Tcl_CreateTrace(3TCL) Tcl Library Procedures Tcl_CreateTrace(3TCL)
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NAME
Tcl_CreateTrace, Tcl_CreateObjTrace, Tcl_DeleteTrace - arrange for command execution to be traced
SYNOPSIS
#include <tcl.h>
Tcl_Trace
Tcl_CreateTrace(interp, level, proc, clientData)
Tcl_Trace
Tcl_CreateObjTrace(interp, level, flags, objProc, clientData, deleteProc)
Tcl_DeleteTrace(interp, trace)
ARGUMENTS
Tcl_Interp *interp (in) Interpreter containing command to be traced or untraced.
int level (in) Only commands at or below this nesting level will be traced unless 0 is specified.
1 means top-level commands only, 2 means top-level commands or those that are
invoked as immediate consequences of executing top-level commands (procedure bodies,
bracketed commands, etc.) and so on. A value of 0 means that commands at any level
are traced.
int flags (in) Flags governing the trace execution. See below for details.
Tcl_CmdObjTraceProc *objProc (in) Procedure to call for each command that's executed. See below for details of the
calling sequence.
Tcl_CmdTraceProc *proc (in) Procedure to call for each command that's executed. See below for details on the
calling sequence.
ClientData clientData (in) Arbitrary one-word value to pass to objProc or proc.
Tcl_CmdObjTraceDeleteProc *deleteProc Procedure to call when the trace is deleted. See below for details of the calling
sequence. A NULL pointer is permissible and results in no callback when the trace
is deleted.
Tcl_Trace trace (in) Token for trace to be removed (return value from previous call to Tcl_CreateTrace).
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DESCRIPTION
Tcl_CreateObjTrace arranges for command tracing. After it is called, objProc will be invoked before the Tcl interpreter calls any command
procedure when evaluating commands in interp. The return value from Tcl_CreateObjTrace is a token for the trace, which may be passed to
Tcl_DeleteTrace to remove the trace. There may be many traces in effect simultaneously for the same interpreter.
objProc should have arguments and result that match the type, Tcl_CmdObjTraceProc:
typedef int Tcl_CmdObjTraceProc(
ClientData clientData,
Tcl_Interp* interp,
int level,
CONST char* command,
Tcl_Command commandToken,
int objc,
Tcl_Obj *CONST objv[] );
The clientData and interp parameters are copies of the corresponding arguments given to Tcl_CreateTrace. ClientData typically points to an
application-specific data structure that describes what to do when objProc is invoked. The level parameter gives the nesting level of the
command (1 for top-level commands passed to Tcl_Eval by the application, 2 for the next-level commands passed to Tcl_Eval as part of pars-
ing or interpreting level-1 commands, and so on). The command parameter points to a string containing the text of the command, before any
argument substitution. The commandToken parameter is a Tcl command token that identifies the command to be invoked. The token may be
passed to Tcl_GetCommandName, Tcl_GetCommandTokenInfo, or Tcl_SetCommandTokenInfo to manipulate the definition of the command. The objc and
objv parameters designate the final parameter count and parameter vector that will be passed to the command, and have had all substitutions
performed.
The objProc callback is expected to return a standard Tcl status return code. If this code is TCL_OK (the normal case), then the Tcl
interpreter will invoke the command. Any other return code is treated as if the command returned that status, and the command is not
invoked.
The objProc callback must not modify objv in any way. It is, however, permissible to change the command by calling Tcl_SetCommandTokenInfo
prior to returning. Any such change takes effect immediately, and the command is invoked with the new information.
Tracing will only occur for commands at nesting level less than or equal to the level parameter (i.e. the level parameter to objProc will
always be less than or equal to the level parameter to Tcl_CreateTrace).
Tracing has a significant effect on runtime performance because it causes the bytecode compiler to refrain from generating in-line code for
Tcl commands such as if and while in order that they may be traced. If traces for the built-in commands are not required, the flags param-
eter may be set to the constant value TCL_ALLOW_INLINE_COMPILATION. In this case, traces on built-in commands may or may not result in
trace callbacks, depending on the state of the interpreter, but run-time performance will be improved significantly. (This functionality
is desirable, for example, when using Tcl_CreateObjTrace to implement an execution time profiler.)
Calls to objProc will be made by the Tcl parser immediately before it calls the command procedure for the command (cmdProc). This occurs
after argument parsing and substitution, so tracing for substituted commands occurs before tracing of the commands containing the substitu-
tions. If there is a syntax error in a command, or if there is no command procedure associated with a command name, then no tracing will
occur for that command. If a string passed to Tcl_Eval contains multiple commands (bracketed, or on different lines) then multiple calls
to objProc will occur, one for each command.
Tcl_DeleteTrace removes a trace, so that no future calls will be made to the procedure associated with the trace. After Tcl_DeleteTrace
returns, the caller should never again use the trace token.
When Tcl_DeleteTrace is called, the interpreter invokes the deleteProc that was passed as a parameter to Tcl_CreateObjTrace. The
deleteProc must match the type, Tcl_CmdObjTraceDeleteProc:
typedef void Tcl_CmdObjTraceDeleteProc(
ClientData clientData
);
The clientData parameter will be the same as the clientData parameter that was originally passed to Tcl_CreateObjTrace.
Tcl_CreateTrace is an alternative interface for command tracing, not recommended for new applications. It is provided for backward compat-
ibility with code that was developed for older versions of the Tcl interpreter. It is similar to Tcl_CreateObjTrace, except that its proc
parameter should have arguments and result that match the type Tcl_CmdTraceProc:
typedef void Tcl_CmdTraceProc(
ClientData clientData,
Tcl_Interp *interp,
int level,
char *command,
Tcl_CmdProc *cmdProc,
ClientData cmdClientData,
int argc,
CONST char *argv[]);
The parameters to the proc callback are similar to those of the objProc callback above. The commandToken is replaced with cmdProc, a
pointer to the (string-based) command procedure that will be invoked; and cmdClientData, the client data that will be passed to the proce-
dure. The objc parameter is replaced with an argv parameter, that gives the arguments to the command as character strings. Proc must not
modify the command or argv strings.
If a trace created with Tcl_CreateTrace is in effect, inline compilation of Tcl commands such as if and while is always disabled. There is
no notification when a trace created with Tcl_CreateTrace is deleted. There is no way to be notified when the trace created by Tcl_Create-
Trace is deleted. There is no way for the proc associated with a call to Tcl_CreateTrace to abort execution of command.
KEYWORDS
command, create, delete, interpreter, trace
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+--------------------+-----------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Availability | SUNWTcl |
+--------------------+-----------------+
|Interface Stability | Uncommitted |
+--------------------+-----------------+
NOTES
Source for Tcl is available on http://opensolaris.org.
Tcl Tcl_CreateTrace(3TCL)