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Tcl_UntraceVar

Tcl_TraceVar(3)             Tcl Library Procedures             Tcl_TraceVar(3)



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NAME
       Tcl_TraceVar,  Tcl_TraceVar2, Tcl_UntraceVar, Tcl_UntraceVar2, Tcl_Var-
       TraceInfo, Tcl_VarTraceInfo2 - monitor accesses to a variable

SYNOPSIS
       #include <tcl.h>

       int
       Tcl_TraceVar(interp, varName, flags, proc, clientData)

       int
       Tcl_TraceVar2(interp, name1, name2, flags, proc, clientData)

       Tcl_UntraceVar(interp, varName, flags, proc, clientData)

       Tcl_UntraceVar2(interp, name1, name2, flags, proc, clientData)

       ClientData
       Tcl_VarTraceInfo(interp, varName, flags, proc, prevClientData)

       ClientData
       Tcl_VarTraceInfo2(interp, name1, name2, flags, proc, prevClientData)

ARGUMENTS
       Tcl_Interp         *interp          (in)      Interpreter    containing
                                                     variable.

       char               *varName         (in)      Name  of  variable.   May
                                                     refer to a  scalar  vari-
                                                     able,  to  an array vari-
                                                     able with no index, or to
                                                     an  array variable with a
                                                     parenthesized index.   If
                                                     the  name  references  an
                                                     element of an array, then
                                                     it  must  be  in writable
                                                     memory:   Tcl  will  make
                                                     temporary   modifications
                                                     to it  while  looking  up
                                                     the name.

       int                flags            (in)      OR-ed  combination of the
                                                     values   TCL_TRACE_READS,
                                                     TCL_TRACE_WRITES,     and
                                                     TCL_TRACE_UNSETS,
                                                     TCL_TRACE_ARRAY,      and
                                                     TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY.  Not all
                                                     flags  are  used  by  all
                                                     procedures.   See   below
                                                     for more information.

       Tcl_VarTraceProc   *proc            (in)      Procedure to invoke when-
                                                     ever one  of  the  traced
                                                     operations occurs.

       ClientData         clientData       (in)      Arbitrary  one-word value
                                                     to pass to proc.

       char               *name1           (in)      Name of scalar  or  array
                                                     variable  (without  array
                                                     index).

       char               *name2           (in)      For a trace on an element
                                                     of  an  array,  gives the
                                                     index  of  the   element.
                                                     For   traces   on  scalar
                                                     variables  or  on   whole
                                                     arrays, is NULL.

       ClientData         prevClientData   (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 informa-
                                                     tion 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. varName speci-
       fies  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  the  inter-
       preter's result.

       The  flags  argument to Tcl_TraceVar indicates when the trace procedure
       is to be invoked and provides information for setting 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 proc whenever an attempt is made to read the variable.

       TCL_TRACE_WRITES
              Invoke  proc whenever an attempt is made to modify the variable.

       TCL_TRACE_UNSETS
              Invoke proc whenever the variable is unset.  A variable  may  be
              unset  either explicitly by an unset command, or implicitly when
              a procedure  returns  (its  local  variables  are  automatically
              unset)  or  when  the  interpreter is deleted (all variables are
              automatically unset).

       TCL_TRACE_ARRAY
              Invoke proc whenever the array command is invoked.   This  gives
              the  trace  procedure  a chance to update the array before array
              names or array get is called.  Note that this is  called  before
              an array set, but that will trigger write traces.

       Whenever  one  of the specified operations occurs on the variable, proc
       will be invoked.  It should have arguments and result  that  match  the
       type Tcl_VarTraceProc:
              typedef char *Tcl_VarTraceProc(
                ClientData clientData,
                Tcl_Interp *interp,
                char *name1,
                char *name2,
                int flags);
       The clientData and interp parameters will have the same values as those
       passed to Tcl_TraceVar when the trace was  created.   ClientData  typi-
       cally  points  to an application-specific data structure that describes
       what to do when proc is invoked.  Name1 and name2 give the name of  the
       traced  variable  in  the  normal two-part form (see the description of
       Tcl_TraceVar2 below for details).  Flags is  an  OR-ed  combination  of
       bits  providing  several  pieces  of  information.   One  of  the  bits
       TCL_TRACE_READS, TCL_TRACE_WRITES, TCL_TRACE_ARRAY, or TCL_TRACE_UNSETS
       will  be set in flags to indicate which operation is being performed on
       the variable.  The bit TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY will be set whenever  the  vari-
       able  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
       flags  if  the trace is about to be destroyed;  this information may be
       useful to proc so that it can clean up its own internal data structures
       (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, proc 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  variable  speci-
       fied  by  interp,  varName, and flags has a trace set with flags, proc,
       and clientData, 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 flags as for calls to Tcl_TraceVar.

       Tcl_VarTraceInfo may be used to retrieve information about  traces  set
       on  a  given  variable.   The return value from Tcl_VarTraceInfo is the
       clientData associated with a particular trace.  The trace  must  be  on
       the  variable  specified  by  the  interp, varName, and flags arguments
       (only the TCL_GLOBAL_ONLY bit from  flags  is  used;   other  bits  are
       ignored)  and  its  trace procedure must the same as the proc argument.
       If the prevClientData argument is NULL then  the  return  value  corre-
       sponds  to the first (most recently created) matching trace, or NULL if
       there are no matching traces.  If  the  prevClientData  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 clientData matches pre-
       vClientData, or NULL if no trace matches prevClientData 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
       proc.


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 consists of two
       parts.  Name1 gives the name of a scalar variable or array,  and  name2
       gives  the  name  of  an  element within an array.  When name2 is NULL, |
       name1 may contain both an array and an element name: if the  name  con- |
       tains  an  open parenthesis and ends with a close parenthesis, then the |
       value between the parentheses is treated as an element name (which  can |
       have  any string value) and the characters before the first open paren- |
       thesis are treated as the name of an array variable.  If name2 is  NULL |
       and  name1  does not refer to an array element 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, write, and array traces, the  trace  procedure  can  read,
       write, or unset the traced variable using Tcl_GetVar2, Tcl_SetVar2, and
       other procedures.  While proc is executing, traces are temporarily dis-
       abled  for  the  variable, so that calls to Tcl_GetVar2 and Tcl_SetVar2
       will not cause proc 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  vari-
       able  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  dis-
       abled  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 proce-
       dures, 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 proce-
       dure 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.   Proc  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  proce-
       dure  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
       procedures).  Proc 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  array  tracing  has  been  specified, the trace procedure will be
       invoked at the beginning of the array  command  implementation,  before
       any  of  the operations like get, set, or names have been invoked.  The
       trace procedure can modify  the  array  elements  with  Tcl_SetVar  and
       Tcl_SetVar2.

       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 proc will be invoked
       whenever any element of the array is accessed in the ways specified  by
       flags.   When  an  array  is unset, a whole-array trace will be invoked
       just once, with name1 equal to the name of the array  and  name2  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  vari-
       able  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 proc returns a non-NULL value it signifies
       that an error occurred.  The return value must be a pointer to a static
       character  string  containing  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 procedures 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).

       The  return value from proc 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 par-
       tially-formed result in the interpreter's result area.   If  the  trace
       procedure  does anything that could damage 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_DESTROYED FLAG
       In  an  unset  callback  to proc, the TCL_TRACE_DESTROYED bit is set in
       flags 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_DESTROYED 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  flags
       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 interpreter, 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 procedures from mis-
       using the interpreter during traces with TCL_INTERP_DESTROYED set.

       Array traces are not yet integrated with the Tcl "info exists" command,
       nor is there Tcl-level access to array traces.


KEYWORDS
       clientData, trace, variable



Tcl                                   7.4                      Tcl_TraceVar(3)