161 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
161 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
'\"
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'\" Copyright (c) 2008 Donal K. Fellows
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'\"
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'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
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'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
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'\"
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.TH transchan n 8.6 Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands"
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.so man.macros
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.BS
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'\" Note: do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
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.SH NAME
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transchan \- command handler API of channel transforms
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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\fBcmdPrefix \fIoption\fR ?\fIarg arg ...\fR?
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.BE
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.PP
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The Tcl-level handler for a channel transformation has to be a command with
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subcommands (termed an \fIensemble\fR despite not implying that it must be
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created with \fBnamespace ensemble create\fR; this mechanism is not tied to
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\fBnamespace ensemble\fR in any way). Note that \fIcmdPrefix\fR is whatever
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was specified in the call to \fBchan push\fR, and may consist of multiple
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arguments; this will be expanded to multiple words in place of the prefix.
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.PP
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Of all the possible subcommands, the handler \fImust\fR support
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\fBinitialize\fR and \fBfinalize\fR. Transformations for writable channels
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must also support \fBwrite\fR, and transformations for readable channels must
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also support \fBread\fR.
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.PP
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Note that in the descriptions below \fIcmdPrefix\fR may be more than one word,
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and \fIhandle\fR is the value returned by the \fBchan push\fR call used to
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create the transformation.
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.SS "GENERIC SUBCOMMANDS"
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.PP
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The following subcommands are relevant to all types of channel.
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBclear \fIhandle\fR
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.
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This optional subcommand is called to signify to the transformation that any
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data stored in internal buffers (either incoming or outgoing) must be
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cleared. It is called when a \fBchan seek\fR is performed on the channel being
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transformed.
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBfinalize \fIhandle\fR
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.
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This mandatory subcommand is called last for the given \fIhandle\fR, and then
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never again, and it exists to allow for cleaning up any Tcl-level data
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structures associated with the transformation. \fIWarning!\fR Any errors
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thrown by this subcommand will be ignored. It is not guaranteed to be called
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if the interpreter is deleted.
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBinitialize \fIhandle mode\fR
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.
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This mandatory subcommand is called first, and then never again (for the given
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\fIhandle\fR). Its responsibility is to initialize all parts of the
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transformation at the Tcl level. The \fImode\fR is a list containing any of
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\fBread \fRand \fBwrite\fR.
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.RS
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.TP
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\fBwrite\fR
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.
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implies that the channel is writable.
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.TP
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\fBread\fR
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.
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implies that the channel is readable.
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.PP
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The return value of the subcommand should be a list containing the names of
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all subcommands supported by this handler. Any error thrown by the subcommand
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will prevent the creation of the transformation. The thrown error will appear
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as error thrown by \fBchan push\fR.
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.RE
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.SS "READ-RELATED SUBCOMMANDS"
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.PP
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These subcommands are used for handling transformations applied to readable
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channels; though strictly \fBread \fRis optional, it must be supported if any
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of the others is or the channel will be made non-readable.
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBdrain \fIhandle\fR
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.
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This optional subcommand is called whenever data in the transformation input
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(i.e. read) buffer has to be forced upward, i.e. towards the user or script.
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The result returned by the method is taken as the \fIbinary\fR data to push
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upward to the level above this transformation (the reader or a higher-level
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transformation).
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.RS
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.PP
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In other words, when this method is called the transformation cannot defer the
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actual transformation operation anymore and has to transform all data waiting
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in its internal read buffers and return the result of that action.
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.RE
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBlimit? \fIhandle\fR
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.
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This optional subcommand is called to allow the Tcl I/O engine to determine
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how far ahead it should read. If present, it should return an integer number
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greater than zero which indicates how many bytes ahead should be read, or an
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integer less than zero to indicate that the I/O engine may read as far ahead
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as it likes.
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBread \fIhandle buffer\fR
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.
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This subcommand, which must be present if the transformation is to work with
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readable channels, is called whenever the base channel, or a transformation
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below this transformation, pushes data upward. The \fIbuffer\fR contains the
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binary data which has been given to us from below. It is the responsibility of
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this subcommand to actually transform the data. The result returned by the
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subcommand is taken as the binary data to push further upward to the
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transformation above this transformation. This can also be the user or script
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that originally read from the channel.
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.RS
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.PP
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Note that the result is allowed to be empty, or even less than the data we
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received; the transformation is not required to transform everything given to
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it right now. It is allowed to store incoming data in internal buffers and to
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defer the actual transformation until it has more data.
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.RE
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.SS "WRITE-RELATED SUBCOMMANDS"
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.PP
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These subcommands are used for handling transformations applied to writable
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channels; though strictly \fBwrite\fR is optional, it must be supported if any
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of the others is or the channel will be made non-writable.
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBflush \fIhandle\fR
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.
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This optional subcommand is called whenever data in the transformation 'write'
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buffer has to be forced downward, i.e. towards the base channel. The result
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returned by the subcommand is taken as the binary data to write to the
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transformation below the current transformation. This can be the base channel
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as well.
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.RS
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.PP
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In other words, when this subcommand is called the transformation cannot defer
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the actual transformation operation anymore and has to transform all data
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waiting in its internal write buffers and return the result of that action.
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.RE
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.TP
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\fIcmdPrefix \fBwrite \fIhandle buffer\fR
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.
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This subcommand, which must be present if the transformation is to work with
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writable channels, is called whenever the user, or a transformation above this
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transformation, writes data downward. The \fIbuffer\fR contains the binary
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data which has been written to us. It is the responsibility of this subcommand
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to actually transform the data.
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.RS
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.PP
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The result returned by the subcommand is taken as the binary data to write to
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the transformation below this transformation. This can be the base channel as
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well. Note that the result is allowed to be empty, or less than the data we
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got; the transformation is not required to transform everything which was
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written to it right now. It is allowed to store this data in internal buffers
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and to defer the actual transformation until it has more data.
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.RE
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.SH "SEE ALSO"
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chan(n), refchan(n)
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.SH KEYWORDS
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API, channel, ensemble, prefix, transformation
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'\" Local Variables:
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'\" mode: nroff
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'\" End:
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