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<div class="sect1" lang="en">
<div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">
<a name="gtype-conventions"></a>Conventions</h2></div></div></div>
<p>
There are a number of conventions users are expected to follow when creating new types
which are to be exported in a header file:
</p>
<div class="itemizedlist"><ul type="disc">
<li><p>
Use the <code class="function">object_method</code> pattern for function names: to invoke
the method named foo on an instance of object type bar, call
<code class="function">bar_foo</code>.
</p></li>
<li><p>Use prefixing to avoid namespace conflicts with other projects.
If your library (or application) is named <span class="emphasis"><em>Maman</em></span>,
prefix all your function names with <span class="emphasis"><em>maman_</em></span>.
For example: <code class="function">maman_object_method</code>.
</p></li>
<li><p>Create a macro named <code class="function">PREFIX_OBJECT_TYPE</code> which always
returns the Gtype for the associated object type. For an object of type
<span class="emphasis"><em>Bar</em></span> in a libray prefixed by <span class="emphasis"><em>maman</em></span>,
use: <code class="function">MAMAN_BAR_TYPE</code>.
It is common although not a convention to implement this macro using either a global
static variable or a function named <code class="function">prefix_object_get_type</code>.
We will follow the function pattern wherever possible in this document.
</p></li>
<li><p>Create a macro named <code class="function">PREFIX_OBJECT (obj)</code> which
returns a pointer of type <span class="type">PrefixObject</span>. This macro is used to enforce
static type safety by doing explicit casts wherever needed. It also enforces
dynamic type safety by doing runtime checks. It is possible to disable the dynamic
type checks in production builds (see <a
href="../glib/glib-building.html"
>building glib</a>).
For example, we would create
<code class="function">MAMAN_BAR (obj)</code> to keep the previous example.
</p></li>
<li><p>If the type is classed, create a macro named
<code class="function">PREFIX_OBJECT_CLASS (klass)</code>. This macro
is strictly equivalent to the previous casting macro: it does static casting with
dynamic type checking of class structures. It is expected to return a pointer
to a class structure of type <span class="type">PrefixObjectClass</span>. Again, an example is:
<code class="function">MAMAN_BAR_CLASS</code>.
</p></li>
<li><p>Create a macro named <code class="function">PREFIX_IS_BAR (obj)</code>: this macro is expected
to return a <span class="type">gboolean</span> which indicates whether or not the input
object instance pointer of type BAR.
</p></li>
<li><p>If the type is classed, create a macro named
<code class="function">PREFIX_IS_OBJECT_CLASS (klass)</code> which, as above, returns a boolean
if the input class pointer is a pointer to a class of type OBJECT.
</p></li>
<li><p>If the type is classed, create a macro named
<code class="function">PREFIX_OBJECT_GET_CLASS (obj)</code>
which returns the class pointer associated to an instance of a given type. This macro
is used for static and dynamic type safety purposes (just like the previous casting
macros).
</p></li>
</ul></div>
<p>
The implementation of these macros is pretty straightforward: a number of simple-to-use
macros are provided in <code class="filename">gtype.h</code>. For the example we used above, we would
write the following trivial code to declare the macros:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">
#define MAMAN_BAR_TYPE (maman_bar_get_type ())
#define MAMAN_BAR(obj) (G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE_CAST ((obj), MAMAN_BAR_TYPE, MamanBar))
#define MAMAN_BAR_CLASS(klass) (G_TYPE_CHECK_CLASS_CAST ((klass), MAMAN_BAR_TYPE, MamanBarClass))
#define MAMAN_IS_BAR(obj) (G_TYPE_CHECK_INSTANCE_TYPE ((obj), MAMAN_BAR_TYPE))
#define MAMAN_IS_BAR_CLASS(klass) (G_TYPE_CHECK_CLASS_TYPE ((klass), MAMAN_BAR_TYPE))
#define MAMAN_BAR_GET_CLASS(obj) (G_TYPE_INSTANCE_GET_CLASS ((obj), MAMAN_BAR_TYPE, MamanBarClass))
</pre>
<p>
</p>
<div class="note" style="margin-left: 0.5in; margin-right: 0.5in;">
<h3 class="title">Note</h3>
<p>Stick to the naming <code class="varname">klass</code> as <code class="varname">class</code> is a registered c++ keyword.</p>
</div>
<p>
</p>
<p>
The following code shows how to implement the <code class="function">maman_bar_get_type</code>
function:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">
GType maman_bar_get_type (void)
{
static GType type = 0;
if (type == 0) {
static const GTypeInfo info = {
/* You fill this structure. */
};
type = g_type_register_static (G_TYPE_OBJECT,
"MamanBarType",
&info, 0);
}
return type;
}
</pre>
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