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AROS Application Development Manual -- Modules

Index

Introduction

Modules are shared binaries. Their main purpose is to deliver tables of functions and classes for object-oriented access to GUI elements and multimedia data.

Building modules consists of two parts: + a macro to use in mmakefile.src files + a configuration file that describes the contents of the module.

MetaMake

The build system has the macro "build_module" for the task of creating modules. The parameters are:

mmake=/A
This is the name of the metatarget that will build the module. Also a %(mmake)-quick and %(mmake)-clean metatarget will be defined.
modname=/A
Name of the generated module without the suffix.
modtype=/A
Type of the generated module. Possible values: library, mcc, mui, mcp, device, resource, gadget, datatype, hidd, usbclass, handler or hook.
modsuffix
You don't normally need to specify this as the build system has a default suffix for every type of module.
version
A string which will be appended to the version string of the module.
conffile
The name if the configuration file. Default is <modname>.conf.
files
A list of all the C source files, without the .c suffixes, that make up the code for this module. By default all the .c files in the current directory will be used.
cxxfiles
A list of all the C++ source files, without the .c++ suffixes, that make up the code for this module. By default all the .c++ files in the current directory will be used.
linklibfiles
A list of all the C source files, without the .c suffixes, that contain the code that needs to be added to the module linklib.
linklibobjs
A list of all the object files, without the .o suffixes, that contain the code that needs to be added to the module linklib.
cflags
The flags to use when compiling the .c files. By default the standard AROS cflags (e.g. $(CFLAGS)) are taken. This also means that some flags can be added by assigning these to the USER_CFLAGS and USER_INCLUDES make variables before using this macro.
dflags
The flags to add when doing the dependency check. Default is the same as the cflags.
objdir
The directory where to generate all the intermediate files. The default value is $(OBJDIR) which in itself is by default equal to $(GENDIR)/$(CURDIR).
moduledir
Target directory. See table "Defaults" below.
prefix
A prefix for the path where the "Development" directory will be created The generated headers and linklibs will be stored there.
linklibname

The name to be used for the static link library that contains the library autoinit code and the stubs converting C stack calling convention to a call of the function from the library functable with the appropriate calling mechanism. These stubs are normally not needed when the AROS defines for module functions are not disabled.

There will always be a file generated with the name $(LIBDIR)/lib%(linklibname).a and by default linklibname will be the same as modname.

uselibs

A list of static libraries to add when linking the module. This is the name of the library without the lib prefix or the .a suffix and without the -l prefix for the use in the flags for the C compiler.

By default no libraries are used when linking the module.

usehostlibs
Same as uselibs but for static libraries of the host system.
compiler
The compiler for building the module. Can be "target", "host" or "kernel". Defaults to "target" which creates binaries which run under AROS.
nostartup
Defines whether the module should be linked with startup code. Defaults to "no".
archspecific
If "yes" the module will be created in an architecture specific directory. Defaults to "no".

Module Types

library
Collection of functions.
usbclass
Driver for USB devices.
mcc
MUI custom class.
mui
MUI standard class.
mcp
MUI preferences class. This kind of Zune classes are shown in the Zune preferences Editor.
device
EXEC device driver.
resource
Lightweight libraries.
gadget
Intuition GUI elements. These are also known as BOOPSI gadgets (Basic Object-Oriented Programming System for Intuition).
datatype
The datatypes system allows loading of all kind of data (graphics, music, text etc.) into your application.
hidd
A HIDD is a Hardware Independent Device Driver - a collection of code that provides an interface to hardware that hides as many details of the hardware as practical.
handler
DOS device driver.
hook
FIXME

Configuration File

The build system calls the tool "genmodule" in order to create some additional C source and header files. This tool is driven be a configuration file which allows to set a lot of options for the fine tuning of the generated files. Configuration files contain named sections with definitions:

##begin <sectionname>
<definitions>
##end <sectionname>

Sectionname can be "config", "cdef", "cdefprivate", "functionlist", "cfunctionlist", "startup", "methodlist", "class", "handler", "interface" or "attributelist".

Section "config"

The lines in this section have all the same format:

optionname string

with the string starting from the first non-white-space after optionname to the last non-white-space character on that line.

basename
Followed by the base name for this module. This will be used as a prefix for a lot of symbols. By default the modname specified in the makefile is taken with the first letter capitalized.
libbase
The name of the variable to put the library base in. By default the basename will be taken with "Base" added to the end.
libbasetype
The type to use for the libbase for internal use by the library code. E.g. the sizeof operator applied to this type has to yield the real size of the object. Be aware that it may not be specified as a pointer. By default 'struct Library' is taken.
libbasetypeextern
The type to use for the libbase for code using the library externally.
version
The version to compile into the module. This has to be specified as <major>.<minor>. By default 0.0 will be used.
date
The date that this library was made. This has to have the format of DD.MM.YYYY. As a default the current date is taken.
copyright
Example: copyright Copyright (C) 2006 Foobar team
forcebase
This will force the use of a certain base variable in the static link library for auto opening the module. Thus it is only valid for modules that support auto opening. This option can be present more than once in the config section and all these base variables will be in the link library. By default no base variable will be present in the link library.
superclass
Name of the parent class. Example: superclass MUIC_Group.
superclass_field
FIXME
residentpri

Sets the value of the rt_Pri field in struct Resident. Additionally, the resident flag is set:

priority flag
>=105 RTF_SINGLETASK
>=-60 RTF_COLDSTART
<-120 RTF_AFTERDOS
options

Comma separated list of options. The defaults depend on the type of module.

noautolib
Do not call the symbolsets.
noexpunge
Do not expunge the module.
noresident
Do not create struct Resident.
peropenerbase
Every time the library is opened a new address is returned. This is useful if you have defined libbasetypeextern.
pertaskbase
See comments in writestart.c of genmodule.
includes
Create the module's public include headers (proto, clib, defines, inline).
noincludes
Don't create public include headers.
nostubs
Don't write the stubs file for the linker library.
autoinit
Add code for automatic library opening to the linker library.
noautoinit
Don't add code for automatic library opening to the linker library.
resautoinit
Automatically setup the library functions in struct Resident.
noopenclose
Do not add standard functions for opening and closing the module.
selfinit
FIXME
sysbase_field
Sets the name of the sysbase field in the library.
seglist_field
Sets the name of the seglist field in the library.
rootbase_field
Sets the name of the rootbase field in the library.
classptr_field
Sets the name of the classptr field in the library.
classptr_var

The variable which contains a pointer to the class is per default hidden. If you need to have access to this pointer you have to use this option, like:

classptr_var MyClass
classid

Public name of the class, either a string or a C macros. Examples:

classid "gradientslider.gadget"
classid AROSCHECKBOXCLASS
classdatatype
Example: classdatatype struct Data.
beginio_func
Name of the beginio function of a device.
abortio_func
Name of the abortio function of a device.
dispatcher
Use this if you want to use a dispatcher which exists in the source code instead of one generated by the build system.
initpri
Sets the priority of initialization if you have more than one class in a conf file. Use this if you want to ensure that a base class is initialized before a sub class. The class with the highest value is initialized first.
type
Set the type of a class. "mcc", "mui", "mcp", "image", "gadget", "datatype", "usbclass", "class", "hidd"
addromtag
Define the variable name of struct Resident.
oopbase_field
Sets the name of the oopbase field in the library.
rellib
See comments in genmodule's source.
interfaceid
Sets the ID of the interface.
interfacename
Sets the name of the interface.
methodstub
FIXME
methodbase
FIXME
attributebase
FIXME
handler_func
Sets the name of the handler function.

section "class"

You need "class" sections only when you want to define additional classes in your module. If you create a module for e.g. a gadget a class for a gadget is automatically created. This means you can use the definitions below in the "config" section.

type

Type of the class. Possible values:

mcc
See Module Types.
mui
See Module Types.
mcp
See Module Types.
image
BOOPSI image class.
gadget
See Module Types.
datatype
See Module Types.
class
FIXME
hidd
See Module Types.
superclass
See Section "config".
superclass_field
See Section "config".
classptr_field
See Section "config".
classptr_var
See Section "config".
classid
See Section "config".
classdatatype
See Section "config".
dispatcher
See Section "config".

Section "cdef"

In this section all the C code has to be written that will declare all the type of the arguments of the function listed in the function. All valid C code is possible including the use of #include.

Section "cdefprivate"

Like "cdef" but for all declarations which must not be visible for the module user.

Section "functionlist"

In this section are all the functions that are externally accessible by programs.

For stack-based argument passing, only a list of the functions has to be given:

##begin functionlist
void func1(LONG a, LONG b)
int func2(char *s, ULONG a)
##end functionlist

For register-based argument passing, the names of the register have to be given between parentheses:

##begin functionlist
ULONG func5(ULONG a, STRPTR b) (D0,A0)
##end functionlist

There are some modifiers which influence the previously defined function.

.alias
Define an alternate name for the function.
.function
Define the real name of the function in the source code. Note that for register based function that name will be prefixed by basename and lvo.
.cfunction
Adds a wrapper from a register based function to a C fucntion.
.private
FIXME
.novararg

Do not create a vararg wrapper for the function. By default that wrapper is generated for register based functions if:

  • The last letter of the function name is A; the vararg function name is the name without this letter A.
  • The function name ends in TagList; the vararg function name is TagList replaced with Tags.
  • The function name ends in Args and the name of the last argument to the function is args or arglist or a variation with other capitalization (Args, Arglist, ArgList, ...); the vararg function name is the name without the ending Args.
  • The type of the last argument is "struct TagItem *"; the vararg function name is the name with Tags appended.
.unusedlibbase
FIXME

There are some modifiers which influence the following functions.

.skip
Every function gets an index number, the Library Vector Offset. With this tag you can increase the LVO without inserting empty lines in the "functionlist" section.
.version
The function will be only available if the library is opened with at least that version.

Section "cfunctionlist"

Same as functionlist but with modifier ".cfunction" for each function.

Section "methodlist"

Here you can list all you methods for an automatic creation of a dispatcher. The real function name for a method "name" must become <basename>__<name> in the source code.

There are some tags which influence the previously defined method.

.alias
Alternative name for the method
.function
Define the real name of the function in the source code.
.interface
FIXME

Section "startup"

The content will be written at the begin of autoinit.c which will be part of the autostart linker library.

Section "handler"

.autodetect
FIXME
.stacksize
FIXME
.priority
FIXME
.bootpri
FIXME
.startup
FIXME
resident=
FIXME
dosnode=
FIXME
dostype=
FIXME

Defaults

Modules

Type Target directory 1st LVO
library Libs 5
mcc Classes/Zune 6
mui Classes/Zune 6
mcp Classes/Zune 6
device Devs 7
resource Devs 1
gadget Classes/Gadgets 5
datatype Classes/Datatypes 6
hidd Devs/Drivers 5

Classes

Type Superclass
mcc MUIC_Area
mui MUIC_Area
mcp MUIC_Mccprefs
image IMAGECLASS
gadget GADGETCLASS
datatype DATATYPESCLASS
class ROOTCLASS
hidd CLID_Root

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