NAME

       gd_delete — remove a field from a dirfile

SYNOPSIS

       #include <getdata.h>

       int gd_delete(DIRFILE *dirfile, const char *field_code, int flags);

DESCRIPTION

       The  gd_delete()  function  attempts  to  delete  the field specified by field_code in the
       dirfile specified by dirfile.  The field_code should not contain a representation suffix.

       The flags argument influences how the deletion attempt occurs.  It may be  zero,  for  the
       default behaviour, or else one or more of the following flags, bitwise or'd together:

       GD_DEL_DATA
               If  the  field  to  be  deleted  is  a RAW field, also delete the binary data file
               associated with it.  If field_code specified a RAW field  and  this  flag  is  not
               specified,  the  field  will  still  be  deleted  but the binary file will be left
               untouched.

       GD_DEL_DEREF
               If the field to be deleted is a CONST or CARRAY field which is used as a parameter
               in the specification of other fields, resolve these other fields dependence on the
               deleted field by replacing instances of field_code in their  field  specifications
               with the value of the scalar field.

       GD_DEL_FORCE
               Delete  the  indicated  field,  even  if  it is used in the specification of other
               fields, either as a input for a derived vector field or as a scalar parameter in a
               field specification.

       GD_DEL_META
               If the field to be deleted has metafields attached to it, attempt to delete those,
               too.  If the field has metafields and this flag is not specified,  the  call  will
               fail with the GD_E_DELETE error.

RETURN VALUE

       On  successful deletion, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned and the dirfile error
       is set to a non-zero error value.  Possible error values are:

       GD_E_ACCMODE
               The specified dirfile was opened read-only.

       GD_E_ALLOC
               The library was unable to allocate memory.

       GD_E_BAD_CODE
               The field specified by field_code was not found in the database.

       GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
               The supplied dirfile was invalid.

       GD_E_DELETE
               The attempt to delete the field failed.  Either the specified field is used in the
               specification  of other fields and GD_DEL_FORCE or GD_DEL_DEREF was not specified,
               or it has metafields and GD_DEL_META was not specified.

       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.

       GD_E_PROTECTED
               The metadata of the fragment containing the field was protected from change.   Or,
               the deletion of the binary data file associated with a RAW field was attempted and
               the data of the fragment was protected.

       GD_E_RAW_IO
               An error occurred while trying to close or delete the binary file associated  with
               a RAW field.

       GD_E_UNKNOWN_ENCODING
               The  GD_DEL_DATA  flag  was  given but the encoding scheme of the indicated format
               specification fragment is not known to the library.  As a result, the library  was
               unable to delete the binary file associated with a RAW field.

       GD_E_UNSUPPORTED
               The  GD_DEL_DATA  flag  was  given but the encoding scheme of the indicated format
               specification fragment does not support deleting the binary file associated with a
               RAW field.

       The dirfile error may be retrieved by calling gd_error(3).  A descriptive error string for
       the last error encountered can be obtained from a call to gd_error_string(3).

SEE ALSO

       gd_open(3), gd_close(3), gd_error(3), gd_error_string(3), gd_metaflush(3)