# SoFieldContainer Class Reference
[General classes]

`#include <Inventor/fields/SoFieldContainer.h>`

Inheritance diagram for SoFieldContainer:

List of all members.

## Detailed Description

The SoFieldContainer class is a base class for all classes that contain fields.

The classes containing fields in Coin are the node and engine classes, so they are all subclasses of SoFieldContainer.

SoFieldContainer provides methods for reading, writing, comparing for equality, doing copy operations, etc on fields.

See also:
  SoField

## Public Member Functions

void | setToDefaults (void)
SbBool | hasDefaultValues (void) const
SbBool | fieldsAreEqual (const SoFieldContainer *container) const
void | copyFieldValues (const SoFieldContainer *container, SbBool copyconnections=FALSE)
SbBool | set (const char *const fielddata)
void | get (SbString &fielddata)
virtual int | getFields (SoFieldList &l) const
virtual int | getAllFields (SoFieldList &l) const
virtual SoField * | getField (const SbName &name) const
virtual SoField * | getEventIn (const SbName &name) const
virtual SoField * | getEventOut (const SbName &name) const
SbBool | getFieldName (const SoField *const field, SbName &name) const
SbBool | enableNotify (const SbBool flag)
SbBool | isNotifyEnabled (void) const
SbBool | set (const char *fielddata, SoInput *in)
void | get (SbString &fielddata, SoOutput *out)
virtual void | notify (SoNotList *l)
virtual SbBool | validateNewFieldValue (SoField *field, void *newval)
virtual void | addWriteReference (SoOutput *out, SbBool isfromfield=FALSE)
virtual void | writeInstance (SoOutput *out)
SbBool | getIsBuiltIn (void) const
virtual const SoFieldData * | getFieldData (void) const
virtual void | copyContents (const SoFieldContainer *from, SbBool copyconnections)
virtual SoFieldContainer * | copyThroughConnection (void) const
void | setUserData (void *userdata) const
void * | getUserData (void) const

## Static Public Member Functions

void | initClass (void)
SoType | getClassTypeId (void)
void | initCopyDict (void)
void | addCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig, const SoFieldContainer *copy)
SoFieldContainer * | checkCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig)
SoFieldContainer * | findCopy (const SoFieldContainer *orig, const SbBool copyconnections)
void | copyDone (void)

## Protected Member Functions

| SoFieldContainer (void)
| ~SoFieldContainer ()
virtual SbBool | readInstance (SoInput *in, unsigned short flags)

## Protected Attributes

SbBool | isBuiltIn

## Constructor & Destructor Documentation

SoFieldContainer::SoFieldContainer | ( | void |  | ) | `[protected]`

| Constructor.

SoFieldContainer::~SoFieldContainer | ( |  | ) | `[protected]`

| Destructor.

## Member Function Documentation

void SoFieldContainer::initClass | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

Sets up initialization for data common to all instances of this class, like submitting necessary information to the Coin type system.

Reimplemented from SoBase.

Reimplemented in SoCenterballDragger, SoDirectionalLightDragger, SoDragPointDragger, SoDragger, SoHandleBoxDragger, SoJackDragger, SoPointLightDragger, SoRotateCylindricalDragger, SoRotateDiscDragger, SoRotateSphericalDragger, SoScale1Dragger, SoScale2Dragger, SoScale2UniformDragger, SoScaleUniformDragger, SoSpotLightDragger, SoTabBoxDragger, SoTabPlaneDragger, SoTrackballDragger, SoTransformBoxDragger, SoTransformerDragger, SoTranslate1Dragger, SoTranslate2Dragger, SoBoolOperation, SoCalculator, SoComputeBoundingBox, SoConcatenate, SoCounter, SoElapsedTime, SoEngine, SoFieldConverter, SoGate, SoInterpolate, SoOnOff, SoOneShot, SoSelectOne, SoTimeCounter, SoTransformVec3f, SoTriggerAny, SoNodeEngine, SoCenterballManip, SoClipPlaneManip, SoDirectionalLightManip, SoHandleBoxManip, SoJackManip, SoPointLightManip, SoSpotLightManip, SoTabBoxManip, SoTrackballManip, SoTransformBoxManip, SoTransformManip, SoTransformerManip, SoAppearanceKit, SoBaseKit, SoCameraKit, SoInteractionKit, SoLightKit, SoNodeKitListPart, SoSceneKit, SoSeparatorKit, SoShapeKit, SoWrapperKit, SoAnnotation, SoAntiSquish, SoArray, SoAsciiText, SoBaseColor, SoBlinker, SoCallback, SoCamera, SoClipPlane, SoColorIndex, SoComplexity, SoCone, SoCoordinate3, SoCoordinate4, SoCube, SoCylinder, SoDirectionalLight, SoDrawStyle, SoEnvironment, SoEventCallback, SoExtSelection, SoFaceSet, SoFile, SoFont, SoFontStyle, SoGroup, SoImage, SoIndexedFaceSet, SoIndexedLineSet, SoIndexedNurbsCurve, SoIndexedNurbsSurface, SoIndexedShape, SoIndexedTriangleStripSet, SoInfo, SoLOD, SoLabel, SoLevelOfDetail, SoLight, SoLightModel, SoLineSet, SoLinearProfile, SoListener, SoLocateHighlight, SoMarkerSet, SoMaterial, SoMaterialBinding, SoMatrixTransform, SoMultipleCopy, SoNode, SoNonIndexedShape, SoNormal, SoNormalBinding, SoNurbsCurve, SoNurbsProfile, SoNurbsSurface, SoOrthographicCamera, SoPackedColor, SoPathSwitch, SoPendulum, SoPerspectiveCamera, SoPickStyle, SoPointLight, SoPointSet, SoPolygonOffset, SoProfile, SoProfileCoordinate2, SoProfileCoordinate3, SoQuadMesh, SoResetTransform, SoRotation, SoRotationXYZ, SoRotor, SoScale, SoSelection, SoSeparator, SoShape, SoShapeHints, SoShuttle, SoSphere, SoSpotLight, SoSurroundScale, SoSwitch, SoText2, SoText3, SoTexture2, SoTexture2Transform, SoTexture3, SoTexture3Transform, SoTextureCoordinate2, SoTextureCoordinate3, SoTextureCoordinateBinding, SoTextureCoordinateDefault, SoTextureCoordinateEnvironment, SoTextureCoordinateFunction, SoTextureCoordinatePlane, SoTextureScalePolicy, SoTransform, SoTransformSeparator, SoTransformation, SoTranslation, SoTransparencyType, SoTriangleStripSet, SoUnits, SoVertexProperty, SoVertexShape, SoWWWAnchor, SoWWWInline, SoVRMLAnchor, SoVRMLAppearance, SoVRMLAudioClip, SoVRMLBackground, SoVRMLBillboard, SoVRMLBox, SoVRMLCollision, SoVRMLColor, SoVRMLColorInterpolator, SoVRMLCone, SoVRMLCoordinate, SoVRMLCoordinateInterpolator, SoVRMLCylinder, SoVRMLCylinderSensor, SoVRMLDirectionalLight, SoVRMLDragSensor, SoVRMLElevationGrid, SoVRMLExtrusion, SoVRMLFog, SoVRMLFontStyle, SoVRMLGeometry, SoVRMLGroup, SoVRMLImageTexture, SoVRMLIndexedFaceSet, SoVRMLIndexedLine, SoVRMLIndexedLineSet, SoVRMLIndexedShape, SoVRMLInline, SoVRMLInterpolator, SoVRMLLOD, SoVRMLLight, SoVRMLMaterial, SoVRMLMovieTexture, SoVRMLNavigationInfo, SoVRMLNormal, SoVRMLNormalInterpolator, SoVRMLOrientationInterpolator, SoVRMLParent, SoVRMLPixelTexture, SoVRMLPlaneSensor, SoVRMLPointLight, SoVRMLPointSet, SoVRMLPositionInterpolator, SoVRMLProximitySensor, SoVRMLScalarInterpolator, SoVRMLScript, SoVRMLSensor, SoVRMLShape, SoVRMLSound, SoVRMLSphere, SoVRMLSphereSensor, SoVRMLSpotLight, SoVRMLSwitch, SoVRMLText, SoVRMLTexture, SoVRMLTextureCoordinate, SoVRMLTextureTransform, SoVRMLTimeSensor, SoVRMLTouchSensor, SoVRMLTransform, SoVRMLVertexLine, SoVRMLVertexPoint, SoVRMLVertexShape, SoVRMLViewpoint, SoVRMLVisibilitySensor, and SoVRMLWorldInfo.

SoType SoFieldContainer::getClassTypeId | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| This static method returns the SoType object associated with objects of this class. Reimplemented from SoBase. Reimplemented in SoEngine, SoNodeEngine, SoNode, and SoVRMLScript.

void SoFieldContainer::setToDefaults | ( | void |  | ) |

| This method sets all fields which we are parenting to their respective default values.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::hasDefaultValues | ( | void |  | ) | const

| This method checks to see if the fields of this container have their default values, and returns `TRUE` if that is the case.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::fieldsAreEqual | ( | const SoFieldContainer * | container | ) | const

| This method returns `TRUE` if the values of the fields of this and container are equal.

void SoFieldContainer::copyFieldValues | ( | const SoFieldContainer * | container,
|  | SbBool | copyconnections = FALSE
| ) |

| This method copies the field values from container into this. The fields are assumed to be of the same type. The copyconnections flag decides whether the field connections are to be copied aswell.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::set | ( | const char *const | fielddata | ) |

This method parses the values of one or more fields from the fielddata string.

The fields must be in the same format as the Open Inventor file format. `TRUE` is returned upon success, and `FALSE` otherwise.

See also:
  get()

void SoFieldContainer::get | ( | SbString & | fielddata | ) |

This methods stores the field data in the given fielddata string. The format of the returned string follows the Open Inventor file format.

See also:
  set()

int SoFieldContainer::getFields | ( | SoFieldList & | fields | ) | const`[virtual]`

| This method adds the fields in this container to the l argument, and returns the number of fields added. The virtual nature of this function means that it can be overridden to e.g. hide private fields.

int SoFieldContainer::getAllFields | ( | SoFieldList & | fields | ) | const`[virtual]`

Returns VRML eventIn and eventOut fields in addition to the "ordinary" fields.

See also:
  getFields()

SoField * SoFieldContainer::getField | ( | const SbName & | name | ) | const`[virtual]`

| This method returns a pointer to the field with name, or `NULL` if no such field exists.

SoField * SoFieldContainer::getEventIn | ( | const SbName & | name | ) | const`[virtual]`

| This method returns a pointer to the eventIn with name name, or `NULL` if no such eventIn exists.

SoField * SoFieldContainer::getEventOut | ( | const SbName & | name | ) | const`[virtual]`

| This method returns a pointer to the eventOut with name name, or `NULL` if no such eventOut exists.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::getFieldName | ( | const SoField *const | field,
|  | SbName & | name
| ) | const

| Finds the name of the given field and returns the value in the name argument. `TRUE` is returned if the field is contained within this instance, and `FALSE` otherwise.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::enableNotify | ( | const SbBool | enable | ) |

This method sets whether notification will be propagated on changing the values of the contained fields. The old value of the flag is returned.

Notification is default on. Turning off automatic notification can be useful for optimizing performance. During series of updates you may want to avoid the propagation of notifications upon every field value change if you make a lot of them. This is how you should handle those cases:

      SbBool autonotify = node->enableNotify(FALSE);
      // ...
      // Make modifications to fields of "node" here.
      // ...
      node->enableNotify(autonotify);
      node->touch();

See also:
  isNotifyEnabled()

SbBool SoFieldContainer::isNotifyEnabled | ( | void |  | ) | const

This method returns whether notification of changes to the field values in the container is propagated to its auditors.

See also:
  enableNotify()

SbBool SoFieldContainer::set | ( | const char * | fielddata,
|  | SoInput * | in
| ) |

This method parses the values of one or more fields from the fielddata string.

The fields must be in the same format as the Open Inventor file format. `TRUE` is returned upon success, and `FALSE` otherwise.

We use the reference dictionary provided by in.

See also:
  get()

void SoFieldContainer::get | ( | SbString & | fielddata,
|  | SoOutput * | out
| ) |

Put names and values of fields from this instance in the fielddata string. Fields will be separated in the returned string by end-of-line characters.

We use the reference dictionary provided by out.

See also:
  set()

void SoFieldContainer::notify | ( | SoNotList * | l | ) | `[virtual]`

Notifies all auditors for this instance when changes are made.

Reimplemented from SoBase.

Reimplemented in SoEngine, SoNodeEngine, SoAsciiText, SoBlinker, SoImage, SoLOD, SoLevelOfDetail, SoMaterial, SoNode, SoPackedColor, SoSeparator, SoShape, SoSwitch, SoText3, SoTexture2, SoTexture3, SoVertexProperty, SoVertexShape, SoVRMLAppearance, SoVRMLBillboard, SoVRMLCollision, SoVRMLElevationGrid, SoVRMLExtrusion, SoVRMLGeometry, SoVRMLGroup, SoVRMLIndexedLine, SoVRMLIndexedShape, SoVRMLLOD, SoVRMLParent, SoVRMLPixelTexture, SoVRMLProximitySensor, SoVRMLScript, SoVRMLShape, SoVRMLSwitch, SoVRMLText, SoVRMLTimeSensor, SoVRMLTouchSensor, SoVRMLTransform, SoVRMLVertexLine, SoVRMLVertexPoint, and SoVRMLVertexShape.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::validateNewFieldValue | ( | SoField * | field,
|  | void * | newval
| ) | `[virtual]`

| This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer. I can't make head or tails of this method, it seems to return TRUE no matter what the arguments are.

void SoFieldContainer::addWriteReference | ( | SoOutput * | out,
|  | SbBool | isfromfield = FALSE
| ) | `[virtual]`

| This method is used during the first write pass of a write action to count the number of references to this object in the scene graph. Reimplemented from SoBase. Reimplemented in SoBaseKit.

void SoFieldContainer::writeInstance | ( | SoOutput * | out | ) | `[virtual]`

| Writes all the fields contained in this instance to the output stream within out. Reimplemented in SoElapsedTime, SoEngine, SoTimeCounter, SoNodeEngine, and SoNode.

SbBool SoFieldContainer::getIsBuiltIn | ( | void |  | ) | const

| Returns `TRUE` if this object is instantiated from one of the native Coin classes, `FALSE` if the object's class is outside the standard Coin library.

const SoFieldData * SoFieldContainer::getFieldData | ( | void |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

| Returns a pointer to the class-wide field data storage object for this instance. If no fields are present, returns `NULL`.

void SoFieldContainer::copyContents | ( | const SoFieldContainer * | from,
|  | SbBool | copyconnections
| ) | `[virtual]`

Makes a deep copy of all data of from into this instance, except external scenegraph references if copyconnections is `FALSE`.

This is the protected method that should be overridden by extension node / engine / dragger / whatever subclasses which needs to account for internal data that are not handled automatically.

Note that for simply copying e.g. a node from application code, it should be sufficient to do:

      SoNode * mynewnode = templatenode->copy();

Make sure that when you override the copyContents() method in your extension class that you also make it call upwards to it's parent superclass in the inheritance hierarchy, as copyContents() in for instance SoNode and SoFieldContainer does important work. It should go something like this:

      void
      MyCoinExtensionNode::copyContents(const SoFieldContainer * from,
                                        SbBool copyconnections)
      {
        // let parent superclasses do their thing (copy fields, copy
        // instance name, etc etc)
        SoNode::copyContents(from, copyconnections);

        // [..then copy internal data..]
      }

Reimplemented in SoRotateCylindricalDragger, SoRotateSphericalDragger, SoClipPlaneManip, SoDirectionalLightManip, SoPointLightManip, SoSpotLightManip, SoTransformManip, SoBaseKit, SoInteractionKit, SoNodeKitListPart, SoCallback, SoFile, SoGroup, SoNode, SoWWWInline, SoVRMLAppearance, SoVRMLGeometry, SoVRMLLOD, SoVRMLParent, SoVRMLScript, SoVRMLShape, and SoVRMLSwitch.

SoFieldContainer * SoFieldContainer::copyThroughConnection | ( | void |  | ) | const`[virtual]`

| Return copy of this instance. Note: default implementation just returns `this` pointer, SoNode and SoEngine overrides this method to return the pointer to the actual copy. Reimplemented in SoEngine, and SoNode.

void SoFieldContainer::initCopyDict | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer. Initialize a dictionary hash storing pointers for original fieldcontainer instances and their copies during scene graph copy operations. This method is called from the start of SoNode::copy().

void SoFieldContainer::addCopy | ( | const SoFieldContainer * | orig,
|  | const SoFieldContainer * | copy
| ) | `[static]`

| Add a pair of pointers to an original fieldcontainer and a copy of it to an internal pointer dictionary used during scene graph copy operations.

SoFieldContainer * SoFieldContainer::checkCopy | ( | const SoFieldContainer * | orig | ) | `[static]`

| Returns the copy of orig, if any. If no copy exists, we return a `NULL` pointer.

SoFieldContainer * SoFieldContainer::findCopy | ( | const SoFieldContainer * | orig,
|  | const SbBool | copyconnections
| ) | `[static]`

Returns a copy of orig.

If no copy has been made earlier when the function is called, a copy is made on-the-fly (which is the reason we need to pass along the copyconnections flag).

This method will also run the copyContents() method on the copy, if it hasn't been run already. Note that if you call copyContents() on the copy outside of this method, this will go undetected and the guts of orig will be copied multiple times into its copy.

See also:
  checkCopy()

void SoFieldContainer::copyDone | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer. Clean up the dictionary hash. This method is called from the end of SoNode::copy().

void SoFieldContainer::setUserData | ( | void * | userdata | ) | const

Set a generic user data pointer for this field container.

This function can be used by the application programmer to, for instance, store a pointer to an application specific data structure that is in some way related to the field container. getUserData() can later be used to retrieve the pointer.

See also:
  getUserData()

Since:
  Coin 2.0

void * SoFieldContainer::getUserData | ( | void |  | ) | const

Return the generic user data pointer for this field container, or NULL if no user data has been set.

See also:
  setUserData()

Since:
  Coin 2.0

SbBool SoFieldContainer::readInstance | ( | SoInput * | in,
|  | unsigned short | flags
| ) | `[protected, virtual]`

This method is mainly intended for internal use during file import operations.

It reads a definition of an instance from the input stream in. The input stream state points to the start of a serialized / persistant representation of an instance of this class type.

`TRUE` or `FALSE` is returned, depending on if the instantiation and configuration of the new object of this class type went ok or not. The import process should be robust and handle corrupted input streams by returning `FALSE`.

flags is used internally during binary import when reading user extension nodes, group nodes or engines.

Implements SoBase.

Reimplemented in SoEngine, SoNodeEngine, SoBaseKit, SoInteractionKit, SoNodeKitListPart, SoFile, SoGroup, SoImage, SoNode, SoNormalBinding, SoSeparator, SoTexture2, SoTexture3, SoTextureCoordinateBinding, SoWWWInline, SoVRMLImageTexture, SoVRMLLOD, SoVRMLParent, SoVRMLPixelTexture, and SoVRMLSwitch.

## Member Data Documentation

SbBool SoFieldContainer::isBuiltIn`[protected]`

| Flag for storing whether or not this class instance is a built-in class or not. By knowing the difference between a class which is native Coin or a user extension, it is possible to automatically store and read extension nodes and engines.

The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:

- SoFieldContainer.h
- SoFieldContainer.cpp