NAME

       Tcl_HandleAlloc,    Tcl_HandleFree,   Tcl_HandleTblInit,   Tcl_HandleTblRelease,   Tcl_HandleTblUseCount,
       Tcl_HandleWalk, Tcl_HandleXlate - Dynamic, handle addressable tables.

SYNOPSIS

       #include <tclExtend.h>

       void_pt
       Tcl_HandleTblInit (const char *handleBase,
                          int         entrySize,
                          int         initEntries);

       int
       Tcl_HandleTblUseCount (void_pt  headerPtr,
                              int      amount);

       void
       Tcl_HandleTblRelease (void_pt headerPtr);

       void_pt
       Tcl_HandleAlloc (void_pt   headerPtr,
                        char     *handlePtr);

       void_pt
       Tcl_HandleXlate (Tcl_Interp *interp,
                        void_pt     headerPtr,
                        const char *handle);

       void_pt
       Tcl_HandleWalk (void_pt   headerPtr,
                       int      *walkKeyPtr);

       void
       Tcl_WalkKeyToHandle (void_pt   headerPtr,
                            int       walkKey,
                            char     *handlePtr);

       void
       Tcl_HandleFree (void_pt headerPtr,
                       void_pt entryPtr);

DESCRIPTION

       The Tcl handle facility provides a way to manage table entries that may be referenced by a textual handle
       from  Tcl  code.   This  is provided for applications that need to create data structures in one command,
       return a reference (i.e. pointer) to that particular data structure and then access that  data  structure
       in other commands. An example application is file handles.

       A  handle  consists  of  a base name, which is some unique, meaningful name, such as `file' and a numeric
       value appended to the base name (e.g. `file3').  The handle facility is designed to  provide  a  standard
       mechanism  for building Tcl commands that allocate and access table entries based on an entry index.  The
       tables are expanded when needed, consequently pointers to entries should not be kept, as they will become
       invalid  when  the  table  is  expanded.   If the table entries are large or pointers must be kept to the
       entries, then the the entries should be allocated separately and pointers kept in the  handle  table.   A
       use  count is kept on the table.  This use count is intended to determine when a table shared by multiple
       commands is to be release.

   Tcl_HandleTblInit
       Create and initialize a Tcl dynamic handle table.  The use count on the table is set to one.

       Parameters:
         o handleBase - The base name of the handle, the handle will be returned in the form "baseNN", where  NN
         is the table entry number.
         o entrySize - The size of an entry, in bytes.
         o initEntries - Initial size of the table, in entries.

       Returns:
         A pointer to the table header.

   Tcl_HandleTblUseCount
       Alter  the handle table use count by the specified amount, which can be positive or negative.  Amount may
       be zero to retrieve the use count.

       Parameters:
         o headerPtr - Pointer to the table header.
         o amount - The amount to alter the use count by.

       Returns:
         The resulting use count.

   Tcl_HandleTblRelease
       Decrement the use count on a Tcl dynamic handle table.  If the count  goes  to  zero  or  negative,  then
       release the table.

       Parameters:
         o headerPtr - Pointer to the table header.

   Tcl_HandleAlloc
       Allocate an entry and associate a handle with it.

       Parameters:
         o headerPtr - A pointer to the table header.
         o handlePtr - Buffer to return handle in. It must be big enough to hold the name.

       Returns:
         A pointer to the allocated entry (user part).

   Tcl_HandleXlate
       Translate a handle to a entry pointer.

       Parameters:
         o interp - A error message may be returned in result.
         o headerPtr - A pointer to the table header.

         o handle - The handle assigned to the entry.

       Returns:
         A pointer to the entry, or NULL if an error occurred.

   Tcl_HandleWalk
       Walk  through  and  find every allocated entry in a table.  Entries may be deallocated during a walk, but
       should not be allocated.

       Parameters:
         o headerPtr - A pointer to the table header.
         o walkKeyPtr - Pointer to a variable to use to keep track of the place  in  the  table.   The  variable
         should be initialized to -1 before the first call.
       Returns:
         A pointer to the next allocated entry, or NULL if there are not more.

   Tcl_WalkKeyToHandle
       Convert  a  walk  key,  as returned from a call to Tcl_HandleWalk into a handle.  The Tcl_HandleWalk must
       have succeeded.

       Parameters:
         o headerPtr - A pointer to the table header.
         o walkKey - The walk key.
         o handlePtr - Buffer to return handle in. It must be big enough to hold the name.

   Tcl_HandleFree
       Frees a handle table entry.

       Parameters:
         o headerPtr - A pointer to the table header.
         o entryPtr - Entry to free.