


dbus-binding-tool(1)      User Commands      dbus-binding-tool(1)


NAME
       dbus-binding-tool - C language GLib bindings generation utility.

SYNOPSIS
       dbus-binding-tool     [--force]     [--help]     [--ignore-unsupported]
       [--mode=pretty|glib-client|glib-server] [--output=file]  [--prefix=sym-
       bol-prefix] [--version] [file...]

DESCRIPTION
       dbus-binding-tool  is  used  to  expose a GObject via D-Bus.  As input,
       dbus-binding-tool uses a D-Bus Introspection XML file.  As output,  the
       client-side  or  server-side  bindings  is generated.  This output is a
       header file which eases the use of a remote D-Bus  object.   Output  is
       sent  to  standard  out  or to the filename specified with the --output
       argument.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       The following is a sample D-Bus Introspection XML file which  describes
       an object that exposes one method, named ManyArgs:

       <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
       <node name="/com/example/MyObject">
         <interface name="com.example.MyObject">
           <method name="ManyArgs">
             <arg type="u" name="x" direction="in" />
             <arg type="s" name="str" direction="in" />
             <arg type="d" name="trouble" direction="in" />
             <arg type="d" name="d_ret" direction="out" />
             <arg type="s" name="str_ret" direction="out" />
           </method>
         </interface>
       </node>

       dbus-binding-tool  supports  annotations  in  the XML format to further
       control how the bindings are generated.

   client-side bindings
       When building client-side bindings, the --mode=glib-client argument  is
       used.     The   client-side   bindings   support   the   "org.freedesk-
       top.DBus.Glib.NoReply"  annotation.   This  is  specified  within   the
       <method>  tag  to  indicate that the client is not expecting a reply to
       the method call, so a reply should not be sent.  This is often used  to
       speed up rapid method calls where there are no "out" arguments, and not
       knowing if the method succeeded is an acceptable  compromise  to  halve
       the traffic on the bus.  For example:

       <method name "FooMethod">
         [...]
         <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.NoReply" value="yes"/>
         [...]
       </method>





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dbus-binding-tool(1)      User Commands      dbus-binding-tool(1)


   server-side bindings
       When  building server-side bindings, the --mode=glib-server argument is
       used.  Also the --prefix argument must be used  when  building  server-
       side  bindings  so  that functions in the generated output are prefexed
       with the specified value.  The server-side bindings support the follow-
       ing annotations:

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.CSymbol"

       This  annotation  is used to specify the C symbol names for the various
       types (interface, method, etc.), if it differs from the name D-Bus gen-
       erates.


       <interface name="com.example.MyObject">
         <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.CSymbol" value="my_object"/>
         [...]
         <method name "ManyArgs">
           <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.CSymbol" value="my_object_many_args"/>
           [...]
         </method>
       </interface>

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Async"

       This  annotation  marks  the  method  implementation as an asynchronous
       function, which does not return a response straight away but will  send
       the  response at some later point to complete the call. This is used to
       implement non-blocking services where method calls can take time.

       When a method is asynchronous, the function prototype is different.  It
       is required that the function conform to the following rules:

         o  The  function  must  return a value of type gboolean; TRUE on suc-
            cess, and FALSE otherwise.
         o  The first parameter is a pointer to an instance of the object.
         o  Following the object instance pointer are the method input values.
         o  The  final  parameter must be a (DBusGMethodInvocation *). This is
            used when sending the response message  back  to  the  client,  by
            calling dbus_g_method_return or dbus_g_method_return_error.

       For example:

       <method name "FooMethod">
         [...]
         <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Async" value="yes"/>
         [...]
       </method>

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Const"

       This  attribute can only be applied to "out" <arg> nodes, and specifies
       that the parameter is not being copied when returned. For example, this
       turns a 's' argument from a (char **) to a (const char **), and results



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dbus-binding-tool(1)      User Commands      dbus-binding-tool(1)


       in the argument not being freed by D-Bus after  the  message  is  sent.
       For example:

         <arg type="u" name="x" direction="out">
           <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.Const" value=""/>
         </arg>

       "org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ReturnVal"

       This attribute can only be applied to "out" <arg> nodes, and alters the
       expected function signature. It currently can be set to two values:  ""
       or "error". The argument marked with this attribute is not returned via
       a pointer  argument,  but  by  the  function's  return  value.  If  the
       attribute's  value is the empty string, the (GError *) argument is also
       omitted so there is no standard way to return an error value.  This  is
       very  useful  for  interfacing with existing code, as it is possible to
       match existing APIs. If the attribute's  value  is  "error",  then  the
       final argument is a (GError *) as usual.  For example:

         <arg type="u" name="x" direction="out">
           <annotation name="org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.ReturnVal" value=""/>
         </arg>

OPTIONS
       The following options are supported:

       --force

           Overwrite  the output file if it already exists with a newer times-
           tamp than the source files.



       --help

           Display usage information.



       --ignore-unsupported

           If set, then unsupported signatures  for  <method>  parameters  are
           ignored.



       --mode=pretty|glib-client|glib-server

           If  the value is "glib-client", then client bindings are generated.
           If the value is "glib-server", then server bindings are  generated.
           If  the value is "pretty", then the output is in a more human read-
           able format.





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dbus-binding-tool(1)      User Commands      dbus-binding-tool(1)


       --output=file

           Specify the output file.



       --prefix=symbol-prefix

           Functions in the generated output are prefixed with the symbol-pre-
           fix value.



       --version

           Display the version number of the dbus-binding-tool command.



OPERANDS
       The following operands are supported:

       file            A  list  of  one  or more input D-Bus Introspection XML
                       files to include in the generated output.



FILES
       The following files are used by this application:

       /usr/bin/dbus-binding-tool      Executable for the D-Bus  Binding  Tool
                                       application.



ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE         |      ATTRIBUTE VALUE        |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability                 |SUNWdbus-bindings            |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface stability          |Volatile                     |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO
       dbus-cleanup-sockets(1), dbus-daemon(1), dbus-monitor(1), dbus-send(1),
       dbus-uuidgen(1), libdbus-glib-1(3), attributes(5)

NOTES
       Written by Brian Cameron, Sun Microsystems Inc., 2009.





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