Trying to write a plugin - how to store a pointer

[John M McIntosh]

Although this seems correct at first, you run into trouble because  
SmallInteger has a finite range smaller than a 32bit integer.
Ignoring the 64bit needs  you would pass the value in as a Oops then  
do this

	pv := interpreterProxy positive32BitValueOf:  anAddressOops.
or perhaps
use positive64BitIntegerFor:  ?

on return you do this to pass the bits back.
	^ interpreterProxy positive32BitIntegerFor:  address

It's likely you need to look at finalization and registering an  
external object (Smalltalk registerExternalObject: )
to ensure you free things when the smalltalk object is GCed, and to  
check to see if the object is still valid save after an image restart to
prevent passing in a bogus address which your C plugin would  
cheerfully attempt to use.  MPEGFile has some example code in it.


On 23-Jan-06, at 3:01 PM, Todd Blanchard wrote:

> For various reasons, I'm wanting to build a plugin to a library  
> that requires me to hold onto pointers to things.  This means I  
> need to store the pointer in an ivar in a squeak object and use it  
> on subsequent calls.
>
> Can I get away with using a SmallInteger for this?  Basically doing  
> something like:
>
> primNewContext
> 	| ctx |
>
> 	self export: true.
> 	self primitive: 'primCreateContext' parameters: #().	
> 	self var: #ctx type: 'int'.
> 	ctx := self cCode: 'LIB_NewContext()'.
> 	^ctx.
>
> primDestroyContext: ctx
> 	self export: true.
> 	self primitive: 'primDestroyContext' parameters: #(SmallInteger).	
> 	self cCode: 'LIB_DestroyContext((void*)ctx)'.
>
> Or is this evil and I should consider a different technique?
> If this is evil, what is the good way to store external addresses  
> in ivars?
>
> Thanks

--
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John M. McIntosh <johnmci at smalltalkconsulting.com> 1-800-477-2659
Corporate Smalltalk Consulting Ltd.  http://www.smalltalkconsulting.com
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