ctypeslib(1)							   User Commands						      ctypeslib(1)

NAME

       h2xml - convert header files to XML intermediates
       xml2py - convert XML intermediates to Python ctypes interface

SYNOPSIS

       h2xml includefile ... [options] -o outputxmlfile
       xml2py xmlfile ... [options] -o outputpyfile

DESCRIPTION

       ctypeslib  is  a Python code generator capable of converting C header files into xml files (using gccxml), and then converting the xmlfiles
       into Python modules which define a ctypes interface to the corresponding C library.

       Ctypeslib is not ctypes.  Ctypes is included in Python 2.5+ and as an add-on for lower versions, while ctypeslib is a lesser  known  add-on
       written	by  the  ctypes author.  If you use ctypes a lot and are tired of setting argtypes and restype of the called functions, you should
       look into ctypeslib.  Ctypeslib can also set up data types and structures from C header files automatically.

       h2xml and xml2py are the user interface scripts to ctypeslib.  h2xml converts C header files into  xml  intermediates  (using  gccxml)  and
       xml2py  converts  these intermediates to Python files.  At the minimum, you can get automatic construction of the C types (structures, etc)
       in ctypes definitions.  With extra options, macro definitions can be expanded and the output Python file can be automatically linked (using
       ctypes) to the corresponding C library.

       The briefest example is:

	      h2xml header.h -o out_c.xml
	      xml2py out_c.xml -o out_c.py

       To obtain preprocessor symbols, you must use the -c flag to h2xml.  To automatically link to C libraries via ctypes, you muss pass the rel-
       evant libraries to xml2py with -l library.so.

OPTIONS

       h2xml options:

	      -h, --help
		     show brief help message

	      -q, --quiet

	      -D NAME[=VALUE]
		     macros to define

	      -U NAME
		     macros to undefine

	      -I DIRECTORY
		     additional include directories

	      -o XMLFILE
		     XML output filename

	      -c, --cpp-symbols
		     try to find #define symbols - this may give compiler errors, so it's off by default.

	      -k     don't delete the temporary files created (useful for finding problems)

       xml2py options:

	      -h, --help
		     show this help message and exit

	      -c     include source file location in comments

	      -d     include docstrings containing C prototype and source file location

	      -k TYPEKIND
		     kind of type descriptions to include: d = #defines, e = enumerations, f = functions, s = structures, t = typedefs

	      -l DLLS
		     libraries to search for exported functions

	      -o OUTPUT
		     output filename (if not specified, standard output will be used)

	      -r EXPRESSION
		     regular expression for symbols to include (if neither symbols nor expressions are specified,everything will be included)

	      -s SYMBOL
		     symbol to include (if neither symbols nor expressions are specified,everything will be included)

	      -v     verbose output

	      -w     add all standard windows dlls to the searched dlls list

	      -m module
		     Python module(s) containing symbols which will be imported instead of generated

	      --preload=DLL
		     dlls to be loaded before all others (to resolve symbols)

EXAMPLES

       Please see /usr/share/doc/python-ctypeslib/examples.Debian for examples and explanation.

SEE ALSO

       /usr/share/doc/python-ctypeslib/examples.Debian contains a brief tutorial on some key features

       Python docstrings (pydoc ctypeslib)

       Ctypeslib upstream is http://python.net/crew/theller/ctypes/ (see "Related Projects").

       For ctypes information, see http://docs.python.org/library/ctypes.html

AUTHOR

       ctypeslib was written by Thomas Heller <theller@ctypes.org>.

       This manual page was written by Richard Darst <rkd@zgib.net>, for the Debian project (and may be used by others).

ctypeslib							    March 2010							      ctypeslib(1)