pmdaopenhelp(3) [centos man page]

PMDAHELP(3)						     Library Functions Manual						       PMDAHELP(3)

NAME

       pmdaOpenHelp, pmdaGetHelp, pmdaGetInDomHelp, pmdaCloseHelp - help text support for a PMDA

C SYNOPSIS

       #include <pcp/pmapi.h>
       #include <pcp/impl.h>
       #include <pcp/pmda.h>

       int pmdaOpenHelp(char *fname);
       char *pmdaGetHelp(int handle, pmID pmid, int type);
       char *pmdaGetInDomHelp(int handle, pmInDom indom, int type);
       void pmdaCloseHelp(int handle);

       cc ... -lpcp_pmda -lpcp

DESCRIPTION

       As  part  of the Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) API (see PMDA(3)), this group of routines is used to implement the processing of a
       PMDA's metric help information.

       These routines are really intended for internal use, and should not need to be called directly from any PMDA code.

       Briefly, the base name of the help text file (as created by newhelp(1)) is passed in via a -h command line option for a daemon PMDA  or	as
       an  argument  to pmdaDaemon(3) or pmdaDSO(3).  Then pmdaOpenHelp is called from pmdaInit(3) and returns a handle that is used in subsequent
       calls to identify a particular help text collection (each PMDA typically has only one such collection).

       Requests for help text are passed to pmdaText(3) which calls pmdaGetHelp or pmdaGetInDomHelp as required.

       Other than error cases in pmdaOpenHelp, pmdaCloseHelp is not called.

DIAGNOSTICS

       pmdaOpenHelp returns a negative value for failure, suitable for decoding with pmErrStr(3).  pmdaGetHelp and pmdaGetInDomHelp return NULL if
       the corresponding help text does not exist.

CAVEAT

       The PMDA must be using PMDA_PROTOCOL_2 or later, as specified in the call to pmdaDSO(3) or pmdaDaemon(3).

SEE ALSO

       newhelp(1), PMAPI(3), PMDA(3), pmdaDaemon(3), pmdaDSO(3), pmdaInit(3), pmdaText(3) and pmErrStr(3).

Performance Co-Pilot							PCP							       PMDAHELP(3)

PMDATEXT(3)						     Library Functions Manual						       PMDATEXT(3)

NAME

       pmdaText - extract metric help text for a PMDA

C SYNOPSIS

       #include <pcp/pmapi.h>
       #include <pcp/impl.h>
       #include <pcp/pmda.h>

       int pmdaText(int ident, int type, char **buffer, pmdaExt *pmda);

       cc ... -lpcp_pmda -lpcp

DESCRIPTION

       As  part of the Performance Metrics Domain Agent (PMDA) API (see PMDA(3)), pmdaText uses the standard PMDA(3) data structures to return the
       help text for metric ident in buffer.  The help text must be located in help text files created with newhelp(1), and the  associated  files
       are automatically opened by pmdaInit(3).

       The  path  to the (basename of the) help text files can be set in the calls to pmdaDSO(3) or pmdaDaemon(3) and overridden by the -h command
       line option in pmdaGetOpt(3).

       The encoding of ident follows the internal scheme used below the routines pmLookupText(3) and pmLookupInDomText(3),  namely  ident  encodes
       either a metric identifier or an instance domain identifier, according to the value of type.

       The  type  argument  is	a  bit	mask  that  encodes  the  interpretation  of ident and the requested form of help text, as follows: either
       PM_TEXT_PMID if ident is a metric identifier, or PM_TEXT_INDOM if ident is an instance domain identifier, plus either  PM_TEXT_ONELINE  for
       the one line help text or PM_TEXT_HELP for the full help text.

       The buffer is managed internally (usually it is cached), and it should not be released or freed by the caller of pmdaText.

DIAGNOSTICS

       If the requested help text could not be obtained, pmdaText will return PM_ERR_TEXT.

CAVEAT

       The PMDA must be using PMDA_PROTOCOL_2 or later, as specified in the call to pmdaDSO(3) or pmdaDaemon(3).

SEE ALSO

       newhelp(1), malloc(3), PMAPI(3), PMDA(3), pmdaDaemon(3), pmdaDSO(3), pmdaInit(3), pmLookupInDomText(3) and pmLookupText(3).

Performance Co-Pilot							PCP							       PMDATEXT(3)