What: ffidl
Where: http://elf.org/ffidl/ Description: Extension which allows pure Tcl extensions to invoke shared library functions without glue. Available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. Currently at version 0.6 . Updated: ??/2006 Contact: mailto:[email protected] (Roger E. Critchlow Jr.)
RM you can find a version 0.6 at [L1 ] (see below for details).
LV Someone should contact the author to discuss version 0.6 with him.
DAS I have done so at the time I made 0.6 available, Roger responded that he would look at and integrate the changes eventually.
kostix 21-Jan-2007: I've found 0.6 available on its official site. Probably DAS should further edit this page since his changes are now in the trunk.
Roger E Critchlow [L2 ] has made an experimental release of ffidl, an experimental package that allows you to call C functions using pure Tcl wrappers. You specify a function name, a library, a list of argument types, and a return type, and Ffidl takes care of the nasty details of converting a Tcl command call into a C function call for you. So, if you have a shared library and a specification of the entries in the library, you can wrap the library into a Tcl extension with Ffidl and pure Tcl.
(The quotation is from the ffidl manual at [L3 ].)
Ffidl supports calls in both directions between C/C++ and Tcl, and operates on a variety of platforms.
The name, by the way, appears to stand for "Foreign Function Interface with Dynamic Loading."
DLR Including ffidl in the core would be a huge boost to Tcl, and specially, Tcllib, as many modules could be written in pure Tcl. Part of the success of Mono/.NET is its P/Invoke feature which allows it to effortlessly wrap native libraries. The Mono implementation uses (or at least used to do) ffidl at its core.
Rolf Schroedter gave a example on c.l.t on the use of ffidl
To give you an impression about the use of ffidl, look at the following C and TCL-declarations: --- file foo.h: --- int foo_init( int adr, int log ); int foo_done( void ); int foo_info( FOO_INFO *infoPtr ); /* FOO_INFO is a structure */ int foo_open( const char *port ); --- file foo.tcl: --- load ffidl05.dll set DLL foo.dll ffidl::callout foo_init {int int} int [ffidl::symbol $DLL foo_init] ffidl::callout foo_done {} int [ffidl::symbol $DLL foo_done] ffidl::callout foo_info {pointer-var} int [ffidl::symbol $DLL foo_info] ffidl::callout foo_open {pointer-utf8} int [ffidl::symbol $DLL foo_open]
[Explain Rolf Schroedter's screensaver example in http://groups.google.com/groups?th=ec295f4a4849b362 .]
#Rolf Schroedter #German Aerospace Center #Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration load ffidl05.dll ffidl::callout dll_FindWindow {pointer-utf8 pointer-utf8} int [ffidl::symbol user32.dll FindWindowA] ffidl::callout dll_FindWindowTitle {int pointer-utf8} int [ffidl::symbol user32.dll FindWindowA] ffidl::callout dll_FindWindowClass {pointer-utf8 int} int [ffidl::symbol user32.dll FindWindowA] ffidl::callout dll_SetWindowPos {int int int int int int int} int [ffidl::symbol user32.dll SetWindowPos] ffidl::callout dll_SystemParametersInfo {int int pointer int} int [ffidl::symbol user32.dll SystemParametersInfoA] proc FindWindow { class title } { if { [string length $class] == 0 } { dll_FindWindowTitle 0 $title } elseif { [string length $title] == 0 } { dll_FindWindowClass $class 0 } else { dll_FindWindow $class $title } } proc SetWindowPos { hwnd after x y cx cy {flags 0} } { array set VAL {TOP 0 BOTTOM 1 TOPMOST -1 NOTOPMOST -2} set iAfter $VAL([string toupper $after]) dll_SetWindowPos $hwnd $iAfter $x $y $cx $cy $flags } proc SetupScreenSaver { bool } { dll_SystemParametersInfo 97 $bool 0 0 ;# SPI_SCREENSAVERRUNNING=97 } proc exit? {} { set answer [tk_messageBox -message "Really quit?" -type yesno -icon question] switch -- $answer { yes { SetupScreenSaver 0 exit } no {} } } proc ScreenSaver {win} { set size(X) [winfo screenwidth .] set size(Y) [winfo screenheight .] toplevel $win wm title $win "TclScreenSaver" ;# to find the window wm overrideredirect $win true $win configure -relief flat -bd 0 $win configure -cursor hand2 ;# Ohne cursor ??? update idletasks ;# virtually display $win, allows window to be found set hwnd [FindWindow "" "TclScreenSaver"] set res1 [SetWindowPos $hwnd TOPMOST 0 0 $size(X) $size(Y)] ;# ever makes full screen set res2 [SetupScreenSaver 1] canvas $win.c -background yellow -width $size(X) -height $size(Y) -relief flat -bd 0 pack $win.c -expand yes -fill both focus -force $win bind $win <Key> exit? bind $win <Motion> {} } wm withdraw . ScreenSaver .scr
Per: Rob Hegt post on c.l.t Subject: solution for regaining focus from OpTcl hosted ActiveX control
load lib/ffidl05.dll ffidl::callout dll_SetFocus {int} int [ffidl::symbol user32.dll SetFocus] proc GrabFocus {args} {dll_SetFocus [winfo id .]}
Then just bind GrabFocus to some event. In the post he uses <button> .
bind . <Button> +GrabFocus
Michael Jacobson ~ Also see always on top for a another example.
Michael Jacobson ~ AutoIt wrapper code using Ffidl is here [L4 ].
ZLM ~ web2desktop includes an example of using ffidl to set the Windows desktop background.
Another small example from Matthias Hoffmann: A wrapper around Microsoft's API-Call NetMessageBufferSend (available via commandline through the net send subcommand; see [L5 ]):
package require Ffidl 0.5 ffidl::callout dll_netSend {pointer-utf16 pointer-utf16 pointer-utf16 pointer-utf16 long} long \ [ffidl::symbol netapi32.dll NetMessageBufferSend] proc netSend {dest mesg {srv {}}} { set from $::tcl_platform(user) # or: # set from [info host] # (only these two alternatives seems to work...) return [dll_netSend $srv $dest $from $mesg [expr [string length $mesg]*2]] }
This is to send small messages to computers or users or workgroups, which will immediately popup on the screen (using NT/2000/XP, if the messenger service is started, or with DOS/Win3x/9x, if winpopup/netpop.exe is running) - a task often needed by administrators! Note: The data-type-definitions are somewhat tricky.... With the srv Argument it is theoretically possible to specify the system which will perform the sending task - (example: \\machine1), but this involves some complex security aspects...
kostix offers a solution for getting "special folders" on Windows platforms. While TWAPI can do this out-of-the-box, it doesn't work on Win9x and is big. Ffidl doesn't have these limitations. See: Getting "special folders" on Windows with Ffidl.
An energetic person could use SWIG to wrap all the standard Win32api to make it accessible in a more-or-less standard way for Tcl. No one yet seems motivated to do this. 10/28/03 - TWAPI seems to have taken this concept and turned it into code.
critcl provides an alternative way approach for "calling functions in arbitrary dynamic libraries" [L6 ].
AM Here is an example of the use of [ffdil] for calling Fortran routines in a DLL
Yet another dll caller provides advanced data type handling over FFidl in a Windows-only version. The examples are quite impressive. RT
DAS - I have updated Ffidl to support Darwin/Mac OS X, as well as modernized it in other ways:
the testsuite is just the existing tests wrapped into .test files.
updated docs at [L7 ], source tarball at [L8 ] and full source tarball (also including libffi and ffcall sources) at [L9 ].
Ffidl either uses unmodified ffcall 1.10 [L10 ] or the HEAD of libffi from the gcc CVS [L11 ] with a small patch to the buildsystem to make it build standalone (i.e. without relying on the gcc sourcetree structure) [L12 ]. Note that libffi is under BSD license but ffcall is GPLd.
The diff of ffidl.c against the 0.5 version is available for info [L13 ].
Mac OS X ffidl binaries (with libffi) are available as installer package or tarball [L14 ].
A Windows ffidl binary (with libffi) built with MinGW on WIndowsXP in VirtualPC is now also available [L15 ].
I have tested & exercised this quite extensively on Mac OS X 10.3 (with both libffi and ffcall), and have verified that it builds and passes the testsuite on Windows XP with MinGW (in Virtual PC on my Mac...).
I have also built ffidl and run the testsuite on all the machines in the sourceforge compilefarm [L16 ]:
hosts passing the testuite with both libffi and ffcall:
host core dumping when running the testsuite (with both libffi and ffcall):
hosts passing the testuite with ffcall, but where building the libffi library fails:
the last two may be fixable by reverting to an earlier version of libffi
DAS - The script below is a brief demo of Ffidl's usefulness for accessing Carbon APIs on Mac OS X, in particular it shows a carbon event handler implemented in tcl. It also shows how to access Tk APIs via the new [::ffidl::stubsymbol].
The demo installs the the system wide hotkey Cmd-Shift-A, pressing it makes the blue labelframe flash red. Note how the hotkey works even with Wish not in front...
#!/bin/sh # # Let's ffidl with Carbon HotKeys! # # Copyright (c) 2005, Daniel A. Steffen <[email protected]> # BSD License: c.f. <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license> # #\ exec wish $0 "$@" package require Tk package require Ffidl namespace eval carbon { ::ffidl::typedef EventHotKeyID {unsigned long} uint32 ::ffidl::typedef EventTypeSpec uint32 uint32 ::ffidl::typedef EventTargetRef pointer ::ffidl::typedef OSStatus sint32 ::ffidl::callout RegisterEventHotKey {uint32 uint32 EventHotKeyID EventTargetRef \ uint32 pointer-var} OSStatus \ [::ffidl::symbol Carbon.framework/Carbon RegisterEventHotKey] ::ffidl::callout GetApplicationEventTarget {} EventTargetRef \ [::ffidl::symbol Carbon.framework/Carbon GetApplicationEventTarget] ::ffidl::callout InstallEventHandler {EventTargetRef pointer-proc uint32 pointer-byte \ pointer pointer-var} OSStatus \ [::ffidl::symbol Carbon.framework/Carbon InstallEventHandler] ::ffidl::callout XKeysymToKeycode {pointer {unsigned long}} {unsigned long} \ [::ffidl::stubsymbol tk intXLibStubs 35]; #XKeysymToKeycode ::ffidl::callout TkStringToKeysym {pointer-utf8} {unsigned long} \ [::ffidl::stubsymbol tk intStubs 86]; #TkStringToKeysym } proc hotkeyHandler {handlerCallRef event userData} { .l configure -bg red after 200 .l configure -bg blue return 0 } proc installHotKey {key} { labelframe .l -width 100 -height 100 -bg blue pack .l ::ffidl::callback hotkeyHandler {pointer pointer pointer} OSStatus set EventHandlerRef [binary format I 0] set res [carbon::InstallEventHandler [carbon::GetApplicationEventTarget] hotkeyHandler 1 \ [binary format a4I keyb 5] 0 EventHandlerRef] if {$res} {puts stderr "InstallEventHandler failed: $res"; exit -1} set keycode [expr {[carbon::XKeysymToKeycode 0 [carbon::TkStringToKeysym $key]]>>16}] set modifiers [expr {1 << 8 | 1 << 9}]; #Cmd-Shift #set modifiers [expr {1 << 8}]; #Cmd set EventHotKeyRef [binary format I 0] set res [carbon::RegisterEventHotKey $keycode $modifiers [binary format a4I wish 1] \ [carbon::GetApplicationEventTarget] 0 EventHotKeyRef] if {$res} {puts stderr "RegisterEventHotKey failed: $res"; exit -1} } installHotKey A
DAS - How to set the application menu name at runtime on Mac OS X using undocumented Apple SPI:
package require Tk package require Ffidl 0.6 ::ffidl::callout CPSSetProcessName {pointer-byte pointer-utf8} sint32 \ [::ffidl::symbol /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/CoreGraphics CPSSetProcessName] CPSSetProcessName [binary format I2 {0 2}] "MyCoolApp"
and how to show or hide the current application: (also see tclCarbonProcesses)
::ffidl::callout ShowHideProcess {pointer-byte int} sint32 [::ffidl::symbol Carbon.framework/Carbon ShowHideProcess] ShowHideProcess [binary format I2 {0 2}] 1; #Show ShowHideProcess [binary format I2 {0 2}] 0; #Hide
DAS - Another Mac OS X example in response to a question on c.l.t. from Steven Myers [L17 ]
How to set the current application's dock tile from a png file (c.f. API docs [L18 ]):
#!/bin/sh # # Set the Dock Tile from a png file with Ffidl # # Copyright (c) 2005, Daniel A. Steffen <[email protected]> # BSD License: c.f. <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license> # #\ exec wish $0 "$@" package require Tk package require Ffidl namespace eval carbon { proc api {name argl ret lib} {::ffidl::callout $name $argl $ret \ [::ffidl::symbol $lib.framework/$lib $name]} proc type {name type} {::ffidl::typedef $name $type} proc const {name args} {variable {}; eval set [list ($name)] $args} type OSStatus sint32 type bool int type CFURLRef pointer type CGDataProviderRef pointer type CGImageRef pointer type CGColorRenderingIntent int const kCGRenderingIntentDefault 0 api CFURLCreateFromFileSystemRepresentation {pointer pointer-utf8 \ int bool} CFURLRef CoreFoundation api CFRelease {pointer} void CoreFoundation api CGDataProviderCreateWithURL {CFURLRef} CGDataProviderRef \ ApplicationServices api CGImageCreateWithPNGDataProvider {CGDataProviderRef pointer \ bool CGColorRenderingIntent} CGImageRef ApplicationServices api SetApplicationDockTileImage {CGImageRef} OSStatus Carbon proc setDockTileToPNG {pngFile} { if {[file exists $pngFile]} { set url [CFURLCreateFromFileSystemRepresentation 0 $pngFile \ [string bytelength $pngFile] 0] if {$url} { set dp [CGDataProviderCreateWithURL $url] if {$dp} { set img [CGImageCreateWithPNGDataProvider $dp 0 1 \ [const kCGRenderingIntentDefault]] if {$img} { SetApplicationDockTileImage $img CFRelease $img } CFRelease $dp } CFRelease $url } } } } carbon::setDockTileToPNG test.png
DAS - Yet another Mac OS X example on how to find the user's preferred locale (as set in system preferences 'International') via the CFLocale API:
Note that kroc has since found a way to get this info without resorting to Ffidl: [exec defaults read NSGlobalDomain AppleLocale]
#!/bin/sh # # Ffidling CFLocale # # Copyright (c) 2005, Daniel A. Steffen <[email protected]> # BSD License: c.f. <http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license> # #\ exec tclsh $0 "$@" package require Ffidl 0.6 namespace eval corefoundation { proc api {name argl ret} {::ffidl::callout $name $argl $ret \ [::ffidl::symbol CoreFoundation.framework/CoreFoundation $name]} api CFLocaleCopyCurrent {} pointer api CFLocaleGetIdentifier pointer pointer api CFStringGetLength pointer sint32 ::ffidl::typedef CFRange sint32 sint32 api CFStringGetCharacters {pointer CFRange pointer-var} void api CFRelease pointer void proc getLocaleIdentifier {} { set cfloc [CFLocaleCopyCurrent] set cfstr [CFLocaleGetIdentifier $cfloc] set len [CFStringGetLength $cfstr] set buf [binary format x[expr {2*$len}]] set range [binary format [::ffidl::info format CFRange] 0 $len] CFStringGetCharacters $cfstr $range buf CFRelease $cfloc encoding convertfrom unicode $buf } } puts [corefoundation::getLocaleIdentifier]
Category Package - Category Foreign Interfaces - Category Mac Category Windows