Returns the path root for a particular package within the OpenACS installation. For example /web/yourserver/packages/foo, i.e., a full filesystem path with no ending slash.

Parameters:

package_key

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

auth_authenticate, get_package_files, apm__test_info_file, documentation__check_typos

Returns the path root for the OpenACS installation.

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

acs_api_browser_api_read_script_documentation, acs_api_browser_api_script_documentation, acs_mail_lite_inbound_procs_check, safe_tmpfile_p, oacs_dav_put

Parses an argument list for a database call (switches at the end). Switch values are placed in corresponding variable names in the calling environment. GN: This function is a hack to overcome shortcomings of argument parsing at the first place, since the old-style argument parser of OpenACS does NOT support non-positional arguments after the positional ones. Since the advent of XOTcl2, this limitation is gone and just used for installations without XOTcl.... but since XOTcl is required since many years, this is not an issue anymore.

Parameters:

allowed_args - a list of allowable switch names.
argv - a list of command-line options. May end with args to indicate that extra values should be tolerated after switches and placed in the args list.

Error:

if the list of command-line options is not valid.

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_arg_parser

For use at the beginning of the body of a procedure to check that an argument has one of a number of allowed values.

Parameters:

arg_name - The name of the argument to check
allowed_values_list - The list of values that are permissible for the argument Deprecated: this proc can be replaced via very simple expr or if idioms

Returns:

Returns 1 if the argument has a valid value, throws an informative error otherwise.

Author:

Peter Marklund

See Also:

• native if or expr idioms

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Calls method_name for the type of object_id with object_id as the first arg, and the remaining args are the remainder of the args to method_name. Example: ad_call_method method1 foo bar baz calls the method1 associated with the type of foo, with foo bar and baz as the 3 arguments.

Parameters:

method_name - method name
object_id - the target, it is the first arg to the method

See Also:

• expansion operator "{*}"
• xotcl-core package offers a real ORM interface for acs_object types
• NSF idioms
• OO Tcl idioms

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Calls method_name with the type as the first arg, and the remaining args are the remainder of the args to method_name. Example: "ad_dispatch method1 foo bar baz" calls the method1 associated with the type foo, with foo bar and baz as the 3 arguments.

Parameters:

method_name - method name
type - associated type

See Also:

• expansion operator "{*}"
• xotcl-core package offers a real ORM interface for acs_object types
• NSF idioms
• OO Tcl idioms

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Tcl supports csh-style tilde substitution. If a filename starts with a tilde, then the filename will be interpreted as if the first element is replaced with the location of the home directory for the given user. If the user does not exist, an exception is raised. (e.g. [file dirname ~gustafn.foo]). https://www.tcl-lang.org/man/tcl/TclCmd/filename.htm#M20 This little proc can be used in cases, where (a) the tilde-substitution is unwanted, and where the "name" argument (usually the first argument after the subcommand) might contain user provided values.

Parameters:

subcmd
arg1

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_file, files__tcl_file_syntax_errors, files__tcl_file_common_errors, files__check_upgrade_ordering, files__check_xql_files, files__trailing_whitespace, files__page_contracts, safe_tmpfile_p

Provides documentation for a library (-procs.tcl file).

Parameters:

doc_string

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_library

Provide a standardized interface for reporting deprecated ad_procs or other artifacts. In some situations, the flag "-deprecated" in the proc is not sufficient. When "newCmd" is not specified, this function tries to get the replacement command from the @see specification of the documentation.

Parameters:

what - type of artifact being used (e.g. "proc" or "class")
oldCmd - the name of the deprecated command
newCmd (optional) - replacement command, when specified

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_log_deprecated

Returns the relative path corresponding to absolute path $path.

Parameters:

path

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_library, apm_source

Defines a method for type based dispatch. This method can be called using ad_call_method. The first arg to the method is the target on which the type dispatch happens. Use this with care.

Parameters:

method_name - the method name
type - the type for which this method will be used
argblock - the argument description block, is passed to ad_proc
docblock - the documentation block, is passed to ad_proc
body - the body, is passed to ad_proc

See Also:

• ad_proc
• xotcl-core package offers a real ORM interface for acs_object types
• NSF idioms
• OO Tcl idioms

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Declare a procedure with the following enhancements over regular Tcl "proc":

• A procedure can be declared as public, private, deprecated, and warn.
• Procedures can be declared with regular positional parameters (where you pass parameters in the order they were declared), or with named parameters, where the order doesn't matter because parameter names are specified explicitly when calling the parameter. Named parameters are preferred.
• If you use named parameters, you can specify which ones are required, optional, (including default values), and boolean. See the examples below.
• Positional parameters are always required, unless they provide with a default value, making them optional. If the parameter follows another positional parameter with a default value, a default value for it is also required.
• As well as in the original Tcl "proc", if the last parameter is called "args", the proc will accept a variable number of arguments, which will be assigned to the variable "args" as elements of a list.
• There is now a callback facility. See below.
• The declaration can (and should!) include documentation. This documentation may contain tags which are parsed for display by the API browser. Some tags are @param, @return, @error, @see, @author (probably this should be better documented).

When a parameter is declared as boolean, it creates a variable $param_name_p. For example: -foo:boolean will create a variable $foo_p. If the parameter is passed, $foo_p will have value 1. Otherwise, $foo_p will have value 0.

Boolean named parameters can optionally take a boolean value than can make your code cleaner. The following example by Michael Cleverly shows why: If you had a procedure declared as ad_proc foobar {-foo:boolean} { ... }, it could be invoked as foobar -foo, which could yield some code like the following in your procedure:

if {$flush_p} {
    some_proc -flush $key
} else {
    some_proc $key
}
    

However, you could invoke the procedure as foobar -foo=$some_boolean_value (where some_boolean_value can be 0, 1, t, f, true, false), which could make your procedure cleaner because you could write instead: some_proc -flush=$foo_p $key.

With named parameters, the same rule as the Tcl switch statement apply, meaning that -- marks the end of the parameters. This is important if your named parameter contains a value of something starting with a "-".

Here's an example with named and positional parameters, and also namespaces (notice the preferred way of declaring namespaces and namespaced procedures). Ignore the \ in "\@param", I had to use it so the API browser wouldn't think the parameter docs were for ad_proc itself:

namespace eval ::foobar {}

ad_proc -public ::foobar::new {
    {-oacs_user:boolean}
    {-shazam:required}
    {-foo}
    {-user_id ""}
    {pos}
    {pos_opt ""}
} {
    The documentation for this procedure should have a brief description of the
    purpose of the procedure (the WHAT), but most importantly, WHY it does what it
    does. One can read the code and see what it does (but it's quicker to see a
    description), but one cannot read the mind of the original programmer to find out
    what s/he had in mind.

    \@author Roberto Mello
    \@creation-date 2002-01-21

    \@param oacs_user   If this user is already an OpenACS user. oacs_user_p is defined
                        per default as "false", when specified as "true". The parameter is optional.
    \@param shazam      Magical incantation that calls Captain Marvel. Required parameter.
    \@param foo         Parameter, which can be omitted. Check with [info exists ...] if was given.
    \@param user_id     The id for the user to process. Optional with default "".
                        (api-browser shows the default).
    \@param pos         Positional parameter. Required, as it does not provide a default value.
    \@param pos_opt     Positional parameter. Optional with default "".
                        (api-browser shows the default).
    \@return empty list

    \@see ::foobar::related_proc
} {
    if { $user_id eq "" } {
        # Do something if this is not an empty string
    }
    if { [info exists foo] } {
        # Do something if we got a value for "foo"
    }

    if { $oacs_user_p } {
        # Do something if this is an OpenACS user
    }

    # return empty list anyway...
    return [list]
}

(note, most of the info on callbacks here due to leeldn)

You can define callbacks, both generally (which you would do first) and specific to a particular implementation. The way you do so is:

• you have to first define the callback contract with ad_proc -callback foo::bar::zip { arg1 arg2 } { docs } -

  This defines the callback generally. (Note! Don't define a body here!)

• then define an implementation with ad_proc -callback foo::bar::zip -impl myimpl { } { } { #code }
• Two ways to call:
  • then you can call _all_ implementations (i.e. in an event / event handler type arrangement) with callback foo::bar::zip $arg1 $arg2
  • or you can call a specific implementation (i.e. in a service contract type arrangement) with callback -impl myimpl foo::bar::zip $arg1 $arg2
• in both cases the result is a list of the results of each called implementation (with empty results removed), so in the case of calling a specific implementation you get a list of one element as the result
• See callback for more info.

Switches:

-public

(boolean) (optional)

specifies that the procedure is part of a public API.

-private

(boolean) (optional)

specifies that the procedure is package-private.

-deprecated

(boolean) (optional)

specifies that the procedure should not be used.

-warn

(boolean) (optional)

specifies that the procedure should generate a warning when invoked (requires that -deprecated also be set)

-callback

(optional)

the name of the callback contract being defined or implemented. When this flag is specified, -private and -public flags are ignored and the resulting proc will always be private.

-impl

(optional)

the name of the callback implementation for the specified contract

Parameters:

arg_list - the list of switches and positional parameters which can be provided to the procedure.
[doc_string] - documentation for the procedure (optional, but greatly desired).
body - the procedure body. Documentation may be provided for an arbitrary function by passing the body as a "-".

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_proc_create_callback

Check if the provided argument looks like a switch (i.e. it starts with a dash and is not a number).

Parameters:

str

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

No testcase defined.

Check, if we should load deprecated code. In order to skip loading of deprecated code, use the following snippet in your config file # ns_section ns/server/${server}/acs # ns_param WithDeprecatedCode 0

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_with_deprecated_code_p

Invoke the registered callback implementations for the given callback. The callbacks terminate on error unless -catch is provided. The value returned by the callback function is determined by the return codes from the callback implementations.

The callbacks are executed one level below the calling function so passing arrays to a callback can be done normally via

upvar arrayname $arrayref

The return codes returned from the implementation are treated as follows:

return -code ok or "return"

With a plain return, a nonempty return value will be lappended to the list of returns from the callback function

return -code error or "error"

errors will simply propagate (and no value returned) unless -catch is specified in which case the callback processing will continue but no value will be appended to the return list for the implementation which returned an error.

return -code return

Takes the return value if the implementation returning -code return and returns a one element list with that return value. Note that this means if you have code which returns return -code return {x y}, you will get {{x y}} as the return value from the callback. This is done in order to unambiguously distinguish a pair of callbacks returning x and y respectively from this single callback.

return -code break

return the current list of returned values including this implementations return value if nonempty

return -code continue

Continue processing, ignore the return value from this implementation

Switches:

-catch

(boolean) (optional)

if catch specified errors in the callback will be caught, tracebacks logged as errors to the server log, but other callbacks called and the list of returns still returned. If not given an error simply is passed further on.

-impl

(defaults to "*") (optional)

invoke a specific implementation rather than all implementations of the given callback

Parameters:

callback - the callback name without leading or trailing ::

Returns:

list of the returns from each callback that does a normal (nonempty) return

See Also:

• ad_proc

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

ad_proc_create_callback, ad_proc_fire_callback

returns 1 if a string is empty; this is better than using == because it won't fail on long strings of numbers. This might have been needed in the old good days, but not anymore.

Parameters:

query_string

See Also:

• string equal

Partial Call Graph (max 5 caller/called nodes):

Testcases:

No testcase defined.