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Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures _________________________________________________________________ NAME Tcl_TraceVar, Tcl_TraceVar2, Tcl_UntraceVar, Tcl_UntraceVar2, Tcl_VarTraceInfo, Tcl_VarTraceInfo2 - moni- tor accesses to a variable SYNOPSIS #include <tcl.h> int Tcl_TraceVar(_i_n_t_e_r_p, _v_a_r_N_a_m_e, _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a) int Tcl_TraceVar2(_i_n_t_e_r_p, _n_a_m_e_1, _n_a_m_e_2, _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a) Tcl_UntraceVar(_i_n_t_e_r_p, _v_a_r_N_a_m_e, _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a) Tcl_UntraceVar2(_i_n_t_e_r_p, _n_a_m_e_1, _n_a_m_e_2, _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a) ClientData Tcl_VarTraceInfo(_i_n_t_e_r_p, _v_a_r_N_a_m_e, _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a) ClientData Tcl_VarTraceInfo2(_i_n_t_e_r_p, _n_a_m_e_1, _n_a_m_e_2, _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a) ARGUMENTS Tcl_Interp *_i_n_t_e_r_p (in) Interpreter containing variable. char *_v_a_r_N_a_m_e (in) Name of vari- able. May refer to a scalar vari- able, to an array variable with no index, or to an array variable with a parenthesized index. int _f_l_a_g_s (in) OR-ed combina- tion of the values TCL_TRACE_READS, TCL_TRACE_WRITES, and TCL_TRACE_UNSETS, and Tcl 1 Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY. Not all flags are used by all pro- cedures. See below for more information. Tcl_VarTraceProc *_p_r_o_c (in) Procedure to invoke when- ever one of the traced operations occurs. ClientData _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a (in) Arbitrary one-word value to pass to _p_r_o_c. char *_n_a_m_e_1 (in) Name of scalar or array vari- able (without array index). char *_n_a_m_e_2 (in) For a trace on an element of an array, gives the index of the element. For traces on scalar vari- ables or on whole arrays, is NULL. ClientData _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a (in) If non-NULL, gives last value returned by Tcl_VarTraceInfo or Tcl_VarTraceInfo2, so this call will return information about next trace. If NULL, this call will return Tcl 2 Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures information about first trace. _________________________________________________________________ DESCRIPTION Tcl_TraceVar allows a C procedure to monitor and control access to a Tcl variable, so that the C procedure is invoked whenever the variable is read or written or unset. If the trace is created successfully then Tcl_TraceVar returns TCL_OK. If an error occurred (e.g. _v_a_r_N_a_m_e specifies an element of an array, but the actual variable isn't an array) then TCL_ERROR is returned and an error message is left in _i_n_t_e_r_p->_r_e_s_u_l_t. The _f_l_a_g_s argument to Tcl_TraceVar indicates when the trace procedure is to be invoked and provides information for set- ting up the trace. It consists of an OR-ed combination of any of the following values: TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY Normally, the variable will be looked up at the current level of procedure call; if this bit is set then the variable will be looked up at global level, ignoring any active procedures. TCL_TRACE_READS Invoke _p_r_o_c whenever an attempt is made to read the variable. TCL_TRACE_WRITES Invoke _p_r_o_c whenever an attempt is made to modify the variable. TCL_TRACE_UNSETS Invoke _p_r_o_c whenever the variable is unset. A variable may be unset either explicitly by an unset command, or implicitly when a procedure returns (its local vari- ables are automatically unset) or when the interpreter is deleted (all variables are automatically unset). Whenever one of the specified operations occurs on the vari- able, _p_r_o_c will be invoked. It should have arguments and result that match the type Tcl_VarTraceProc: typedef char *Tcl_VarTraceProc( ClientData _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a, Tcl_Interp *_i_n_t_e_r_p, char *_n_a_m_e_1, char *_n_a_m_e_2, int _f_l_a_g_s); The _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a and _i_n_t_e_r_p parameters will have the same Tcl 3 Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures values as those passed to Tcl_TraceVar when the trace was created. _C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a typically points to an application- specific data structure that describes what to do when _p_r_o_c is invoked. _N_a_m_e_1 and _n_a_m_e_2 give the name of the traced variable in the normal two-part form (see the description of Tcl_TraceVar2 below for details). _F_l_a_g_s is an OR-ed combi- nation of bits providing several pieces of information. One of the bits TCL_TRACE_READS, TCL_TRACE_WRITES, or TCL_TRACE_UNSETS will be set in _f_l_a_g_s to indicate which operation is being performed on the variable. The bit TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY will be set whenever the variable being accessed is a global one not accessible from the current level of procedure call: the trace procedure will need to pass this flag back to variable-related procedures like Tcl_GetVar if it attempts to access the variable. The bit TCL_TRACE_DESTROYED will be set in _f_l_a_g_s if the trace is about to be destroyed; this information may be useful to _p_r_o_c so that it can clean up its own internal data struc- tures (see the section TCL_TRACE_DESTROYED below for more details). Lastly, the bit TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED will be set if the entire interpreter is being destroyed. When this bit is set, _p_r_o_c must be especially careful in the things it does (see the section TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED below). The trace procedure's return value should normally be NULL; see ERROR RETURNS below for information on other possibilities. Tcl_UntraceVar may be used to remove a trace. If the vari- able specified by _i_n_t_e_r_p, _v_a_r_N_a_m_e, and _f_l_a_g_s has a trace set with _f_l_a_g_s, _p_r_o_c, and _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a, then the corresponding trace is removed. If no such trace exists, then the call to Tcl_UntraceVar has no effect. The same bits are valid for _f_l_a_g_s as for calls to Tcl_TraceVars. Tcl_VarTraceInfo may be used to retrieve information about traces set on a given variable. The return value from Tcl_VarTraceInfo is the _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a associated with a partic- ular trace. The trace must be on the variable specified by the _i_n_t_e_r_p, _v_a_r_N_a_m_e, and _f_l_a_g_s arguments (only the TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY bit from _f_l_a_g_s is used; other bits are ignored) and its trace procedure must the same as the _p_r_o_c argument. If the _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a argument is NULL then the return value corresponds to the first (most recently created) matching trace, or NULL if there are no matching traces. If the _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a argument isn't NULL, then it should be the return value from a previous call to Tcl_VarTraceInfo. In this case, the new return value will correspond to the next matching trace after the one whose _c_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a matches _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a, or NULL if no trace matches _p_r_e_v_C_l_i_e_n_t_D_a_t_a or if there are no more matching traces after it. This mechanism makes it possible to step through all of the traces for a given variable that have the same _p_r_o_c. Tcl 4 Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures TWO-PART NAMES The procedures Tcl_TraceVar2, Tcl_UntraceVar2, and Tcl_VarTraceInfo2 are identical to Tcl_TraceVar, Tcl_UntraceVar, and Tcl_VarTraceInfo, respectively, except that the name of the variable has already been separated by the caller into two parts. _N_a_m_e_1 gives the name of a scalar variable or array, and _n_a_m_e_2 gives the name of an element within an array. If _n_a_m_e_2 is NULL it means that either the variable is a scalar or the trace is to be set on the entire array rather than an individual element (see WHOLE-ARRAY TRACES below for more information). ACCESSING VARIABLES DURING TRACES During read and write traces, the trace procedure can read, write, or unset the traced variable using Tcl_GetVar2, Tcl_SetVar2, and other procedures. While _p_r_o_c is executing, traces are temporarily disabled for the variable, so that calls to Tcl_GetVar2 and Tcl_SetVar2 will not cause _p_r_o_c or other trace procedures to be invoked again. Disabling only occurs for the variable whose trace procedure is active; accesses to other variables will still be traced. However, | if a variable is unset during a read or write trace then | unset traces will be invoked. During unset traces the variable has already been completely expunged. It is possible for the trace procedure to read or write the variable, but this will be a new version of the variable. Traces are not disabled during unset traces as they are for read and write traces, but existing traces have been removed from the variable before any trace procedures are invoked. If new traces are set by unset trace pro- cedures, these traces will be invoked on accesses to the variable by the trace procedures. CALLBACK TIMING When read tracing has been specified for a variable, the trace procedure will be invoked whenever the variable's value is read. This includes set Tcl commands, $-notation in Tcl commands, and invocations of the Tcl_GetVar and Tcl_GetVar2 procedures. _P_r_o_c is invoked just before the variable's value is returned. It may modify the value of the variable to affect what is returned by the traced access. If it unsets the variable then the access will | return an error just as if the variable never existed. When write tracing has been specified for a variable, the trace procedure will be invoked whenever the variable's value is modified. This includes set commands, commands that modify variables as side effects (such as catch and scan), and calls to the Tcl_SetVar and Tcl_SetVar2 Tcl 5 Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures procedures). _P_r_o_c will be invoked after the variable's value has been modified, but before the new value of the variable has been returned. It may modify the value of the variable to override the change and to determine the value actually returned by the traced access. If it deletes the | variable then the traced access will return an empty string. When unset tracing has been specified, the trace procedure will be invoked whenever the variable is destroyed. The traces will be called after the variable has been completely unset. WHOLE-ARRAY TRACES If a call to Tcl_TraceVar or Tcl_TraceVar2 specifies the name of an array variable without an index into the array, then the trace will be set on the array as a whole. This means that _p_r_o_c will be invoked whenever any element of the array is accessed in the ways specified by _f_l_a_g_s. When an array is unset, a whole-array trace will be invoked just once, with _n_a_m_e_1 equal to the name of the array and _n_a_m_e_2 NULL; it will not be invoked once for each element. MULTIPLE TRACES It is possible for multiple traces to exist on the same variable. When this happens, all of the trace procedures will be invoked on each access, in order from most- recently-created to least-recently-created. When there exist whole-array traces for an array as well as traces on individual elements, the whole-array traces are invoked before the individual-element traces. If a read or write | trace unsets the variable then all of the unset traces will | be invoked but the remainder of the read and write traces | will be skipped. ERROR RETURNS Under normal conditions trace procedures should return NULL, indicating successful completion. If _p_r_o_c returns a non- NULL value it signifies that an error occurred. The return value must be a pointer to a static character string con- taining an error message. If a trace procedure returns an error, no further traces are invoked for the access and the traced access aborts with the given message. Trace pro- cedures can use this facility to make variables read-only, for example (but note that the value of the variable will already have been modified before the trace procedure is called, so the trace procedure will have to restore the correct value). Tcl 6 Tcl_TraceVar(3) Tcl Library Procedures The return value from _p_r_o_c is only used during read and write tracing. During unset traces, the return value is ignored and all relevant trace procedures will always be invoked. RESTRICTIONS A trace procedure can be called at any time, even when there is a partically-formed result in the interpreter's result area. If the trace procedure does anything that could dam- age this result (such as calling Tcl_Eval) then it must save the original values of the interpreter's result and freeProc fields and restore them before it returns. UNDEFINED VARIABLES It is legal to set a trace on an undefined variable. The variable will still appear to be undefined until the first time its value is set. If an undefined variable is traced and then unset, the unset will fail with an error (``no such variable''), but the trace procedure will still be invoked. TCL_TRACE_DELETED FLAG In an unset callback to _p_r_o_c, the TCL_TRACE_DELETED bit is set in _f_l_a_g_s if the trace is being removed as part of the deletion. Traces on a variable are always removed whenever the variable is deleted; the only time TCL_TRACE_DELETED isn't set is for a whole-array trace invoked when only a single element of an array is unset. TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED When an interpreter is destroyed, unset traces are called for all of its variables. The TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED bit will be set in the _f_l_a_g_s argument passed to the trace procedures. Trace procedures must be extremely careful in what they do if the TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED bit is set. It is not safe for the procedures to invoke any Tcl procedures on the inter- preter, since its state is partially deleted. All that trace procedures should do under these circumstances is to clean up and free their own internal data structures. BUGS Tcl doesn't do any error checking to prevent trace pro- cedures from misusing the interpreter during traces with TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED set. KEYWORDS clientData, trace, variable Tcl 7