Release 0.91.0

[gob-dx.git] / doc / gob.1.in

diff --git a/doc/gob.1.in b/doc/gob.1.in
index 7691736c75a578f90001a4a9dc8d696766020d83..f18490dd83ef30a14c821685804719784ee8275e 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/gob.1.in
+++ b/doc/gob.1.in
@@ -45,19 +45,26 @@ so it is not enabled by default.
 
 .SH TYPENAMES
 .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 (which can be empty) is the "namespace".  This
-fact is for example used for the type checking macro.  For "Gtk:New:Button",
-the macro will be GTK_IS_NEW_BUTTON.  This format of typenames is used in
-the class declaration header and for method argument types.
+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
+(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
+typenames is used in the class declaration header and for method argument
+types.
 
-.SH OUTPUT FILE NAMES
+.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
 "Gtk:New:Button", the files are gtk-new-button.c and gtk-new-button.h.
+The header file is created to be human readable and to be used as a
+reference to the object.  The .c source file is not created as a human
+readable source and is littered with #line statements, which make the
+compiler attempt to point you to the right line in your .gob file in
+case of parsing errors.  The output should not be editted by hand, and
+you should only edit the .gob file.
 
 .SH INCLUDING NORMAL C CODE IN THE OUTPUT FILES
 .PP
@@ -82,6 +89,14 @@ For example:
 
 .fi
 
+.SH INCLUDE FILES
+.PP
+Gob will automatically include the class header file at the top of the .c 
+source file.  If you wish to include it somewhere else, put the include
+into some %{ %} section above the class definition, and gob will not include
+it automatically.  This way you can avoid circular includes and control
+where in the file do you want to include the header.
+
 .SH MAKING A NEW CLASS
 .PP
 The class header:
@@ -114,9 +129,25 @@ identifier allowed per typename unlike in normal C.  Example:
 
 .fi
 .PP
-The private members are not currently protected from outside use,
-they are just marked by a comment in the header file, this will most likely
-be somehow solved in some future version.
+Public datamembers are accessed normally as members of the object struct.
+Example where 'i' is as above a public data member:
+.nf
+
+  object->i = 1;
+
+.fi
+.PP
+The private data members are defined in a structure which is only available
+inside the .c file.  You must access them using the structure _priv.  Example
+where 'h' is the private data member (as in the above example):
+.nf
+
+  object->_priv->h = NULL;
+
+.fi
+Note that the _priv structure is only accessible to C code blocks below or
+inside the class definition in the .gob file.  If you use it above, you will
+get a 'dereferencing incomplete pointer type' error from the C compiler.
 .PP
 The third type is an argument type.  It is a named datamember which
 is one of the features of the GTK+ object system.  You need to define a get
@@ -259,14 +290,17 @@ 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
-get warnings during compilation.  Example:
+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
 
   override (Gtk:Container) void
   add (Gtk:Container *self (check null type), Gtk:Widget *wid (check null type))
   {
-         ...
+          /* some code here */
+          PARENT_HANDLER(self, wid);
   }
+
 .fi
 .PP
 Calling methods:
@@ -297,7 +331,7 @@ this method, you can use the GET_NEW macro that is defined for you and that
 will fetch a new object, so a fairly standard new method would look like:
 .nf
 
-  public GtkWidget *
+  public GtkObject *
   new(void) {
          GtkObject *ret;
          ret = GTK_OBJECT (GET_NEW);
@@ -319,10 +353,6 @@ compile with a C++ compiler.
 
 .SH BUGS
 .PP
-The generated header file is included as the first file in the .c file, no
-matter what. This means that you will have to put things that need to be
-included before that, into an %h{ } section.
-.PP
 Also 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