NAME

       gd_delete — remove an entry from a dirfile

SYNOPSIS

       #include <getdata.h>

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

DESCRIPTION

       The  gd_delete()  function  attempts  to delete the field or alias 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 entry, 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, or if it has
               aliases pointing to it.

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

       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_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)