
dot.conf v1.0 - API description
=====================================================================


1.         dot.conf types
---------------------------------------------------------------------
1.0.              typedefs
1.1.              constants
1.2.              macros
1.3.              structures
1.3.1.            configfile_t
1.3.2.            configoption_t
1.3.3.            command_t

The API is built around the main data structures
      configfile_t
      configoption_t
and   command_t
Two other types are context_t and info_t, but these are only typedefs
from void!

configfile_t is the dotconf 'session' structure building the glue
between the various API parts. It stores things like the stream,
current filename or the line currently read. When using dot.conf
the first thing for the programmer to do is to receive a valid
configfile_t structure with the ->dotconf_create API call.

1.0. dot.conf's typedefs
==============================

typedef void        context_t;
typedef void        info_t;

typedef const char *(*dotconf_callback_t)(command_t *, context_t *);
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        the type of function called for each encountered command

typedef int (*dotconf_errorhandler_t)(configfile_t *, int, 
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  unsigned long, const char *);
        the type of the errorhandler callback

typedef const char *(*dotconf_contextchecker_t)(command_t *, unsigned long);
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        the type of the contextchecker


1.1. dot.conf's constants
==============================

CFG_BUFSIZE             4096
     max length of one line

CFG_MAX_OPTION            32
     max length of an option name

CFG_MAX_VALUE           4064
     max length of an options value

CFG_MAX_FILENAME         256
     max length of a filename (used when Include'ing)

CFG_VALUES                16
      max # of parameters an option can take. if an options
      gets more than CFG_VALUES paramters, the last one holds
	  the complete remaining unparsed string is passed 
      in list[CFG_VALUES-1].

CFG_INCLUDEPATH_ENV    "DC_INCLUDEPATH"
      the name of the environment variable used to find the
      search path for Include'ed files.



1.2. dot.conf's macros
==============================

DOTCONF_CB(__name)

   conveniently declare / define a callback function.


FUNC_ERRORHANDLER(__name)

   conveniently declare / define the errorhandler callback



1.3.1. configfile_t
==============================

FILE *stream
	the stream opened by dotconf_create. this field should only be
	used by dotconf_get_next_line for reading

char eof
	eof is set to one as soon as the END OF FILE has been reached.

size_t size
	this field is only used if there was a here-document to be handled.
	for here-documents dotconf allocates as much memory as the filesize.
	The result of the necessary stat() call is cached in this field.
	Do never rely on the value of this field!!

context_t *context
	the application's pointer to the context memory block. this field
	is set by dotconf_create, and used to fill in the corresponding
	field of the command_t when calling a command's callback

configoption_t const **config_options
	a list of configuration options dotconf's dotconf_handle_command
	can understand. Never write to this field yourself, use
	dotconf_register_command to handle this for you.

int config_option_count
	the number of modules that registered their options including
	dotconf's internal options and the core options of the app as given
	to dotconf_create.

char *filename
	the name of the configuration file

unsigned long line
	the line pointer in the file currently parsed

unsigned long flags
	the run-time flags as passed to dotconf_create. this value
	can be changed at run-time to have dot.conf act different at different
	stages of the configuration file (i.e. switch case (in)sensitive matching)

char *includepath
	the include-path for dot.conf's internal 'Include' option.
	This field is set to the value of the CFG_INCLUDEPATH_ENV environment
	by dotconf_create

dotconf_errorhandler_t errorhandler
	the errorhandler of the app; after creating your configfile_t set this
	field to your errorhandler function or leave it as NULL

dotconf_contextchecker_t contextchecker
	the contextchecker is responsible for telling dot.conf whether a
	command is valid in the current context. this callback is useful
	if you create several container commands that behave different
	according to their nesting (see Apache's Files, Directory and VirtualHost).


int (*cmp_func)(const char *, const char *, size_t)
	the function used to compare the first word of a buffer line with
	all commands registered in config_options. this will be set by the core
	to be strncmp or strncasecmp depending on the matching type you chose
	via the flags. again, changing this at any point during the parsing
	will have an immediate effect.



1.3.2. configoption_t
==============================

const char *name
	the name of the configuration option dot.conf should understand

int type
	the type of the data your app expects. possible values are:
	ARG_NONE - your app does not expect any args; dot.conf will not parse
               any args even if some were given.
	ARG_RAW - unparsed string with whatever was on the line
              line continuation has been handled, environment variable
              substitution not.
	ARG_STR - the first argument (i.e. anything up to the first unquoted,
              unescaped whitespace character
	ARG_INT - like ARG_STR, but atoi() is called on the value found
	ARG_TOGGLE - your app gets 0 for off, and 1 for on; recognized values are
				 On/Off, 1/0, Yes/No
	ARG_LIST - the application expects several ARG_STRs in a char **list.
	ARG_NAME - fallback to catch unknown commands. This is for instance
               especially useful to parse files like Apache's mime.types.
               If an ARG_NAME is given as the last item of the command table,
               dot.conf handles the commands as known, and does everything
               it would have done for an ARG_LIST option.

dotconf_callback_t callback
	the function to be called if the given command name is encountered

info_t *info
	additional info for the callback to operate with

unsigned long context
	the context flag; this will be passed to the apps configchecker



1.3.3. command_t
==============================

const char *name
	the name of the configuration option as in the app's command table.
	for ARG_NAME type options this is the name of the unmatched/unknown
	command.

configoption_t *option
	a pointer to the full entry of the command table that corresponds to
	the current option

struct { 
	long value; 
	char *str; 
	char **list; 
} data
	the data found when parsing.
	data.value - this is used for ARG_INT and ARG_TOGGLE options
	data.str   - is only used for ARG_STR type options
	data.list  - list is filled for ARG_LIST and ARG_NAME options
                 data.list is terminated by a NULL entry

int arg_count
	only set for ARG_LIST items; this is set to the number of items in
	data.list. the last item of the list is data.list[arg_count-1].

configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session currently active

context_t *context
	the context pointer you passed to dotconf_create when generating your
	configfile_t *.



2.         Function Reference
---------------------------------------------------------------------
2.1. dotconf_create
2.2. dotconf_cleanup
2.3. dotconf_register_options
2.4. dotconf_command_loop
2.5. dotconf_command_loop_until_error
2.6. dotconf_get_next_line
2.7. dotconf_handle_command
2.8. dotconf_warning


2.1.  dotconf_create
==============================
 
configfile_t *dotconf_create(char *filename, const configoption_t *options,
                             context_t *context, unsigned long flags);

description:
        dotconf_create returns a pointer to a configfile_t structure after
        initializing it. The values you pass are stored in it for future
        reference.

parameters:
   char *filename
 	the filename of the configuration file you want to parse in
 	this session. The filename is only read by dot.conf.

   const configoption_t *options
 	this parameter lets dot.conf know about the commands you want
 	it to understand. The configoption_t's tell dot.conf which
 	of your callbacks is responsible for a specific command.

   context_t *context
 	in context you can pass a pointer to the structure
 	holding anything necessary to keep a context when parsing.
 	This pointer is passed to your command callbacks as a field
 	in command_t, so you can access it at any time.

   unsigned long flags
 	this parameters sets the runtime flags to consider when
 	parsing. This controls important core functionality.
 	See Section 'Runtime Flags' for details on supported values.

return value:
	configfile_t *
        the dot.conf session structure, which is to be used in every
        call to another dot.conf API function.

sideeffects:
        the returned configfile_t* is malloc()ed, and the field 'stream' is
        fopen()ed. Do not clean this by hand, but use dotconf_cleanup instead.



2.2.  dotconf_cleanup
==============================

void dotconf_cleanup(configfile_t *configfile);

description:
	dotconf_cleanup cleans up behind whatever dotconf_create and friends
		did to and with the configfile_t* that is given as the argument.

parameters:
	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create.

return value:
	void



2.3.  dotconf_register_options
==============================

void dotconf_register_options(configfile_t *configfile, 
                              const configoption_t *options);

description:
	this function registers additional known configuration commands at 
	runtime. the next time dot.conf needs to match an option, these
	newly registered options are taken into account.

parameters:
	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create

	const configoption_t *options
 	this parameter lets dot.conf know about the commands you want
 	it to understand. The configoption_t's tell dot.conf which
 	of your callbacks is responsible for a specific command.

return value:
	void


2.4.  dotconf_command_loop
==============================

int dotconf_command_loop(configfile_t *configfile);

description:
	this function iterates through all lines of the configuration file
	passing the buffer filled by dotconf_get_next_line to 
	dotconf_handle_command. On error dotconf_command_loop calls
	dotconf_warning.

parameters:
	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create

return value:
	int
	dotconf_command_loop returns zero on failure and non-zero for success.
	success means, that the parsing is done now.


2.5.  dotconf_command_loop_until_error
==============================

int dotconf_command_loop_until_error(configfile_t *configfile);

description:
	this function iterates through all lines of the configuration file
	passing the buffer filled by dotconf_get_next_line to 
	dotconf_handle_command. On error this function exits returning the
	error.

parameters:
	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create

return value:
	const char *
	dotconf_command_loop_until error returns the first error it stumbles over
	or NULL if everything went fine


2.6.  dotconf_get_next_line
==============================

int dotconf_get_next_line(char *buffer, 
						  size_t bufsize, configfile_t *configfile);

description:
	this function reads the next line from the configfile, increments
	line counter, and handles the line continuation.

parameters:
	char *buffer
	the buffer where the line should be written to

	size_t bufsize
	the size of the buffer

	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create

return value:
	int
	zero indicates success, and non-zero means that some error occurred


2.7.  dotconf_handle_command
==============================

const char *dotconf_handle_command(configfile_t *configfile, char *buffer);

description:
	handles commands. This function further parses the line buffer and
	tries to match up the first word found as the command. If the command
	exists it parses all commands arguments and stuffs them into a
	command_t structure. Where appropriate here-documents or quotings are
	handled, and the environment variable substitution is tried on every
	ARG_STR / ARG_LIST command argument except here-documents.

parameters:
	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create
	
	char *buffer
	the buffer as filled by dotconf_get_next_line

return value:
	const char *
	the error message as returned by the command callbacks for instance; 
	NULL if everything went ok.


2.8.  dotconf_warning
==============================

int dotconf_warning(configfile_t *configfile,
					int type, unsigned long errnum, const char *fmt, ...);

description:
	dotconf_warning is responsible for dispatching any messages either
	through the internal handler (i.e. fprintf) or through the app's
	errorhandler.

parameters:
	configfile_t *configfile
	the dot.conf session structure as returned by dotconf_create

	int type
	type of the message; analogous to syslog-style types:
	DCLOG_EMERG, DCLOG_ALERT, DCLOG_CRIT, DCLOG_ERR, DCLOG_WARNING,
	DCLOG_NOTICE, DCLOG_INFO, DCLOG_DEBUG

	unsigned long errnum
	the error number. this is up to the app what values to put here.
	I suggest using numbers above ERR_USER for own error numbers to
	not be conflicting with dotconf's internal error numbers.

	const char *fmt, ...
	a printf style message format. the message will be prepared via
	vsnprintf before passing it to your errorhandler.

return value:
	int
	the value returned here affects how dotconf_command_loop reacts to errors.
	a value of zero, which is returned by the internal handler, will
	make the command loop to read on. non-zero tells the loop to immediately
	exit after printing the error.



