SbName(3)							       Coin								 SbName(3)

NAME

       SbName -

       The SbName class stores strings by reference.

       The class is used by Coin for storing keywords, names and other strings. They are stored in a manner where identical strings are guaranteed
       to map to the same memory address (as returned by the SbName::getString() method).

SYNOPSIS

       #include <Inventor/SbName.h>

   Public Member Functions
       SbName (void)
       SbName (const char *namestring)
       SbName (const SbString &str)
       SbName (const SbName &name)
       ~SbName ()
       const char * getString (void) const
       int getLength (void) const
       int operator! (void) const
       operator const char * (void) const

   Static Public Member Functions
       static SbBool isIdentStartChar (const char c)
       static SbBool isIdentChar (const char c)
       static SbBool isBaseNameStartChar (const char c)
       static SbBool isBaseNameChar (const char c)
       static const SbName & empty (void)

   Friends
       int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs)
       int operator== (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs)
       int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs)
       int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs)
       int operator!= (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs)
       int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs)

Detailed Description
       The SbName class stores strings by reference.

       The class is used by Coin for storing keywords, names and other strings. They are stored in a manner where identical strings are guaranteed
       to map to the same memory address (as returned by the SbName::getString() method).

       The main advantage of storing identical strings to the same memory address is that it simplifies comparison operations, and particularly
       when working with string data as keys in other data structures, like e.g. in hash (dictionary) tables.

       Apart from that, mapping identical strings to the same memory address can also save on memory resources, and provide run-time
       optimizations. String comparisons for SbName objects are very efficient, for instance.

       There is an aspect of using SbName instances that it is important to be aware of: since strings are stored permanently, using SbName
       instances in code where there is continually changing strings or the continual addition of new unique strings will in the end swamp memory
       resources. So where possible, use SbString instances instead.

       See also:
	   SbString

Constructor &; Destructor Documentation
   SbName::SbName (void)
       This is the default constructor.

   SbName::SbName (const char *namestring)
       Constructor. Adds the namestring string to the name table.

   SbName::SbName (const SbString &str)
       Constructor. Adds str to the name table.

   SbName::SbName (const SbName &name)
       Copy constructor.

   SbName::~SbName ()
       The destructor.

Member Function Documentation
   const char * SbName::getString (void) const
       This method returns pointer to character array for the name.

       The returned memory pointer for the character string is guaranteed to be valid for the remaining life time of the process, even after all
       SbName instances referencing the string has been destructed.

   int SbName::getLength (void) const
       This method returns the number of characters in the name.

   int SbName::operator! (void) const
       This unary operator results in FALSE if the SbName object is non-empty and TRUE if the SbName object is empty. An empty name contains a
       null-length string.

   SbName::operator const char * (void) const
       This operator returns a pointer to the character array for the name string. It is intended for implicit use. Use SbName::getString()
       explicitly instead of this operator - it might be removed later.

       See also:
	   const char * SbName::getString(void)

   SbBool SbName::isIdentStartChar (const charc) [static]
       This method checks if the c character is a valid identifier start character for a name.

       See also:
	   SbBool SbName::isIdentChar(const char c)

   SbBool SbName::isIdentChar (const charc) [static]
       This method checks if the c character is a valid character for a name.

       See also:
	   SbBool SbName::isIdentStartChar(const char c)

   SbBool SbName::isBaseNameStartChar (const charc) [static]
       Returns TRUE if the given character is valid for use as the first character of a name for an object derived from a class inheriting SoBase.

       SoBase derived objects needs to be named in a manner which will not clash with the special characters reserved as tokens in the syntax
       rules of Open Inventor and VRML files.

       Legal characters for the first character of an SoBase object name is underscore ('_') and any uppercase and lowercase alphabetic character
       from the ASCII character set (i.e. A-Z and a-z).

       This method is not part of the original Open Inventor API.

       See also:
	   isBaseNameChar()

   SbBool SbName::isBaseNameChar (const charc) [static]
       Returns TRUE if the given character is valid for use in naming object instances of classes derived from SoBase.

       SoBase derived objects needs to be named in a manner which will not clash with the special characters reserved as tokens in the syntax
       rules of Open Inventor and VRML files.

       Legal characters to use for an SoBase object name is any character from the ASCII character set from and including character 33 (hex 0x21)
       to and including 126 (hex 0x7e), except single and double apostrophes, the plus sign and punctuation, backslash and the curly braces.

       This method is not part of the original Open Inventor API.

       See also:
	   isBaseNameStartChar()

   const SbName & SbName::empty (void) [static]
       Returns an empty-string SbName instance.

       Since:
	   Coin 3.0

Friends And Related Function Documentation
   int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for equality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE otherwise.

   int operator== (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for equality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE otherwise.

   int operator== (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for equality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE otherwise.

   int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const char *rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for inequality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE if the names are equal.

   int operator!= (const char *lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for inequality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE if the names are equal.

   int operator!= (const SbName &lhs, const SbName &rhs) [friend]
       This operator checks for inequality and returns TRUE if so, and FALSE if the names are equal.

Author
       Generated automatically by Doxygen for Coin from the source code.

Version 3.1.3							  Wed May 23 2012							 SbName(3)