NAME

       SbName -

       The SbName class stores strings by reference.

       The class is used by Coin for storing keywords, names and other strings. They are stored
       in a manner where identical strings are guaranteed to map to the same memory address (as
       returned by the SbName::getString() method).

SYNOPSIS

       #include <Inventor/SbName.h>

   Public Member Functions
       SbName (void)
       SbName (const char *namestring)
       SbName (const SbString &str)
       SbName (const SbName &name)
       ~SbName ()
       const char * getString (void) const
       int getLength (void) const
       int operator! (void) const
       operator const char * (void) const

   Static Public Member Functions
       static SbBool isIdentStartChar (const char c)
       static SbBool isIdentChar (const char c)
       static SbBool isBaseNameStartChar (const char c)
       static SbBool isBaseNameChar (const char c)
       static const SbName & empty (void)

   Friends
       int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs)
       int operator== (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs)
       int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs)
       int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs)
       int operator!= (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs)
       int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs)

Detailed Description

       The SbName class stores strings by reference.

       The class is used by Coin for storing keywords, names and other strings. They are stored
       in a manner where identical strings are guaranteed to map to the same memory address (as
       returned by the SbName::getString() method).

       The main advantage of storing identical strings to the same memory address is that it
       simplifies comparison operations, and particularly when working with string data as keys
       in other data structures, like e.g. in hash (dictionary) tables.

       Apart from that, mapping identical strings to the same memory address can also save on
       memory resources, and provide run-time optimizations. String comparisons for SbName
       objects are very efficient, for instance.

       There is an aspect of using SbName instances that it is important to be aware of: since
       strings are stored permanently, using SbName instances in code where there is continually
       changing strings or the continual addition of new unique strings will in the end swamp
       memory resources. So where possible, use SbString instances instead.

       See Also:
           SbString

Constructor & Destructor Documentation

   SbName::SbName (void)
       This is the default constructor.

   SbName::SbName (const char *namestring)
       Constructor. Adds the namestring string to the name table.

   SbName::SbName (const SbString &str)
       Constructor. Adds str to the name table.

   SbName::SbName (const SbName &name)
       Copy constructor.

   SbName::~SbName ()
       The destructor.

Member Function Documentation

   const char * SbName::getString (void) const
       This method returns pointer to character array for the name.

       The returned memory pointer for the character string is guaranteed to be valid for the
       remaining life time of the process, even after all SbName instances referencing the string
       has been destructed.

   int SbName::getLength (void) const
       This method returns the number of characters in the name.

   int SbName::operator! (void) const
       This unary operator results in FALSE if the SbName object is non-empty and TRUE if the
       SbName object is empty. An empty name contains a null-length string.

   SbName::operator const char * (void) const
       This operator returns a pointer to the character array for the name string. It is intended
       for implicit use. Use SbName::getString() explicitly instead of this operator - it might
       be removed later.

       See Also:
           const char * SbName::getString(void)

   SbBool SbName::isIdentStartChar (const charc) [static]
       This method checks if the c character is a valid identifier start character for a name.

       See Also:
           SbBool SbName::isIdentChar(const char c)

   SbBool SbName::isIdentChar (const charc) [static]
       This method checks if the c character is a valid character for a name.

       See Also:
           SbBool SbName::isIdentStartChar(const char c)

   SbBool SbName::isBaseNameStartChar (const charc) [static]
       Returns TRUE if the given character is valid for use as the first character of a name for
       an object derived from a class inheriting SoBase.

       SoBase derived objects needs to be named in a manner which will not clash with the special
       characters reserved as tokens in the syntax rules of Open Inventor and VRML files.

       Legal characters for the first character of an SoBase object name is underscore ('_') and
       any uppercase and lowercase alphabetic character from the ASCII character set (i.e. A-Z
       and a-z).

       This method is not part of the original Open Inventor API.

       See Also:
           isBaseNameChar()

   SbBool SbName::isBaseNameChar (const charc) [static]
       Returns TRUE if the given character is valid for use in naming object instances of classes
       derived from SoBase.

       SoBase derived objects needs to be named in a manner which will not clash with the special
       characters reserved as tokens in the syntax rules of Open Inventor and VRML files.

       Legal characters to use for an SoBase object name is any character from the ASCII
       character set from and including character 33 (hex 0x21) to and including 126 (hex 0x7e),
       except single and double apostrophes, the plus sign and punctuation, backslash and the
       curly braces.

       This method is not part of the original Open Inventor API.

       See Also:
           isBaseNameStartChar()

   const SbName & SbName::empty (void) [static]
       Returns an empty-string SbName instance.

       Since:
           Coin 3.0

Friends And Related Function Documentation

   int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for equality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE otherwise.

   int operator== (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for equality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE otherwise.

   int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for equality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE otherwise.

   int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for inequality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE if the names are
       equal.

   int operator!= (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for inequality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE if the names are
       equal.

   int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for inequality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE if the names are
       equal.

Author

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