\' instead of a
+body. This will define an empty function. You can\'t do this for non-void
regular public, private or protected methods, however it is acceptable for
non-void virtual, signal and override methods.
.PP
which gob will translate into a pointer to the object instance. The rest
of the arguments are very similar to normal C arguments. If the
typename is an object pointer you should use the syntax defined above
-with the words separated by ':'
+with the words separated by \':\'
.nf
<type> <argument id>
or
.fi
The onerror value is also used in overrides that have a return value, in
-case there isn't a parent method, PARENT_HANDLER will return it. More about
+case there isn\'t a parent method, PARENT_HANDLER will return it. More about
this later.
.PP
.B "Default return:"
.PP
Some signal and virtual methods have a return type. But what happens if
there is no default handler and no one connects to a signal. GOB2 will
-normally have the wrappers return whatever you specify with onerror or '0'
-if you haven't specified anything. You can also specify a default
-return value with the keyword 'defreturn'. It's use is identical to the
+normally have the wrappers return whatever you specify with onerror or \'0\'
+if you haven\'t specified anything. You can also specify a default
+return value with the keyword \'defreturn\'. It\'s use is identical to the
use of onerror, and you can in fact use both at the same time. Example
.nf
class_init. You define them by just using the init or class_init keyword
with an untyped argument in the argument list. The argument will be
usable in your function as a pointer to your object or class depending if
-it's init or class_init.
+it\'s init or class_init.
For example:
.nf
the method in a derived class, you must then use an override method (more
on those later).
They can be empty
-(if you put ';' instead of the C code). A wrapper will also be defined
+(if you put \';\' instead of the C code). A wrapper will also be defined
which makes calling the methods he same as public methods. This type of
method is just a little bit "slower" then normal functions, but not as
slow as signals. You define them by using "virtual" keyword before the
.fi
.PP
-If you don't want the wrapper that emits the signal to be public, you can
+If you don\'t want the wrapper that emits the signal to be public, you can
include the keyword "private" after the "signal" keyword. This will make
the wrapper a normal private method. You can also make a protected wrapper
by using "protected" instead of "private".
.PP
-If you don't define a "first" or a "last", the default will be taken as
+If you don\'t define a "first" or a "last", the default will be taken as
"last".
.PP
You can also add additional flags. You do this just like with the argument
override method. After the "override" keyword, you should put the
typename of the class you are overriding a method from. Other then that
it is the same as for other methods. The "self" pointer in this case
-should be the type of the method you are overriding so that you don't
+should be the type of the method you are overriding so that you don\'t
get warnings during compilation. Also to call the method of the parent
class, you can use the PARENT_HANDLER macro with your arguments. Example:
.nf
.PP
.B "Method names:"
.PP
-Inside the code, aliases are set for the methods, so that you don't
+Inside the code, aliases are set for the methods, so that you don\'t
have to type the class name before each call, just type \fBself_\fR instead
of the name of the class. So to call a method called \fBblah\fR, you
would use the name \fBself_blah\fR.
GOB_VERSION_MINOR and GOB_VERSION_PATCHLEVEL if you wish to for example
use a feature that is only available in some newer gob version. Note however
that you can only use these defines in the C code portions of your .gob file,
-and #ifdef's cannot span multiple functions. Check the BUGS section
+and #ifdef\'s cannot span multiple functions. Check the BUGS section
for more on using the C preprocessor and gob.
.PP
.B "Minimum version requires:"
.PP
You can also make your .gob file require at least certain version of gob. You
-do this by putting 'requires x.y.z' (where x.y.z is the version number) outside
-of any C block, comment or class, usually you should make this the first line
-in the file or close to the top. If gob finds this and the version of gob used
-to compile the code is lower then that listed in the require, gob will generate
-an error and exit. For example to require that gob2 version 2.0.0 or higher
-be used to compile a file, put this at the top of that file:
+do this by putting \'requires x.y.z\' (where x.y.z is the version number)
+outside of any C block, comment or class, usually you should make this the
+first line in the file or close to the top. If gob finds this and the version
+of gob used to compile the code is lower then that listed in the require, gob
+will generate an error and exit. For example to require that gob2 version
+2.0.0 or higher be used to compile a file, put this at the top of that file:
.nf
requires 2.0.0
You can create new GObject ENUM, FLAGS and GError types for use in your
classes easily. Glib includes some utilities for handling these, however
it may be cleaner to use the below specified way in your classes. It also
-then doesn't require any Makefile setup. Make sure this is defined in the same
-section as the class, that is not in any of the '%?{' '%}' sections.
-.PP
-You use the keywords 'enum' 'flags' and 'error' as you would use the 'class'
-keyword. Then you give a prefix for the values in the enumeration. Then
-you define a list of values just like in C. For 'enum' types you can also
-specify the values assigned to each string. Then you specify the type
-in the standard gob style of specifying types. Here are a few examples
+then doesn\'t require any Makefile setup. Make sure this is defined in the
+same section as the class, that is not in any of the \'%?{\' \'%}\' sections.
+.PP
+You use the keywords \'enum\' \'flags\' and \'error\' as you would use the
+\'class\' keyword. Then you give a prefix for the values in the enumeration.
+Then you define a list of values just like in C. For \'enum\' types you can
+also specify the values assigned to each string. Then you specify the type in
+the standard gob style of specifying types. Here are a few examples
of all of these:
.nf
to use the --for-cpp argument to gob. This will make the generated file have
a .cc instead of a .c extension, and several things will be adjusted to
make it all work for a C++ compiler. One thing that will be missing is an
-alias to the new method, as that clashes with C++, so instead you'll have to
+alias to the new method, as that clashes with C++, so instead you\'ll have to
use the full name of the method inside your code. Also note that gob does
not use any C++ features, this option will just make the generated code
compile with a C++ compiler.
.SH INTERFACES
.PP
Currently gob will only allow you to implement interfaces (that is, define new
-classes which implement an interface) and doesn't yet have support for making
+classes which implement an interface) and doesn\'t yet have support for making
new interfaces, but this will be coming at some point in the future.
.PP
-To define a class that implements an interface add a class flag 'interface'
+To define a class that implements an interface add a class flag \'interface\'
with the type name of the interface as an argument. Then to implement
-a specific method of the interface, just add 'interface <typename>'
+a specific method of the interface, just add \'interface <typename>\'
before the method definition. The method can, and probably should be,
private.
.PP
}
.fi
-Note that the implementation method can be private, in fact that's probably
-a good idea to do. It won't work to make this a signal, it can however
+Note that the implementation method can be private, in fact that\'s probably
+a good idea to do. It won\'t work to make this a signal, it can however
be a virtual. Note that the method prototype must match the one from the
interface header file, or you will get a bad assignment warning. You should
check the header file generated by orbit-idl and see the epv structure
-for the correct prototypes if you can't figure them out from the idl itself.
+for the correct prototypes if you can\'t figure them out from the idl itself.
Also note that the first argument is not "self", but the servant and you must
use bonobo_object_from_servant function to get the actual object pointer.
Gob will need to define some local variables and functions in the generated
files, so you need to take some precaution not to conflict with these. The
general rule of thumb is that all of these start with three underscores. There
-is one, "parent_class" which doesn't because it's intended for use in your
+is one, "parent_class" which doesn\'t because it\'s intended for use in your
code. For virtuals or signals, you cannot use the identifier __parent__
which is used for the parent of the object. You should actually never access
__parent__ either as it not guaranteed that it will stay named this way.
Data members cannot be named __parent__ nor _priv. For methods, you cannot
use the identifiers "init" or "class_init" unless you mean the constructor
-methods. You shouldn't generally use 3 underscores even in override method
+methods. You shouldn\'t generally use 3 underscores even in override method
argument lists and virtual and signal method names as it might confuse the
PARENT_HANDLER macro. In fact avoiding all names with three underscores is
the best policy when working with gob.
.PP
-There are a couple of defines which you shouldn't be redefining in the code
+There are a couple of defines which you shouldn\'t be redefining in the code
or other headers. These are SELF, IS_SELF, SELF_CLASS, SELF_TYPE, ARG, VAR,
PARENT_HANDLER, GET_NEW, GOB_VERSION_MAJOR, GOB_VERSION_MINOR and
GOB_VERSION_PATCHLEVEL.
.SH DEALING WITH CIRCULAR HEADERS
.PP
Sometimes you may need to use an object of type MyObjectA in the MyObjectB
-class and vice versa. Obviously you can't include headers for both. So you
+class and vice versa. Obviously you can\'t include headers for both. So you
need to just declare the typedef in the header of A for B, and the other way
around as well. The headers generated include a protecting
define before it declares the typedef. This define is the
.fi
Now instead of including my-object-a.h in the header section of
-my-object-b.gob, just copy the above code there and you're set for using
+my-object-b.gob, just copy the above code there and you\'re set for using
MyObjectA as a type in the method parameters and public types.
.PP
Another way to get out of this problem is if you can use those types only
-in the private members, in which case they won't be in the generated public
+in the private members, in which case they won\'t be in the generated public
header.
.SH BUILDING WITH MAKE
If you are using normal makefiles, what you need to do is to add a generic
rule for .gob files. So you would include the following in the Makefile
and then just use the .c and .h files as usual (make sure the space
-before the 'gob2' is a tab, not spaces):
+before the \'gob2\' is a tab, not spaces):
.nf
%.c %.h %-private.h: %.gob
.SH M4 SUPPORT
.PP
It is possible to have your .gob file also preprocessed by m4. This is useful
-if you have a lot of files and you'd like to have some preprocessor put in
+if you have a lot of files and you\'d like to have some preprocessor put in
some common features. All you have to do is add --m4 to the command line
of gob2 and gob2 will first run your file through m4. You can print the
directory that is searched for m4 files by running "gob2 --m4-dir"
.SH BUGS
.PP
-The lexer does not actually parse the C code, so I'm sure that some corner
+The lexer does not actually parse the C code, so I\'m sure that some corner
cases or maybe even some not so corner cases of C syntax might confuse gob
-completely. If you find any, send me the source that makes it go gaga and I'll
-try to make the lexer try to handle it properly, but no promises.
+completely. If you find any, send me the source that makes it go gaga and
+I\'ll try to make the lexer try to handle it properly, but no promises.
.PP
Another thing is that gob ignores preprocessor macros. Since gob counts
-braces, the following code won't work:
+braces, the following code won\'t work:
.nf
#ifdef SOME_DEFINE
}
.fi
-To make this work, you'd have to do this:
+To make this work, you\'d have to do this:
.nf
#ifdef SOME_DEFINE
.fi
There is no real good way we can handle this without parsing C code, so we
probably never will. In the future, I might add #if 0 as a comment but
-that's about as far as I can really take it and even that is problematic.
-Basically, if you use gob, just don't use the C preprocessor too extensively.
+that\'s about as far as I can really take it and even that is problematic.
+Basically, if you use gob, just don\'t use the C preprocessor too extensively.
And if you use it make sure that you do not cross the boundaries of the C
code segments.
.PP
.PP
The short name aliases are actually implemented as pointers to functions. Thus
if you want to get the pointer of a function using the short name alias you
-can't use the '&'. Thus:
+can\'t use the \'&\'. Thus:
.nf
void (*foo)(Self *);
.SH AUTHOR
.PP
George Lebl <jirka@5z.com>
+.PP
+GOB2 Homepage: http://www.jirka.org/gob.html