NAME

       gd_sarrays, gd_msarrays — retrieve a list of SARRAY values from a Dirfile

SYNOPSIS

       #include <getdata.h>

       const char ***gd_sarrays(DIRFILE *dirfile);

       const char ***gd_msarrays(DIRFILE *dirfile, const char *parent);

DESCRIPTION

       The  gd_sarrays()  function  queries a dirfile(5) database specified by dirfile and generates a read-only
       list of values of the all top-level SARRAY fields defined in the database, after type conversion  to  the
       data  type  specified  by  return_type.   For  a  list  of  valid symbols to use for return_type, see the
       gd_get_sarray(3) manual page.

       The gd_msarrays() function behaves similarly, but creates a list of values of SARRAY subfields under  the
       parent field parent.

       The dirfile argument must point to a valid DIRFILE object previously created by a call to gd_open(3).

       The  array  returned  will be de-allocated by a call to gd_close(3) and should not be de-allocated by the
       caller.  The list returned should not be assumed to be  in  any  particular  order,  except  that  it  is
       guaranteed  to  be in the same order as the list of SARRAY fields returned by gd_field_list_by_type(3) or
       gd_mfield_list_by_type(3).  The  number  of  values  in  the  array  can  be  obtained  from  a  call  to
       gd_nfields_by_type(3) or gd_nmfields_by_type(3).

       The  caller  may  not  modify any values in the array, nor the array itself.  Doing so may cause database
       corruption.  The pointer returned is guaranteed to be valid only until the function is called again  with
       the  same  arguments,  or  until  the dirfile's metadata is modified (by adding, modifying or deleting an
       entry), or until the array is de-allocated by a call to gd_close(3) or gd_discard(3).

       A corresponding list of names for these fields may be obtained  by  calling  gd_field_list_by_type(3)  or
       gd_mfield_list_by_type(3).

RETURN VALUE

       Upon  successful  completion,  gd_sarrays()  and gd_msarrays(3) return a pointer to an array of arrays of
       strings.  For convenience, both levels of the array are terminated by NULL pointers.

       If no SARRAYs are defined in the database, a pointer  to  a  single-element  array  containing  only  the
       terminating NULL is returned.

       On  error,  gd_sarrays() returns NULL and stores a negative-valued error code in the DIRFILE object which
       may be retrieved by a subsequent call to gd_error(3).  Possible error codes are:

       GD_E_ALLOC
               The library was unable to allocate memory.

       GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
               The supplied dirfile was invalid.

       GD_E_INTERNAL_ERROR
               An internal error occurred in the library while trying to perform the task.  This indicates a bug
               in the library.  Please report the incident to the GetData developers.

       A descriptive error string for the error may be obtained by calling gd_error_string(3).

HISTORY

       The gd_sarrays() function appeared in GetData-0.10.0.

SEE ALSO

       gd_entry_list(3),   gd_error(3),   gd_error_string(3),   gd_get_sarray(3),   gd_nentries(3),  gd_open(3),
       dirfile(5)