SoType Class Reference

SoType has no virtual functions to keep it small... More...

#include <Inventor/SoType.h>

List of all members.

Public Member Functions
SbName	getName () const
	Returns the name associated with a type.
SoType	getParent () const
	Returns the type of the parent class.
SbBool	isBad () const
	Returns TRUE if the type is a bad type.
SbBool	isDerivedFrom (SoType t) const
	Returns TRUE if the type is derived from type t.
SbBool	canCreateInstance () const
	Some types are able to create instances; for example, most nodes and engines (those which are not abstract classes) can be created this way.
void *	createInstance () const
	Creates and returns a pointer to an instance of the type.
int	operator== (const SoType t) const
	Returns TRUE if this type is the same as or not the same as the given type.
int	operator!= (const SoType t) const
	Returns TRUE if this type is the same as or not the same as the given type.
int	operator< (const SoType t) const
	Less-than comparison operator that can be used to sort types.
short	getData () const
	Get data.
short	getKey () const
	Returns the type key as a short.
void	makeInternal ()
	Mark this type as internal; if internal, getAllDerivedFrom and fromName will not return the type.
Static Public Member Functions
static SoType	fromName (SbName name)
	Returns the type associated with the given name.
static SoType	badType ()
	Returns an always-illegal type. Useful for returning errors.
static int	getAllDerivedFrom (SoType type, SoTypeList &list)
	Adds all types derived from the given type to the given type list.
static SoType	createType (SoType parent, SbName name, void *(*createMethod)()=NULL, short data=0)
	Create a new type.
static SoType	overrideType (SoType existingType, void *(*createMethod)()=NULL)
	Make an new type act like an existing type.
static void	init ()
	Initialize the type system.
static int	getNumTypes ()
	Get the number of types currently registed in the types dictionary.

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Detailed Description

Stores runtime type information.

The SoType class keeps track of runtime type information in Inventor. Each type is associated with a given name, so lookup is possible in either direction.

Many Inventor classes request a unique SoType when they are initialized. This type can then be used to find out the actual class of an instance when only its base class is known, or to obtain an instance of a particular class given its type or name.

Note that the names associated with types of Inventor classes do not contain the "So" prefix.

See Also

SoAction, SoBase, SoDetail, SoError, SoEvent, SoField

Definition at line 103 of file SoType.h.

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Member Function Documentation

static SoType SoType::badType

(

)

[static]

SbBool SoType::canCreateInstance

(

)

const

This method returns TRUE if the type supports such creation.

void* SoType::createInstance

(

)

const

Returns NULL if an instance could not be created for some reason. The pointer is returned as a generic pointer, but can be cast to the appropriate type. For example:

 SoCube *c = (SoCube *) SoCube::getClassTypeId().createInstance();

is a convoluted way of creating a new instance of an SoCube.

static SoType SoType::createType	(	SoType	parent,
		SbName	name,
		void *(*)()	createMethod = NULL,
		short	data = 0
	)		[static]

static SoType SoType::fromName

(

SbName

name

)

[static]

static int SoType::getAllDerivedFrom	(	SoType	type,
		SoTypeList &	list
	)		[static]

Returns the number of types added.

short SoType::getData

(

)

const [inline]

Definition at line 180 of file SoType.h.

Referenced by SoNode::getActionMethodIndex().

short SoType::getKey

(

)

const [inline]

Definition at line 183 of file SoType.h.

SbName SoType::getName

(

)

const

static int SoType::getNumTypes

(

)

[inline, static]

This is used by SoAction when setting up the action method list.

Definition at line 191 of file SoType.h.

SoType SoType::getParent

(

)

const

static void SoType::init

(

)

[static]

SbBool SoType::isBad

(

)

const [inline]

Definition at line 122 of file SoType.h.

SbBool SoType::isDerivedFrom

(

SoType

t

)

const

void SoType::makeInternal

(

)

int SoType::operator!=

(

const SoType

t

)

const [inline]

Definition at line 152 of file SoType.h.

References index.

int SoType::operator<

(

const SoType

t

)

const [inline]

This is pretty useless otherwise.

Definition at line 157 of file SoType.h.

References index.

int SoType::operator==

(

const SoType

t

)

const [inline]

Definition at line 149 of file SoType.h.

References index.

static SoType SoType::overrideType	(	SoType	existingType,
		void *(*)()	createMethod = NULL
	)		[static]

The new type MUST be a C++ subclass of the original (e.g. MyCubeClass must be derived from SoCube), but there is no way for us to check that. This can be used to get the database to create a different subclass whenever it reads in a SoNode class from a file.

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Member Data Documentation

unsigned int SoType::data

Definition at line 197 of file SoType.h.

unsigned int SoType::index

Definition at line 198 of file SoType.h.

Referenced by operator!=(), operator<(), and operator==().

unsigned int SoType::isPublic

Definition at line 200 of file SoType.h.

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The documentation for this class was generated from the following file:

• MeVis/ThirdParty/Sources/Inventor/inventor/lib/database/include/Inventor/SoType.h