Two types of functions can be included in the class definition. "Methods" are functions which operate on a specific object, and therefore have access to both "variables" and "common" data members. "Procs" are ordinary procedures in the class namespace, and only have access to "common" data members.
If the body of any method or proc starts with "@", it is treated as the symbolic name for a C procedure. Otherwise, it is treated as a Tcl code script. See below for details on registering and using C procedures.
A class can only be defined once, although the bodies of class methods and procs can be defined again and again for interactive debugging. See the body and configbody commands for details.
Each namespace can have its own collection of objects and classes. The list of classes available in the current context can be queried using the "itcl::find classes" command, and the list of objects, with the "itcl::find objects" command.
A class can be deleted using the "delete class" command. Individual objects can be deleted using the "delete object" command.
The class definition is evaluated as a series of Tcl statements that define elements within the class. The following class definition commands are recognized:
The order of baseClass names in the inherit list affects the name resolution for class members. When the same member name appears in two or more base classes, the base class that appears first in the inherit list takes precedence. For example, if classes "Foo" and "Bar" both contain the member "x", and if another class has the "inherit" statement:
inherit Foo Bar
then the name "x" means "Foo::x". Other inherited members named "x" must be referenced with their explicit name, like "Bar::x".
Before the body is executed, the optional init statement is used to invoke any base class constructors that require arguments. Variables in the args specification can be accessed in the init code fragment, and passed to base class constructors. After evaluating the init statement, any base class constructors that have not been executed are invoked automatically without arguments. This ensures that all base classes are fully constructed before the constructor body is executed. By default, this scheme causes constructors to be invoked in order from least- to most-specific. This is exactly the opposite of the order that classes are reported by the info heritage command.
If construction is successful, the constructor always returns the object name-regardless of how the body is defined-and the object name becomes a command in the current namespace context. If construction fails, an error message is returned.
When an object is destroyed, all destructors in its class hierarchy are invoked in order from most- to least-specific. This is the order that the classes are reported by the "info heritage" command, and it is exactly the opposite of the default constructor order.
If the args list is specified, it establishes the usage information for this method. The body command can be used to redefine the method body, but the args list must match this specification.
Within the body of another class method, a method can be invoked like any other command-simply by using its name. Outside of the class context, the method name must be prefaced an object name, which provides the context for the data that it manipulates. Methods in a base class that are redefined in the current class, or hidden by another base class, can be qualified using the "className::method" syntax.
If the args list is specified, it establishes the usage information for this proc. The body command can be used to redefine the proc body, but the args list must match this specification.
Within the body of another class method or proc, a proc can be invoked like any other command-simply by using its name. In any other namespace context, the proc is invoked using a qualified name like "className::proc". Procs in a base class that are redefined in the current class, or hidden by another base class, can also be accessed via their qualified name.
If the optional init string is specified, it is used as the initial value of the variable when a new object is created. Initialization forces the variable to be a simple scalar value; uninitialized variables, on the other hand, can be set within the constructor and used as arrays.
The optional config script is only allowed for public variables. If specified, this code fragment is executed whenever a public variable is modified by the built-in "configure" method. The config script can also be specified outside of the class definition using the configbody command.
If the optional init string is specified, it is used as the initial value of the variable. Initialization forces the variable to be a simple scalar value; uninitialized variables, on the other hand, can be set with subsequent set and array commands and used as arrays.
Once a common data member has been defined, it can be set using set and array commands within the class definition. This allows common data members to be initialized as arrays. For example:
itcl::class Foo {
common boolean
set boolean(true) 1
set boolean(false) 0
}
Note that if common data members are initialized within the constructor, they get initialized again and again whenever new objects are created.
If objName contains the string "#auto", that string is replaced with an automatically generated name. Names have the form className<number>, where the className part is modified to start with a lowercase letter. In class "Toaster", for example, the "#auto" specification would produce names like toaster0, toaster1, etc. Note that "#auto" can be also be buried within an object name:
fileselectiondialog .foo.bar.#auto -background red
This would generate an object named ".foo.bar.fileselectiondialog0".
If a single option of the form "-varName" is specified, then this method returns the information for that one variable.
Otherwise, the arguments are treated as option/value pairs assigning new values to public variables. Each variable is assigned its new value, and if it has any "config" code associated with it, it is executed in the context of the class where it was defined. If the "config" code generates an error, the variable is set back to its previous value, and the configure method returns an error.
itcl::class Toaster {
variable crumbs 0
method toast {nslices} {
if {$crumbs > 50} {
error "== FIRE! FIRE! =="
}
set crumbs [expr {$crumbs+4*$nslices}]
}
method clean {} {
set crumbs 0
}
}
We might create another class like SmartToaster that redefines the "toast" method. If we want to access the base class method, we can qualify it with the base class name, to avoid ambiguity:
itcl::class SmartToaster {
inherit Toaster
method toast {nslices} {
if {$crumbs > 40} {
clean
}
return [Toaster::toast $nslices]
}
}
Instead of hard-coding the base class name, we can use the "chain" command like this:
itcl::class SmartToaster {
inherit Toaster
method toast {nslices} {
if {$crumbs > 40} {
clean
}
return [chain $nslices]
}
}
The chain command searches through the class hierarchy for a slightly more generic (base class) implementation of a method or proc, and invokes it with the specified arguments. It starts at the current class context and searches through base classes in the order that they are reported by the "info heritage" command. If another implementation is not found, this command does nothing and returns the null string.
For example, suppose a directory contains the definitions for classes "Toaster" and "SmartToaster". Then the "tclIndex" file for this directory would look like:
# Tcl autoload index file, version 2.0 for [incr Tcl] # This file is generated by the "auto_mkindex" command # and sourced to set up indexing information for one or # more commands. Typically each line is a command that # sets an element in the auto_index array, where the # element name is the name of a command and the value is # a script that loads the command. set auto_index(::Toaster) "source $dir/Toaster.itcl" set auto_index(::SmartToaster) "source $dir/SmartToaster.itcl"
The auto_mkindex command is used to automatically generate "tclIndex" files.
The auto-loader must be made aware of this directory by appending the directory name to the "auto_path" variable. When this is in place, classes will be auto-loaded as needed when used in an application.
Symbolic names are established by registering procedures via Itcl_RegisterC(). This is usually done in the Tcl_AppInit() procedure, which is automatically called when the interpreter starts up. In the following example, the procedure My_FooCmd() is registered with the symbolic name "foo". This procedure can be referenced in the body command as "@foo".
int
Tcl_AppInit(interp)
Tcl_Interp *interp; /* Interpreter for application. */
{
if (Itcl_Init(interp) == TCL_ERROR) {
return TCL_ERROR;
}
if (Itcl_RegisterC(interp, "foo", My_FooCmd) != TCL_OK) {
return TCL_ERROR;
}
}
C procedures are implemented just like ordinary Tcl commands. See the CrtCommand man page for details. Within the procedure, class data members can be accessed like ordinary variables using Tcl_SetVar(), Tcl_GetVar(), Tcl_TraceVar(), etc. Class methods and procs can be executed like ordinary commands using Tcl_Eval(). [incr Tcl] makes this possible by automatically setting up the context before executing the C procedure.
This scheme provides a natural migration path for code development. Classes can be developed quickly using Tcl code to implement the bodies. An entire application can be built and tested. When necessary, individual bodies can be implemented with C code to improve performance.