haiku/docs/user/app/Application.dox
John Scipione ac9714d8a4 Update App Kit Documentation.
The biggest change is the addition of \since to each method. I've gone
through old versions of the BeBook and documented what version of BeOS
each method was introduced in. I'm only counting production releases
so I'm starting with BeOS R3 ignoring all DR and PR releases. Likewise,
all methods new to Haiku are listed as being introduced \since Haiku R1
ignoring alpha releases.
2014-06-11 16:25:57 -04:00

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/*
* Copyright 2011-2014 Haiku, Inc. All rights reserved.
* Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
*
* Authors:
* John Scipione, jscipione@gmail.com
*
* Corresponds to:
* headers/os/app/Application.h hrev47355
* src/kits/app/Application.cpp hrev47355
*/
/*!
\file Application.h
\ingroup app
\ingroup libbe
\brief Provides the BApplication class.
*/
/*!
\var be_app
\brief Global system app object.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\var be_app_messenger
\brief Global system app messenger object.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\class BApplication
\ingroup app
\ingroup libbe
\brief A container object for an application.
A BApplication establishes a connection between the application and the
Application Server.
The most common task performed by a BApplication object is to handle
messages sent to it. The BApplication object also is used
to get information about your application such as the number of windows
it has, its signature, executable location, and launch flags.
The BApplication object is automatically assigned to the global \c be_app
variable. The \c be_app variable allows you to refer to your BApplication
object from anywhere in the code.
To use a BApplication you first construct the object and then begin its
message loop by calling the Run() method. The Run() method
continues until the application is told to quit. Once Run() returns you
should then delete the BApplication object to free its memory usage.
Typically, you initialize the BApplication object in the programs main()
function. A typical main() function looks something like this:
\code
#include Application.h
main()
{
/* Vendor is your vendor name, application is your application name */
BApplication app("application/x-vnd.vendor-application");
app->Run();
delete app;
return 0;
}
\endcode
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn BApplication::BApplication(const char* signature)
\brief Initialize a BApplication with the passed in \a signature.
The new BApplication is, by default, not running yet. If you have
everything set up properly call Run() to start the application.
You should call InitCheck() to check for constructor initialization
errors.
\param signature The \a signature of the application.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn BApplication::BApplication(const char* signature, status_t* _error)
\brief Initialize a BApplication with the passed in \a signature and a
pointer to an error message.
Any error that occurs while constructing the BApplication will be
set to the \a _error pointer. If \a _error points to a \c status_t
error then you should not call Run().
Alternately, you can call InitCheck() to check for constructor
initialization errors.
\param signature The \a signature of the application.
\param _error A pointer to a \c status_t set by the BApplication
constructor.
\since BeOS R5
*/
/*!
\fn status_t BApplication::InitCheck() const
\brief Returns the status of the constructor.
\returns If initialization succeeded returns \c B_OK, otherwise returns an
error status.
\since BeOS R5
*/
/*!
\name Archiving
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn BApplication::BApplication(BMessage* data)
\brief Initialize a BApplication object from a message.
The message must contain the signature of the application you wish to
initialize in the "mime_sig" variable.
\param data The message to initialize the BApplication from.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn status_t BApplication::Archive(BMessage* data, bool deep) const
\brief Archive the BApplication object into a BMessage.
\sa BArchivable::Archive()
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn BArchivable* BApplication::Instantiate(BMessage* data)
\brief Restores the BApplication object from a BMessage.
\sa BArchivable::Instantiate()
\since BeOS R3
*/
//! @}
/*!
\fn BApplication::~BApplication()
\brief Destructor Method
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\name Message Loop Control
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn thread_id BApplication::Run()
\brief Starts the message loop in the thread that it is called from,
and doesn't return until the message loop stops.
Run() does not spawn a new thread.
\return The thread_id of the thread that the BApplication is called from.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::Quit()
\brief Tells the thread to finish processing the message queue, disallowing
any new messages.
Quit() doesn't kill the looper thread. After Quit() returns, it doesn't wait
for the message queue to empty. Run() will be then able to return.
Quit() doesn't delete the BApplication object after Run() is called. You
should delete the BApplication object yourself one Run() returns.
However Quit() does delete the object if it's called before the message loop
starts i.e. before Run() is called.
\since BeOS R3
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Hook Methods
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn bool BApplication::QuitRequested()
\brief Hook method that gets invoked when the BApplication receives a
\c B_QUIT_REQUESTED message.
BApplication sends a QuitRequested() message to each of its BWindow objects.
If all of the BWindow s return \c true then the windows are
each destroyed (through BWindow::Quit()) and QuitRequested() returns
\c true. If any of the BWindow returns \c false, the BWindow s
are not destroyed and QuitRequested() returns \c false.
\return \c true if the application quit or \c false if the
application failed to quit.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::ReadyToRun()
\brief Hook method that's invoked when the BApplication receives a
\c B_READY_TO_RUN message.
The ReadyToRun() method is automatically called by the Run() method. It is
sent after the initial \c B_REFS_RECEIVED and \c B_ARGV_RECEIVED messages
(if any) have already been handled. ReadyToRun() is the only message that
every running application is guaranteed to receive.
The default version of ReadyToRun() is empty. You should override the
ReadyToRun() method to do whatever you want to do. If you haven't
constructed any windows in your application yet then this would be a good
place to do so.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::ArgvReceived(int32 argc, char** argv)
\brief Hook method that gets invoked when the application receives a
\c B_ARGV_RECEIVED message.
If command line arguments are specified when the application is launched
from the the shell, or if \c argv/argc values are passed to
BRoster::Launch(), then this method is executed.
\warning ArgvReceived() is not called if no command line arguments are
specified, or if BRoster::Launch() was called without any \c argv/argc
values.
The arguments passed to ArgvReceived() are the constructed in the same way
as those passed to command line programs. The number of command line
arguments is passed in \a argc and the arguments themselves are passed as an
array of strings in \a argv. The first \a argv string is the name of the
program and the rest of the strings are the command line arguments.
BRoster::Launch() adds the program name to the front of the \a argv array
and increments the \a argc value.
The \c B_ARGV_RECEIVED message (if sent) is sent only once, just
before the \c B_READY_TO_RUN message is sent. However, if you try to
relaunch an application that is already running and the application is set
to \c B_EXCLUSIVE_LAUNCH or \c B_SINGLE_LAUNCH then the application will
generate a \c B_ARGV_RECEIVED message and send it to the already running
instance. Thus in this case the \c B_ARGV_RECEIVED message can show
up at any time.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::AppActivated(bool active)
\brief Hook method that gets invoked when the application receives
\c B_APP_ACTIVATED message.
The message is sent whenever the application changes its active application
status. The active flag set to is \c true when the application becomes
active and is set to \c false when the application becomes inactive.
The application becomes activated in response to a user action such as
clicking on or unhiding one of its windows. The application can have its
active status set programmatically by calling either the BWindow::Activate()
or BRoster::ActivateApp() methods.
This method is called after ReadyToRun() provided the application is
displaying a window that can be set active.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::RefsReceived(BMessage* message)
\brief Hook method that gets invoked when the application receives a
\c B_REFS_RECEIVED message.
The message is sent in response to a user action such as a user
drag-and-dropping a file on your app's icon or opening a file that the
application is set to handle. You can use the IsLaunching() method to
discern whether the message arrived when the application is launched or
after the application has already been running.
The default implementation is empty. You can override this method to do
something with the received refs. Typically you create BEntry or BFile
objects from the passed in refs.
\param message contains a single field named "be:refs" that contains one
or more entry_ref (\c B_REF_TYPE) items, one for each file sent.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::AboutRequested()
\brief Hook method that gets invoked when the BApplication receives a
\c B_ABOUT_REQUESTED message.
You should override this method to pop an alert to provide information
about the application.
The default implementation pops a basic alert dialog.
\since BeOS R3
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Cursor
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn BApplication::ShowCursor()
\brief Restores the cursor.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::HideCursor()
\brief Hides the cursor from the screen.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::ObscureCursor()
\brief Hides the cursor until the mouse is moved.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn bool BApplication::IsCursorHidden() const
\brief Returns whether or not the cursor is hidden.
\returns \c true if the cursor is hidden, \c false if not.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::SetCursor(const void* cursor)
\brief Sets the \a cursor to be used when the application is active.
You can pass one of the pre-defined cursor constants such as
\c B_HAND_CURSOR or \c B_I_BEAM_CURSOR or you can create your own pass
in your own cursor image. The cursor data format is described in the BCursor
class.
\param cursor The cursor data to set the cursor to.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::SetCursor(const BCursor* cursor, bool sync)
\brief Sets the \a cursor to be used when the application is active
with \a sync immediately option.
The default BCursors to use are \c B_CURSOR_SYSTEM_DEFAULT for the hand
cursor and \c B_CURSOR_I_BEAM for the I-beam cursor.
\param cursor A BCursor object to set the \a cursor to.
\param sync synchronize the cursor immediately.
\since BeOS R5
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Info
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn int32 BApplication::CountWindows() const
\brief Returns the number of windows created by the application.
\returns the number of windows created by the application.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn BWindow* BApplication::WindowAt(int32 index) const
\brief Returns the BWindow object at the specified \a index in the
application's window list.
If \a index is out of range, this function returns \c NULL.
\warning Locking the BApplication object doesn't lock the window list.
\param index The \a index of the desired BWindow.
\returns The BWindow object at the specified \a index or \c NULL
if the \a index is out of range.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn int32 BApplication::CountLoopers() const
\brief Returns the number of BLoopers created by the application.
\warning This method may return \c B_ERROR.
\returns The number of BLoopers in the application.
\since BeOS R5
*/
/*!
\fn BLooper* BApplication::LooperAt(int32 index) const
\brief Returns the BLooper object at the specified index in the
application's looper list.
If index is out of range, this function returns \c NULL.
\returns The BLooper object at the specified \a index or \c NULL
if the \a index is out of range.
\since BeOS R5
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Status
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn bool BApplication::IsLaunching() const
\brief Returns whether or not the application is in the process of
launching.
\returns \c true if the application is launching, \c false if the
application is already running.
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn status_t BApplication::GetAppInfo(app_info *info) const
\brief Fills out the \a info parameter with information about the
application.
This is equivalent to
be_roster->GetRunningAppInfo(be_app->Team(), info);
\returns \c B_NO_INIT on an error or \c B_OK if all goes well.
\sa BRoster::GetAppInfo()
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn BResources* BApplication::AppResources()
\brief Returns a BResources object for the application.
\since BeOS R5
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Message Mechanics
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn void BApplication::MessageReceived(BMessage *message)
\copydoc BHandler::MessageReceived()
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::DispatchMessage(BMessage *message,
BHandler *handler)
\copydoc BLooper::DispatchMessage()
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Pulse
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn void BApplication::Pulse()
\brief Hook method that gets invoked when the BApplication receives a
\c B_PULSE message.
An action is performed each time app_server calls the Pulse() method.
The pulse rate is set by SetPulseRate(). You can implement Pulse() to do
anything you want. The default version does nothing. The pulse granularity
is no better than once per 100,000 microseconds.
\sa SetPulseRate()
\since BeOS R3
*/
/*!
\fn void BApplication::SetPulseRate(bigtime_t rate)
\brief Sets the interval that the \c B_PULSE messages are sent.
If the \a rate is set to 0 then the \c B_PULSE messages are not sent.
The pulse rate can be no faster than once per 100,000 microseconds or so.
\param rate The rate at which \c B_PULSE messages are sent to the
application.
\since BeOS R3
*/
//! @}
/*!
\name Scripting
*/
//! @{
/*!
\fn BHandler* BApplication::ResolveSpecifier(BMessage* message,
int32 index, BMessage *specifier, int32 what, const char *property)
\copydoc BHandler::ResolveSpecifier()
*/
/*!
\fn status_t BApplication::GetSupportedSuites(BMessage* data)
\copydoc BHandler::GetSupportedSuites()
*/
//! @}