NAME

       Prima::Utils - miscellanneous routines

DESCRIPTION

       The module contains several helper routines, implemented in both C and perl.  Whereas the C-coded parts
       are accessible only if 'use Prima;' statement was issued prior to the 'use Prima::Utils' invocation, the
       perl-coded are always available.  This makes the module valuable when used without the rest of toolkit
       code.

API

       alarm $TIMEOUT, $SUB, @PARAMS
           Calls SUB with PARAMS after TIMEOUT milliseconds.

       beep [ FLAGS = mb::Error ]
           Invokes the system-depended sound and/or visual bell, corresponding to one of following constants:

                   mb::Error
                   mb::Warning
                   mb::Information
                   mb::Question

       get_gui
           Returns one of "gui::XXX" constants, reflecting the graphic user interface used in the system:

                   gui::Default
                   gui::PM
                   gui::Windows
                   gui::XLib
                   gui::GTK2

       get_os
           Returns  one  of "apc::XXX" constants, reflecting the platfrom.  Currently, the list of the supported
           platforms is:

                   apc::Os2
                   apc::Win32
                   apc::Unix

       ceil DOUBLE
           Obsolete function.

           Returns stdlib's ceil() of DOUBLE

       find_image PATH
           Converts PATH from perl module notation into a file path, and searches for the  file  in  @INC  paths
           set. If a file is found, its full filename is returned; otherwise "undef" is returned.

       floor DOUBLE
           Obsolete function.

           Returns stdlib's floor() of DOUBLE

       getdir PATH
           Reads  content  of  PATH  directory and returns array of string pairs, where the first item is a file
           name, and the second is a file type.

           The file type is a string, one of the following:

                   "fifo" - named pipe
                   "chr"  - character special file
                   "dir"  - directory
                   "blk"  - block special file
                   "reg"  - regular file
                   "lnk"  - symbolic link
                   "sock" - socket
                   "wht"  - whiteout

           This function was implemented for faster directory reading, to avoid successive call  of  "stat"  for
           every file.

       path [ FILE ]
           If  called  with  no  parameters,  returns path to a directory, usually ~/.prima, that can be used to
           contain the user settings of a toolkit module or a program. If FILE is specified, appends it  to  the
           path  and  returns  the  full  file  name.  In  the  latter case the path is automatically created by
           "File::Path::mkpath" unless it already exists.

       post $SUB, @PARAMS
           Postpones a call to SUB with PARAMS until the next event loop tick.

       query_drives_map [ FIRST_DRIVE = "A:" ]
           Returns anonymous array to drive letters, used by the system.  FIRST_DRIVE can be set to other  value
           to start enumeration from.  Some OSes can probe eventual diskette drives inside the drive enumeration
           routines,  so  there is a chance to increase responsiveness of the function it might be reasonable to
           set FIRST_DRIVE to "C:" string.

           If the system supports no drive letters, empty array reference is returned ( unix ).

       query_drive_type DRIVE
           Returns one of "dt::XXX" constants, describing the type  of  drive,  where  DRIVE  is  a  1-character
           string.  If  there  is no such drive, or the system supports no drive letters ( unix ), "dt::None" is
           returned.

                   dt::None
                   dt::Unknown
                   dt::Floppy
                   dt::HDD
                   dt::Network
                   dt::CDROM
                   dt::Memory

       sound [ FREQUENCY = 2000, DURATION = 100 ]
           Issues a tone of FREQUENCY in Hz with DURATION in milliseconds.

       username
           Returns the login name of the user.  Sometimes is preferred to the  perl-provided  "getlogin"  (  see
           "getlogin" in perlfunc ) .

       xcolor COLOR
           Accepts COLOR string on one of the three formats:

                   #rgb
                   #rrggbb
                   #rrrgggbbb

           and returns 24-bit RGB integer value.

AUTHOR

       Dmitry Karasik, <dmitry@karasik.eu.org>.

SEE ALSO

       Prima

perl v5.22.1                                       2009-02-24                                    Prima::Utils(3)