NAME

       SoType — stores runtime type information

INHERITS FROM

       SoType

SYNOPSIS

       #include <Inventor/SoType.h>

          Methods from class SoType:

     static SoType       fromName(SbName name)
     SbName              getName() const
     SoType              getParent() const
     static SoType       badType()
     SbBool              isBad() const
     SbBool              isDerivedFrom(SoType t) const
     static int          getAllDerivedFrom(SoType type, SoTypeList &list)
     SbBool              canCreateInstance() const
     void *              createInstance() const
     int                 operator ==(const SoType t) const
     int                 operator !=(const SoType t) const
     int                 operator <(const SoType t) const

DESCRIPTION

       The  SoType  class  keeps  track  of  runtime  type  information in Inventor. Each type is
       associated with a given name, so lookup is possible in either direction.

       Many Inventor classes request a unique SoType when they are  initialized.  This  type  can
       then  be  used  to  find  out  the actual class of an instance when only its base class is
       known, or to obtain an instance of a particular class given its type or name.

       Note that the names associated with types of Inventor classes  do  not  contain  the  "So"
       prefix.

METHODS

     static SoType       fromName(SbName name)
          Returns the type associated with the given name.

     SbName              getName() const
          Returns the name associated with a type.

     SoType              getParent() const
          Returns the type of the parent class.

     static SoType       badType()
          Returns an always-illegal type. Useful for returning errors.

     SbBool              isBad() const
          Returns TRUE if the type is a bad type.

     SbBool              isDerivedFrom(SoType t) const
          Returns TRUE if the type is derived from type t.

     static int          getAllDerivedFrom(SoType type, SoTypeList &list)
          Adds  all  types derived from the given type to the given type list. Returns the number
          of types added.

     SbBool              canCreateInstance() const
          Some types are able to create instances; for example, most  nodes  and  engines  (those
          which  are  not  abstract classes) can be created this way. This method returns TRUE if
          the type supports such creation.

     void *              createInstance() const
          Creates and returns a pointer to an instance of the type. Returns NULL if  an  instance
          could not be created for some reason. The pointer is returned as a generic pointer, but
          can be cast to the appropriate type. For example:
               SoCube *c = (SoCube *) SoCube::getClassTypeId().createInstance();
            is a convoluted way of creating a new instance of an SoCube.

     int                 operator ==(const SoType t) const
     int                 operator !=(const SoType t) const
          Returns TRUE if this type is the same as or not the same as the given type.

     int                 operator <(const SoType t) const
          Less-than comparison operator that can be used to sort types. This  is  pretty  useless
          otherwise.

SEE ALSO

       SoAction, SoBase, SoDetail, SoError, SoEvent, SoField

                                                                                    SoType(3IV)()