gd_close(3)							      GETDATA							       gd_close(3)

NAME

       gd_close, gd_discard -- close a dirfile and free associated memory.

SYNOPSIS

       #include <getdata.h>

       int gd_close(DIRFILE *dirfile);

       int gd_discard(DIRFILE *dirfile);

DESCRIPTION

       The  gd_close()	function first calls gd_flush(3) (with field_code set to NULL) to flush all metadata changes to disk and to close all file
       handles associated with dirfile.  It then frees memory associated with the DIRFILE object.  If dirfile is NULL, nothing	happens,  and  the
       call succeeds.

       The  gd_discard()  function  behaves  similarly, except modified metadata is not written to disk, but simply discarded.	In order to ensure
       that modified data files associated with RAW fields are properly terminated, changes to RAW data files are still flushed to  disk  by  this
       function.  If dirfile was opened in read-only mode, gd_discard() and gd_close() behave identically.

       One  of	these functions should be called on all pointers returned by gd_cbopen(3), gd_open(3), and gd_invalid_dirfile(3), even if the call
       to those function failed.  After gd_close() or gd_discard() returns successfully, the pointer dirfile should be considered invalid.

       Metadata is written to disk using the current Standards Version as stored in the dirfile object.  See gd_dirfile_standards(3) to change	or
       report  the  current  Standards	Version.  If the dirfile metadata conforms to no known Standards Version, Standards non-compliant metadata
       will be written.

RETURN VALUE

       gd_close() and gd_discard() return zero on success.  On error, they do not de-allocate dirfile and set the dirfile error to a non-zero  er-
       ror value.  Possible error values are:

       GD_E_FLUSH
	       A  temporary  file  could not be opened into which to write the modified metadata, or renaming the temporary file over the original
	       fragment failed.

       GD_E_RAW_IO
	       An error occurred while trying to flush or close one or more open raw files.  In this case, another call to gd_close()  or  gd_dis-
	       card() may be attempted.

       The  dirfile error may be retrieved by calling gd_error(3).  A descriptive error string for the last error encountered can be obtained from
       a call to gd_error_string(3).

SEE ALSO

       gd_cbopen(3), gd_dirfile_standards(3), gd_error(3), gd_error_string(3), gd_flush(3), gd_invalid_dirfile(3), gd_open(3)

Version 0.7.0							  20 October 2010						       gd_close(3)