Programmer tools for C++

This chapter describes the programmer tools offered by VisiBroker for C++.

VisiBroker for C++ Switches for Header Files

The following switches are used to point consumers of the header files to the proper code libraries.

_VIS_STD

On Windows, earlier versions of VisiBroker for C++ provided libraries for both Classical and Standard C++.

In VisiBroker version 8.5, only the Standard C++ libraries are supported. Therefore, the _VIS_STD compiler flag is now mandatory.

_VIS_NOLIB

On Windows, a VisiBroker for C++ header file (vdef.h) automatically places the VisiBroker for C++ library search records in the object files. This is done using the #pragma comment for both MSVC and BCB compilers. Depending on certain other definition such as _DEBUG, VISDEBUG or _VIS_STD, appropriate library search records are selected. If this behavior is not required and VisiBroker for C++ library names are to be specified explicitly in the application link command, then _VIS_NOLIB should be defined. By default it is not defined.

Arguments/Options

There is a set of arguments common to all VisiBroker programmer's tools and, in addition, each tool has its own arguments. The specific arguments and options for each tool are listed in the section for the tool. The general options are listed below.

General options

The following options are common to all programmer tools:

Option	Description
-J<java option>	Passes the java_option directly to the Java Virtual Machine.
-VBJversion	Prints the VisiBroker version.
-VBJdebug	Prints the VisiBroker debug information.
-VBJclasspath	Specifies the classpath, precedes the CLASSPATH environment variable.
-VBJprop <name> [=<value>]	Passes the name/value pair to the Java Virtual Machine.
-VBJjavavm <jvmpath>	Specifies the path of the Java Virtual Machine.
-VBJaddJar <jarfile>	Appends the jarfile to the CLASSPATH before executing the Java Virtual Machine.

Note

On UNIX platforms, the -J option is only available with VisiBroker Edition for Java on Solaris.

General information

The syntax of the VisiBroker programming tools described in this chapter differs depending on whether you call them from a UNIX or a Windows environment. The UNIX version of each tool is listed first followed by the Windows version.

UNIX

To display the options of a command under UNIX, enter:

Syntax	Example
command name -\?	idl2cpp -\?

Windows

To display the options of a command under Windows, enter:

Syntax	Example
command name -?	idl2cpp -?

idl2cpp

This command implements VisiBroker's IDL to C++ compiler, which generates client stubs and server skeleton code from an IDL file.

Syntax

idl2cpp [arguments] infile(s)

idl2cpp takes an IDL file as input and generates the corresponding C++ classes for the client and server side, client stubs, and server skeleton code.

The infile parameter represents the IDL file for which you wish C++ code to be generated and the arguments provide various controls over the resulting code.

Example

idl2cpp -hdr_suffix hx -server_ext _serv -no_tie -no_excep-spec bank.idl

Windows: When linking implementations based on the stubs and skeletons idl2cpp generates, use the -DSTRICT preprocessor option. Otherwise, the linker may display an error message stating that a constructor is missing from orb.lib.

Argument	Description
-D, -defined foo[=bar]	Defines a preprocessor macro foo, optionally with a value bar. To specify more than one preprocessor macro, use the -D option multiple times. For example: -Dfoo=bar -Dhello=world
-H, -list_includes	Prints the full paths of included files on the standard error output. The default is off.
-I, -include <dir>	Specifies an additional directory for #include searching. To specify more than one additional #include directory for searching, use the -I option multiple times. For example: -I/home/include -I /app/include
-P, no_line_directives	Suppresses the generation of line number information. The default is off.
-U, -undefine foo	Undefines a preprocessor macro foo.
-client_ext <file_extension>	Specifies the file extension to be used for client files that are generated. The default extension is (_c). To generate client files without an extension, specify none as the value for <file_extension>.
-[no_]back_compat_mapping	In the current release this option does not do anything. It could change in the next release.
_[no_]boa	Specifies the generation of BOA compatible code. By default, this code is not generated.
-[no_]comments	Includes comments in the generated code. By default, the comments are displayed in the generated code.
-[no_]idl_strict	Specifies strict OMG standard interpretation of the IDL source. By default, the OMG standard interpretation is not used.
-[no_]obj_wrapper	Generates stubs and skeletons with object wrapper support. It also generates the base typed object wrapper from which all other object wrappers inherit, and a default object wrapper that performs the untyped object wrapper calls. When this option is not set, idl2cpp does not generate code for object wrappers.
-[no_]preprocess	Preprocesses the IDL file before parsing. The default value is set to on.
-[no_]preprocess_only	Stops parsing the IDL file after preprocess. This option causes the compiler to generate the result of the preprocess phase to stdout. The default is on.
-[no_]pretty_print	Generates the _pretty_print method. By default, this is set to on.
-[no_]servant	Specifies the generation of the server-side code. By default, the servant is generated.
-[no_]stdstream	Generates class stream operators with standard iostream classes in their signature. The default is on.
-[no_]tie	Generates the _tie template classes. By default, _tie classes are generated.
-[no_]warn_all	Suppresses all warnings. The default is off.
-[no_]warn_missing_define	Warns if any forward declared names were never defined. The default is on.
-[no_]warn_unrecognized_pragmas	Generates a warning if a #pragma is not recognized.
-corba_inc <filename>	Causes the #include <filename> directive to be inserted in generated code instead of the usual#include <corba.h> directive. By default, #include <corba.h> is inserted into generated code.
-[no_]examples	Specifies the generation of sample implementations. By default, the sample implementations are not generated.
-excep_spec	Generates exception specifications for methods. By default, exception specifications are not generated.
Windows: -export <tag>	Defines a tag name to be inserted into every client-side declaration (class, function, etc.) that is generated. Specifying-export _MY_TAG when invoking idl2cpp results in a class definition like this:   class _MY_TAG Bank{...} instead of   class Bank {...} By default, no tag names for client-side declarations are generated.
Windows: -export_skel <tag>	Defines a tag name to be inserted into just the server-side declarations that are generated. Specifying -export _MY_TAG when invoking idl2cpp results in a class definition like this:  class _MY_TAG POA_Bank{...} instead of   class POA_Bank {...} By default, no tag names for server-side declarations are generated.
-gen_include_files	Specifies the generation of code for #include files. By default, this code is not generated.
-h, -help, -usage, -?	Specifies that help information be printed.
-hdr_suffix <string>	Specifies the header filename extension. The default is .hh.
-impl_inherit	Generates implementation inheritance. The default is off.
-list_files	Specifies that files written during code generation be listed. By default, this list is not created.
-map_keyword <keywrd> <map>	Adds <keywrd> as a keyword and associates with it the mapping indicated. Any IDL identifier that conflicts with <keywrd> will be mapped in C++ to <map>. This prevents clashes between keywords and names used in C++ code. All C++ keywords have default mappings--they do not need to be specified using this option.
-namespace	Implements modules as namespaces. The default is off.
-root_dir <path>	Specifies the directory where the generated code is to be written. By default, the code is written to the current directory.
-server_ext <file_extension>	Specifies the file extension to be used for server files that are generated. The default extension is (_s). To generate server files without an extension, specify none as the value for <file_extension>.
-src_suffix <string>	Specifies the source filename extension. The default is .cc.
-target <compiler>	Specifies the compiler used to generate the C++ code. The default compiler used is Solaris.
-type_code_info	Enables the generation of type code information needed for client programs that intend to use the Dynamic Invocation Interface. By default, type code information is not generated.
-version	Displays the software version number of VisiBroker.
-corba_style	Requires -type_code_info flag. Generates pointer insertion/extraction into/from CORBA::Any. By default, it is off.
-corba_style_tie	Requires -tie flag. Generate a tie class within same scope as skeleton class. By default, it is off.
file1 [file2] ...	Specifies one or more files to be processed, or “-” for stdin.
CPP	The orb.idl has conditional definitions which are specific to either VisiBroker for C++ or VisiBroker for Java. Therefore, if you want to include the orb.idl in your IDL, you must turn on the VisiBroker for C++-specific definitions using the CPP macro. For example, use the following: idl2cpp -D CPP test.idl. Alternately, you may put the following line at the top of your IDL file: #define CPP

idl2ir

This command allows you to populate an interface repository with objects defined in an Interface Definition Language source file.

Syntax

idl2ir [-ir <IR_name>] [-replace] <filename>.idl [<filename2>.idl ...]

Example

idl2ir -ir my_repository -replace bank/Bank.idl

Description

The idl2ir command takes the name of an IDL file as input, binds itself to an interface repository server, and populates the repository with the IDL constructs contained in <filename>.idl. If the -replace option is specified, if the repository already contains an item with the same name as an item in the IDL file, the old item is replaced.

Note

The idl2ir command does not handle anonymous arrays or sequences properly. To work around this problem, typedefs must be used for all sequences and arrays.

Option	Description
-D, -define foo[=bar]	Defines a preprocessor macro foo, optionally with a value bar.
-I, -include <dir>	Specifies an additional directory for #include searching.
-P, no_line_directives	Suppresses the generation of line number information. The default is off; line numbering is not suppressed.
-H, _list_includes	Prints the names of included files on the standard error output. The default is off.
-U, -undefine foo	Undefines a preprocessor macro foo.
-[no_]back_compat_mapping	Specifies the use of mapping that is backward compatible with VisiBroker 3.x.
-{no_]idl_strict	Specifies strict OMG standard interpretation of the IDL source. By default, the OMG standard interpretation is not used.
-[no_]preprocess	Preprocesses the IDL file before parsing. The default value is set to on.
-[no_]preprocess_only	Stops parsing the IDL file after preprocess. This option causes the compiler to generate the result of the preprocess phase to stdout. The default is on.
-[no_]warn_all	Suppresses all warnings. The default is off.
-[no_]warn_unrecognized_pragmas	Generates a warning if a #pragma is not recognized.
-deep	Specifies deep (rather than shallow) merges. If you specify -deep, only differences between the new contents and the existing contents will be merged. In a -shallow merge, all existing content is replaced with new content if the new content defines the same names. The default is off.
-h, -help, -usage, -?	Prints help information.
-irep <name>	Specifies the instance name of the interface repository to which idl2ir will attempt to bind. If no name is specified, idl2ir will bind itself to the interface repository server found in the current domain. The current domain is defined by the OSAGENT_PORT environment variable.
-replace	Replaces definitions instead of updating them.
-version	Displays the software version number of VisiBroker.
file1 [file2] ...	Specifies one or more files to be processed, or “-” for stdin.

ir2idl

This command allows you to create an Interface Definition Language (IDL) source file with objects from an interface repository.

Syntax

ir2idl [options]

Example

The following example dumps the contents of the IR named foo into the file named foo.idl:

ir2idl -irep foo -o foo.idl

Description

The ir2idl command extracts the contents of an IR and prints it out as IDL.

Options

The following options are available for ir2idl.

Option	Description
-irep <irep name>	Specifies the name of the interface repository.
-o, <file>	Specifies the name of the output file, or “-” for stdout.
-strict	Specifies strict adherence to OMG-standard code generation. The default is on. The compiler will complain upon occurrences of Micro Focus-proprietary syntax extensions in input IDL.
-version	Displays or prints out the version of VisiBroker that you are currently running
-h, -help, -usage, -?	Prints help information.

idl2wsc

The idl2wsc command generates C++ code similar to Axis C++ v1.5 WSDL2Ws server-side generated code, and it also generates the necessary CORBA calls to the CORBA server. This constitutes the C++ Web Services CORBA Bridge Code.

Given an IDL name “Foo.idl”, by default the idl2wsc tool will generate the files “Foo_ws_s.cc, Foo_ws_c.hh, Foo.wsdl, corba.wsdl and Foo.wsdd”. Note that the “*.cc, *.hh, *.wsdl” files should not be modified. The generated WSDD file can be modified by the user to point to the compiled shared library that will be loaded by the C++ Web Services Run-time Library.

Options

The options available to idl2cpp are also available to idl2wsc. In addition to the idl2cpp options, the following are specific to idl2wsc:

Option	Description
-encoding_wsi_only	Generate specific WS–I encodings only. Defaults to OFF
-encoding_soap_only	Generate specific SOAP encodings only. Defaults to OFF
-gen_cpp_bridge	Generate VisiBroker for C++ bridge code. Defaults to OFF

Usage

Before passing any IDL file to idl2wsc to generate the C++ bridge code, you must pass the IDL file to idl2cpp to generate the CORBA stub code. Note that you should apply the same idl2cpp options that you use to generate the CORBA stub code to the idl2wsc tool because the idl2wsc tool references names of files and/or signatures that should have been generated by idl2cpp.

Note that any changes to the idl2cpp generated code or to a new version of “\include\vbws.h” requires a recompilation of the idl2wsc-generated code.

Limitation of idl2wsc

Note that the Axis C++ v1.5 WSDL2WS tool does not support a WSDL file that defines more than one “portType” and it will only generate only one of the “portTypes” defined. This itself is a limitation of Axis C++ v1.5 and therefore an IDL file containing more than one interface is not supported.