Tcl_CreateChannel(3) Tcl Library Procedures Tcl_CreateChannel(3)______________________________________________________________________________NAME
Tcl_CreateChannel, Tcl_GetChannelInstanceData, Tcl_GetChannelType,
Tcl_GetChannelName, Tcl_GetChannelHandle, Tcl_GetChannelMode,
Tcl_GetChannelBufferSize, Tcl_SetDefaultTranslation, Tcl_SetChannel‐
BufferSize, Tcl_NotifyChannel, Tcl_BadChannelOption - procedures for
creating and manipulating channels
SYNOPSIS
#include <tcl.h>
Tcl_Channel
Tcl_CreateChannel(typePtr, channelName, instanceData, mask)
ClientData
Tcl_GetChannelInstanceData(channel)
Tcl_ChannelType *
Tcl_GetChannelType(channel)
char *
Tcl_GetChannelName(channel)
int │
Tcl_GetChannelHandle(channel, direction, handlePtr) │
int
Tcl_GetChannelFlags(channel)
Tcl_SetDefaultTranslation(channel, transMode)
int
Tcl_GetChannelBufferSize(channel)
Tcl_SetChannelBufferSize(channel, size)
Tcl_NotifyChannel(channel, mask) │
int │
Tcl_BadChannelOption(interp, optionName, optionList) │
ARGUMENTS
Tcl_ChannelType *typePtr (in) Points to a structure
containing the addresses
of procedures that can be
called to perform I/O and
other functions on the
channel.
char *channelName (in) The name of this channel,
such as file3; must not
be in use by any other
channel. Can be NULL, in
which case the channel is
created without a name.
ClientData instanceData (in) Arbitrary one-word value
to be associated with
this channel. This value
is passed to procedures
in typePtr when they are
invoked.
int mask (in) OR-ed combination of
TCL_READABLE and
TCL_WRITABLE to indicate
whether a channel is
readable and writable.
Tcl_Channel channel (in) The channel to operate
on. │
int direction (in) │
TCL_READABLE means the │
input handle is wanted; │
TCL_WRITABLE means the │
output handle is wanted. │
ClientData *handlePtr (out) │
Points to the location │
where the desired OS-spe‐ │
cific handle should be │
stored.
Tcl_EolTranslation transMode (in) The translation mode; one
of the constants
TCL_TRANSLATE_AUTO,
TCL_TRANSLATE_CR,
TCL_TRANSLATE_LF and
TCL_TRANSLATE_CRLF.
int size (in) The size, in bytes, of
buffers to allocate in
this channel. │
int mask (in) │
An OR-ed combination of │
TCL_READABLE, │
TCL_WRITABLE and │
TCL_EXCEPTION that indi‐ │
cates events that have │
occurred on this channel. │
Tcl_Interp *interp (in) │
Current interpreter. (can │
be NULL) │
char *optionName (in) │
Name of the invalid │
option. │
char *optionList (in) │
Specific options list │
(space separated words, │
without "-") to append to │
the standard generic │
options list. Can be │
NULL for generic options │
error message only.
_________________________________________________________________DESCRIPTION
Tcl uses a two-layered channel architecture. It provides a generic
upper layer to enable C and Tcl programs to perform input and output
using the same APIs for a variety of files, devices, sockets etc. The
generic C APIs are described in the manual entry for Tcl_OpenFileChan‐
nel.
The lower layer provides type-specific channel drivers for each type of
device supported on each platform. This manual entry describes the C
APIs used to communicate between the generic layer and the type-spe‐
cific channel drivers. It also explains how new types of channels can
be added by providing new channel drivers.
Channel drivers consist of a number of components: First, each channel
driver provides a Tcl_ChannelType structure containing pointers to
functions implementing the various operations used by the generic layer
to communicate with the channel driver. The Tcl_ChannelType structure
and the functions referenced by it are described in the section
TCL_CHANNELTYPE, below.
Second, channel drivers usually provide a Tcl command to create
instances of that type of channel. For example, the Tcl open command
creates channels that use the file and command channel drivers, and the
Tcl socket command creates channels that use TCP sockets for network
communication.
Third, a channel driver optionally provides a C function to open chan‐
nel instances of that type. For example, Tcl_OpenFileChannel opens a
channel that uses the file channel driver, and Tcl_OpenTcpClient opens
a channel that uses the TCP network protocol. These creation functions
typically use Tcl_CreateChannel internally to open the channel.
To add a new type of channel you must implement a C API or a Tcl com‐
mand that opens a channel by invoking Tcl_CreateChannel. When your
driver calls Tcl_CreateChannel it passes in a Tcl_ChannelType structure
describing the driver's I/O procedures. The generic layer will then
invoke the functions referenced in that structure to perform operations
on the channel.
Tcl_CreateChannel opens a new channel and associates the supplied type‐
Ptr and instanceData with it. The channel is opened in the mode indi‐
cated by mask. For a discussion of channel drivers, their operations
and the Tcl_ChannelType structure, see the section TCL_CHANNELTYPE,
below.
Tcl_GetChannelInstanceData returns the instance data associated with
the channel in channel. This is the same as the instanceData argument
in the call to Tcl_CreateChannel that created this channel.
Tcl_GetChannelType returns a pointer to the Tcl_ChannelType structure
used by the channel in the channel argument. This is the same as the
typePtr argument in the call to Tcl_CreateChannel that created this
channel.
Tcl_GetChannelName returns a string containing the name associated with
the channel, or NULL if the channelName argument to Tcl_CreateChannel
was NULL.
Tcl_GetChannelHandle places the OS-specific device handle associated │
with channel for the given direction in the location specified by han‐ │
dlePtr and returns TCL_OK. If the channel does not have a device han‐ │
dle for the specified direction, then TCL_ERROR is returned instead. │
Different channel drivers will return different types of handle. Refer │
to the manual entries for each driver to determine what type of handle │
is returned.
Tcl_GetChannelMode returns an OR-ed combination of TCL_READABLE and
TCL_WRITABLE, indicating whether the channel is open for input and out‐
put.
Tcl_SetDefaultTranslation sets the default end of line translation
mode. This mode will be installed as the translation mode for the chan‐
nel if an attempt is made to output on the channel while it is still in
TCL_TRANSLATE_AUTO mode. For a description of end of line translation
modes, see the manual entry for fconfigure.
Tcl_GetChannelBufferSize returns the size, in bytes, of buffers allo‐
cated to store input or output in chan. If the value was not set by a
previous call to Tcl_SetChannelBufferSize, described below, then the
default value of 4096 is returned.
Tcl_SetChannelBufferSize sets the size, in bytes, of buffers that will
be allocated in subsequent operations on the channel to store input or
output. The size argument should be between ten and one million, allow‐
ing buffers of ten bytes to one million bytes. If size is outside this
range, Tcl_SetChannelBufferSize sets the buffer size to 4096.
Tcl_NotifyChannel is called by a channel driver to indicate to the │
generic layer that the events specified by mask have occurred on the │
channel. Channel drivers are responsible for invoking this function │
whenever the channel handlers need to be called for the channel. See │
WATCHPROC below for more details.
Tcl_BadChannelOption is called from driver specific set or get option │
procs to generate a complete error message.
TCL_CHANNELTYPE
A channel driver provides a Tcl_ChannelType structure that contains
pointers to functions that implement the various operations on a chan‐
nel; these operations are invoked as needed by the generic layer. The
Tcl_ChannelType structure contains the following fields:
typedef struct Tcl_ChannelType { │
char *typeName; │
Tcl_DriverBlockModeProc *blockModeProc; │
Tcl_DriverCloseProc *closeProc; │
Tcl_DriverInputProc *inputProc; │
Tcl_DriverOutputProc *outputProc; │
Tcl_DriverSeekProc *seekProc; │
Tcl_DriverSetOptionProc *setOptionProc; │
Tcl_DriverGetOptionProc *getOptionProc; │
Tcl_DriverWatchProc *watchProc; │
Tcl_DriverGetHandleProc *getHandleProc; │
} Tcl_ChannelType; │
The driver must provide implementations for all functions except block‐
ModeProc, seekProc, setOptionProc, and getOptionProc, which may be
specified as NULL to indicate that the channel does not support seek‐
ing. Other functions that can not be implemented for this type of
device should return EINVAL when invoked to indicate that they are not
implemented.
TYPENAME
The typeName field contains a null-terminated string that identifies
the type of the device implemented by this driver, e.g. file or
socket.
BLOCKMODEPROC
The blockModeProc field contains the address of a function called by
the generic layer to set blocking and nonblocking mode on the device.
BlockModeProc should match the following prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverBlockModeProc(
ClientData instanceData,
int mode);
The instanceData is the same as the value passed to Tcl_CreateChannel
when this channel was created. The mode argument is either
TCL_MODE_BLOCKING or TCL_MODE_NONBLOCKING to set the device into block‐
ing or nonblocking mode. The function should return zero if the opera‐
tion was successful, or a nonzero POSIX error code if the operation
failed.
If the operation is successful, the function can modify the supplied
instanceData to record that the channel entered blocking or nonblocking
mode and to implement the blocking or nonblocking behavior. For some
device types, the blocking and nonblocking behavior can be implemented
by the underlying operating system; for other device types, the behav‐
ior must be emulated in the channel driver.
CLOSEPROC
The closeProc field contains the address of a function called by the
generic layer to clean up driver-related information when the channel
is closed. CloseProc must match the following prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverCloseProc(
ClientData instanceData,
Tcl_Interp *interp);
The instanceData argument is the same as the value provided to Tcl_Cre‐
ateChannel when the channel was created. The function should release
any storage maintained by the channel driver for this channel, and
close the input and output devices encapsulated by this channel. All
queued output will have been flushed to the device before this function
is called, and no further driver operations will be invoked on this
instance after calling the closeProc. If the close operation is suc‐
cessful, the procedure should return zero; otherwise it should return a
nonzero POSIX error code. In addition, if an error occurs and interp is
not NULL, the procedure should store an error message in
interp->result.
INPUTPROC
The inputProc field contains the address of a function called by the
generic layer to read data from the file or device and store it in an
internal buffer. InputProc must match the following prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverInputProc(
ClientData instanceData,
char *buf,
int bufSize,
int *errorCodePtr);
InstanceData is the same as the value passed to Tcl_CreateChannel when
the channel was created. The buf argument points to an array of bytes
in which to store input from the device, and the bufSize argument indi‐
cates how many bytes are available at buf.
The errorCodePtr argument points to an integer variable provided by the
generic layer. If an error occurs, the function should set the variable
to a POSIX error code that identifies the error that occurred.
The function should read data from the input device encapsulated by the
channel and store it at buf. On success, the function should return a
nonnegative integer indicating how many bytes were read from the input
device and stored at buf. On error, the function should return -1. If
an error occurs after some data has been read from the device, that
data is lost.
If inputProc can determine that the input device has some data avail‐
able but less than requested by the bufSize argument, the function
should only attempt to read as much data as is available and return
without blocking. If the input device has no data available whatsoever
and the channel is in nonblocking mode, the function should return an
EAGAIN error. If the input device has no data available whatsoever and
the channel is in blocking mode, the function should block for the
shortest possible time until at least one byte of data can be read from
the device; then, it should return as much data as it can read without
blocking.
OUTPUTPROC
The outputProc field contains the address of a function called by the
generic layer to transfer data from an internal buffer to the output
device. OutputProc must match the following prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverOutputProc(
ClientData instanceData,
char *buf,
int toWrite,
int *errorCodePtr);
InstanceData is the same as the value passed to Tcl_CreateChannel when
the channel was created. The buf argument contains an array of bytes to
be written to the device, and the toWrite argument indicates how many
bytes are to be written from the buf argument.
The errorCodePtr argument points to an integer variable provided by the
generic layer. If an error occurs, the function should set this vari‐
able to a POSIX error code that identifies the error.
The function should write the data at buf to the output device encapsu‐
lated by the channel. On success, the function should return a nonnega‐
tive integer indicating how many bytes were written to the output
device. The return value is normally the same as toWrite, but may be
less in some cases such as if the output operation is interrupted by a
signal. If an error occurs the function should return -1. In case of
error, some data may have been written to the device.
If the channel is nonblocking and the output device is unable to absorb
any data whatsoever, the function should return -1 with an EAGAIN error
without writing any data.
SEEKPROC
The seekProc field contains the address of a function called by the
generic layer to move the access point at which subsequent input or
output operations will be applied. SeekProc must match the following
prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverSeekProc(
ClientData instanceData,
long offset,
int seekMode,
int *errorCodePtr);
The instanceData argument is the same as the value given to Tcl_Create‐
Channel when this channel was created. Offset and seekMode have the
same meaning as for the Tcl_SeekChannel procedure (described in the
manual entry for Tcl_OpenFileChannel).
The errorCodePtr argument points to an integer variable provided by the
generic layer for returning errno values from the function. The func‐
tion should set this variable to a POSIX error code if an error occurs.
The function should store an EINVAL error code if the channel type does
not implement seeking.
The return value is the new access point or -1 in case of error. If an
error occurred, the function should not move the access point.
SETOPTIONPROC
The setOptionProc field contains the address of a function called by
the generic layer to set a channel type specific option on a channel.
setOptionProc must match the following prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverSetOptionProc(
ClientData instanceData,
Tcl_Interp *interp,
char *optionName,
char *optionValue);
optionName is the name of an option to set, and optionValue is the new
value for that option, as a string. The instanceData is the same as the
value given to Tcl_CreateChannel when this channel was created. The
function should do whatever channel type specific action is required to
implement the new value of the option.
Some options are handled by the generic code and this function is never
called to set them, e.g. -blockmode. Other options are specific to each
channel type and the setOptionProc procedure of the channel driver will
get called to implement them. The setOptionProc field can be NULL,
which indicates that this channel type supports no type specific
options.
If the option value is successfully modified to the new value, the
function returns TCL_OK. It should call Tcl_BadChannelOption which │
itself returns TCL_ERROR if the optionName is unrecognized. If option‐
Value specifies a value for the option that is not supported or if a
system call error occurs, the function should leave an error message in
the result field of interp if interp is not NULL. The function should
also call Tcl_SetErrno to store an appropriate POSIX error code.
GETOPTIONPROC
The getOptionProc field contains the address of a function called by
the generic layer to get the value of a channel type specific option on
a channel. getOptionProc must match the following prototype:
typedef int Tcl_DriverGetOptionProc(
ClientData instanceData,
Tcl_Interp *interp, │
char *optionName,
Tcl_DString *dsPtr);
OptionName is the name of an option supported by this type of channel.
If the option name is not NULL, the function stores its current value,
as a string, in the Tcl dynamic string dsPtr. If optionName is NULL,
the function stores in dsPtr an alternating list of all supported
options and their current values. On success, the function returns
TCL_OK. It should call Tcl_BadChannelOption which itself returns │
TCL_ERROR if the optionName is unrecognized. If a system call error │
occurs, the function should leave an error message in the result field │
of interp if interp is not NULL. The function should also call │
Tcl_SetErrno to store an appropriate POSIX error code.
Some options are handled by the generic code and this function is never
called to retrieve their value, e.g. -blockmode. Other options are spe‐
cific to each channel type and the getOptionProc procedure of the chan‐
nel driver will get called to implement them. The getOptionProc field
can be NULL, which indicates that this channel type supports no type
specific options.
WATCHPROC
The watchProc field contains the address of a function called by the │
generic layer to initialize the event notification mechanism to notice │
events of interest on this channel. WatchProc should match the follow‐ │
ing prototype: │
typedef void Tcl_DriverWatchProc( │
ClientData instanceData, │
int mask); │
The instanceData is the same as the value passed to Tcl_CreateChannel
when this channel was created. The mask argument is an OR-ed combina‐
tion of TCL_READABLE, TCL_WRITABLE and TCL_EXCEPTION; it indicates
events the caller is interested in noticing on this channel.
The function should initialize device type specific mechanisms to │
notice when an event of interest is present on the channel. When one │
or more of the designated events occurs on the channel, the channel │
driver is responsible for calling Tcl_NotifyChannel to inform the │
generic channel module. The driver should take care not to starve │
other channel drivers or sources of callbacks by invoking Tcl_Notify‐ │
Channel too frequently. Fairness can be insured by using the Tcl event │
queue to allow the channel event to be scheduled in sequence with other │
events. See the description of Tcl_QueueEvent for details on how to │
queue an event. │
GETHANDLEPROC │
The getHandleProc field contains the address of a function called by │
the generic layer to retrieve a device-specific handle from the chan‐ │
nel. GetHandleProc should match the following prototype: │
typedef int Tcl_DriverGetHandleProc( │
ClientData instanceData, │
int direction, │
ClientData *handlePtr); │
InstanceData is the same as the value passed to Tcl_CreateChannel when │
this channel was created. The direction argument is either TCL_READABLE │
to retrieve the handle used for input, or TCL_WRITABLE to retrieve the │
handle used for output. │
If the channel implementation has device-specific handles, the function │
should retrieve the appropriate handle associated with the channel, │
according the direction argument. The handle should be stored in the │
location referred to by handlePtr, and TCL_OK should be returned. If │
the channel is not open for the specified direction, or if the channel │
implementation does not use device handles, the function should return │
TCL_ERROR.
TCL_BADCHANNELOPTION │
This procedure generates a "bad option" error message in an (optional) │
interpreter. It is used by channel drivers when a invalid Set/Get │
option is requested. Its purpose is to concatenate the generic options │
list to the specific ones and factorize the generic options error mes‐ │
sage string. │
It always return TCL_ERROR │
An error message is generated in interp's result object to indicate │
that a command was invoked with the a bad option The message has the │
form │
bad option "blah": should be one of │
<...generic options...>+<...specific options...> │
so you get for instance: │
bad option "-blah": should be one of -blocking, │
-buffering, -buffersize, -eofchar, -translation, │
-peername, or -sockname │
when called with optionList="peername sockname" │
"blah" is the optionName argument and "<specific options>" is a space │
separated list of specific option words. The function takes good care │
of inserting minus signs before each option, commas after, and an "or" │
before the last option.
SEE ALSOTcl_Close(3), Tcl_OpenFileChannel(3), Tcl_SetErrno(3),
Tcl_QueueEvent(3)KEYWORDS
blocking, channel driver, channel registration, channel type, nonblock‐
ing
Tcl 8.0 Tcl_CreateChannel(3)