1<?xml version='1.0'?>
2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
5
6<refentry id="sd_bus_message_append"
7          xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude">
8
9  <refentryinfo>
10    <title>sd_bus_message_append</title>
11    <productname>systemd</productname>
12  </refentryinfo>
13
14  <refmeta>
15    <refentrytitle>sd_bus_message_append</refentrytitle>
16    <manvolnum>3</manvolnum>
17  </refmeta>
18
19  <refnamediv>
20    <refname>sd_bus_message_append</refname>
21    <refname>sd_bus_message_appendv</refname>
22
23    <refpurpose>Attach fields to a D-Bus message based on a type string</refpurpose>
24  </refnamediv>
25
26  <refsynopsisdiv>
27    <funcsynopsis>
28      <funcsynopsisinfo>#include &lt;systemd/sd-bus.h&gt;</funcsynopsisinfo>
29
30      <funcprototype>
31        <funcdef>int sd_bus_message_append</funcdef>
32        <paramdef>sd_bus_message *<parameter>m</parameter></paramdef>
33        <paramdef>const char *<parameter>types</parameter></paramdef>
34        <paramdef>…</paramdef>
35      </funcprototype>
36
37      <funcprototype>
38        <funcdef>int sd_bus_message_appendv</funcdef>
39        <paramdef>sd_bus_message *<parameter>m</parameter></paramdef>
40        <paramdef>const char *<parameter>types</parameter></paramdef>
41        <paramdef>va_list <parameter>ap</parameter></paramdef>
42      </funcprototype>
43
44    </funcsynopsis>
45  </refsynopsisdiv>
46
47  <refsect1>
48    <title>Description</title>
49
50    <para>The <function>sd_bus_message_append()</function> function appends a sequence of fields to
51    the D-Bus message object <parameter>m</parameter>. The type string <parameter>types</parameter>
52    describes the types of the field arguments that follow. For each type specified in the type
53    string, one or more arguments need to be specified, in the same order as declared in the type
54    string.</para>
55
56    <para>The type string is composed of the elements shown in the table below. It contains zero or
57    more single "complete types". Each complete type may be one of the basic types or a fully
58    described container type. A container type may be a structure with the contained types, a
59    variant, an array with its element type, or a dictionary entry with the contained types. The
60    type string is <constant>NUL</constant>-terminated.</para>
61
62    <para>In case of a basic type, one argument of the corresponding type is expected.</para>
63
64    <para>A structure is denoted by a sequence of complete types between <literal>(</literal> and
65    <literal>)</literal>. This sequence cannot be empty — it must contain at least one type.
66    Arguments corresponding to this nested sequence follow the same rules as if they were not
67    nested.</para>
68
69    <para>A variant is denoted by <literal>v</literal>. Corresponding arguments must begin with a
70    type string denoting a complete type, and following that, arguments corresponding to the
71    specified type.</para>
72
73    <para>An array is denoted by <literal>a</literal> followed by a complete type. Corresponding
74    arguments must begin with the number of entries in the array, followed by the entries
75    themselves, matching the element type of the array.</para>
76
77    <para>A dictionary is an array of dictionary entries, denoted by <literal>a</literal> followed
78    by a pair of complete types between <literal>{</literal> and <literal>}</literal>. The first of
79    those types must be a basic type. Corresponding arguments must begin with the number of
80    dictionary entries, followed by a pair of values for each entry matching the element type of the
81    dictionary entries.</para>
82
83    <para><function>sd_bus_message_appendv()</function> is equivalent to
84    <function>sd_bus_message_append()</function>, except that it is called with a
85    <literal>va_list</literal> instead of a variable number of arguments. This function does not
86    call the <function>va_end()</function> macro. Because it invokes the
87    <function>va_arg()</function> macro, the value of <parameter>ap</parameter> is undefined after
88    the call.</para>
89
90    <para>For further details on the D-Bus type system, please consult the
91    <ulink url="http://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html#type-system">D-Bus Specification</ulink>.
92    </para>
93
94    <table>
95      <title>Item type specifiers</title>
96
97      <tgroup cols='5'>
98        <xi:include href="sd_bus_message_append_basic.xml" xpointer="xpointer(//table[@id='format-specifiers'])//colspec" />
99        <xi:include href="sd_bus_message_append_basic.xml" xpointer="xpointer(//table[@id='format-specifiers']//thead)" />
100
101        <tbody>
102          <xi:include href="sd_bus_message_append_basic.xml" xpointer="xpointer(//table[@id='format-specifiers']//tbody/*)" />
103
104          <row>
105            <entry><literal>a</literal></entry>
106            <entry><constant>SD_BUS_TYPE_ARRAY</constant></entry>
107            <entry>array</entry>
108            <entry>determined by array type and size</entry>
109            <entry>int, followed by array contents</entry>
110          </row>
111
112          <row>
113            <entry><literal>v</literal></entry>
114            <entry><constant>SD_BUS_TYPE_VARIANT</constant></entry>
115            <entry>variant</entry>
116            <entry>determined by the type argument</entry>
117            <entry>signature string, followed by variant contents</entry>
118          </row>
119
120          <row>
121            <entry><literal>(</literal></entry>
122            <entry><constant>SD_BUS_TYPE_STRUCT_BEGIN</constant></entry>
123            <entry>array start</entry>
124            <entry morerows="1">determined by the nested types</entry>
125            <entry morerows="1">structure contents</entry>
126          </row>
127          <row>
128            <entry><literal>)</literal></entry>
129            <entry><constant>SD_BUS_TYPE_STRUCT_END</constant></entry>
130            <entry>array end</entry>
131          </row>
132
133          <row>
134            <entry><literal>{</literal></entry>
135            <entry><constant>SD_BUS_TYPE_DICT_ENTRY_BEGIN</constant></entry>
136            <entry>dictionary entry start</entry>
137            <entry morerows="1">determined by the nested types</entry>
138            <entry morerows="1">dictionary contents</entry>
139          </row>
140          <row>
141            <entry><literal>}</literal></entry>
142            <entry><constant>SD_BUS_TYPE_DICT_ENTRY_END</constant></entry>
143            <entry>dictionary entry end</entry>
144          </row>
145       </tbody>
146      </tgroup>
147    </table>
148
149    <para>For types <literal>s</literal> and <literal>g</literal> (unicode string or signature), the pointer
150    may be <constant>NULL</constant>, which is equivalent to an empty string. For <literal>h</literal> (UNIX
151    file descriptor), the descriptor is duplicated by this call and the passed descriptor stays in possession
152    of the caller. See
153    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_bus_message_append_basic</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
154    for the precise interpretation of those and other types.</para>
155  </refsect1>
156
157  <refsect1>
158    <title>Types String Grammar</title>
159
160    <programlisting>types ::= complete_type*
161complete_type ::= basic_type | variant | structure | array | dictionary
162basic_type ::= "y" | "n" | "q" | "u" | "i" | "x" | "t" | "d" |
163               "b" | "h" |
164               "s" | "o" | "g"
165variant ::= "v"
166structure ::= "(" complete_type+ ")"
167array ::= "a" complete_type
168dictionary ::= "a" "{" basic_type complete_type "}"
169</programlisting>
170  </refsect1>
171
172  <refsect1>
173    <title>Examples</title>
174
175    <para>Append a single basic type (the string <literal>a string</literal>):
176    </para>
177
178    <programlisting>sd_bus_message *m;
179180sd_bus_message_append(m, "s", "a string");</programlisting>
181
182    <para>Append all types of integers:</para>
183
184    <programlisting>uint8_t y = 1;
185int16_t n = 2;
186uint16_t q = 3;
187int32_t i = 4;
188uint32_t u = 5;
189int32_t x = 6;
190uint32_t t = 7;
191double d = 8.0;
192sd_bus_message_append(m, "ynqiuxtd", y, n, q, i, u, x, t, d);</programlisting>
193
194     <para>Append a structure composed of a string and a D-Bus path:</para>
195
196     <programlisting>sd_bus_message_append(m, "(so)", "a string", "/a/path");
197    </programlisting>
198
199     <para>Append an array of UNIX file descriptors:</para>
200
201     <programlisting>sd_bus_message_append(m, "ah", 3, STDIN_FILENO, STDOUT_FILENO, STDERR_FILENO);
202    </programlisting>
203
204     <para>Append a variant, with the real type "g" (signature),
205     and value "sdbusisgood":</para>
206
207     <programlisting>sd_bus_message_append(m, "v", "g", "sdbusisgood");</programlisting>
208
209     <para>Append a dictionary containing the mapping {1=>"a", 2=>"b", 3=>""}:
210     </para>
211
212     <programlisting>sd_bus_message_append(m, "a{is}", 3, 1, "a", 2, "b", 3, NULL);
213     </programlisting>
214  </refsect1>
215
216  <refsect1>
217    <title>Return Value</title>
218
219    <para>On success, these functions return a non-negative integer. On failure, they return a
220    negative errno-style error code.</para>
221
222    <xi:include href="sd_bus_message_append_basic.xml" xpointer="errors" />
223  </refsect1>
224
225  <xi:include href="libsystemd-pkgconfig.xml" />
226
227  <refsect1>
228    <title>See Also</title>
229
230    <para>
231      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
232      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd-bus</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
233      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_bus_message_append_basic</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
234      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_bus_message_append_array</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
235      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>sd_bus_message_open_container</refentrytitle><manvolnum>3</manvolnum></citerefentry>
236    </para>
237  </refsect1>
238
239</refentry>
240