Prima::Utils(3)

NAME
Prima::Utils - miscellanneous routines

DESCRIPTION
The module contains several helper routines, implemented in both C and perl. Whereas the C-coded parts are accessible only if 'use Prima;' statement was issued prior to the 'use Prima::Utils' invocation, the perl-coded are always available. This makes the module valuable when used without the rest of toolkit code.

API

alarm $TIMEOUT, $SUB, @PARAMS
    Calls SUB with PARAMS after TIMEOUT milliseconds.

beep [ FLAGS = mb::Error ]
    Invokes the system-depended sound and/or visual bell, corresponding to one of following constants:

      mb::Error
      mb::Warning
      mb::Information
      mb::Question

get_gui
    Returns one of "gui::XXX" constants, reflecting the graphic user interface used in the system:

       gui::Default
       gui::PM
       gui::Windows
       gui::XLib
       gui::OpenLook
       gui::Motif

    The meaning of the return value is somewhat vague, and might be deprecated in future releases.

get_os
    Returns one of "apc::XXX" constants, reflecting the platfrom. Currently, the list of the supported platforms is:

       apc::Os2
       apc::Win32
       apc::Unix

ceil DOUBLE
    Obsolete function.

    Returns stdlib's ceil() of DOUBLE

find_image PATH
    Converts PATH from perl module notation into a file path, and searches for the file in @INC paths set. If a file is found, its full filename is returned; otherwise "undef" is returned.

floor DOUBLE
    Obsolete function.

    Returns stdlib's floor() of DOUBLE

getdir PATH
    Reads content of PATH directory and returns array of string pairs, where the first item is a file name, and the second is a file type.

    The file type is a string, one of the following:

      "fifo" - named pipe
      "chr"  - character special file
      "dir"  - directory
      "blk"  - block special file
      "reg"  - regular file
      "lnk"  - symbolic link
      "sock" - socket
      "wht"  - whiteout

    This function was implemented for faster directory reading, to avoid successive call of "stat" for every file.

path [ FILE ]
    If called with no parameters, returns path to a directory, usually ~/.prima, that can be used to contain the user settings of a toolkit module or a program. If FILE is specified, appends it to the path and returns the full file name. In the latter case the path is automatically created by "File::Path::mkpath" unless it already exists.

post $SUB, @PARAMS
    Postpones a call to SUB with PARAMS until the next event loop tick.

query_drives_map [ FIRST_DRIVE = "A:" ]
    Returns anonymous array to drive letters, used by the system. FIRST_DRIVE can be set to other value to start enumeration from. Some OSes can probe eventual diskette drives inside the drive enumeration routines, so there is a chance to increase responsiveness of the function it might be reasonable to set FIRST_DRIVE to "C:" string.

    If the system supports no drive letters, empty array reference is returned ( unix ).

query_drive_type DRIVE
    Returns one of "dt::XXX" constants, describing the type of drive, where DRIVE is a 1-character string. If there is no such drive, or the system supports no drive letters ( unix ), "dt::None" is returned.

       dt::None
       dt::Unknown
       dt::Floppy
       dt::HDD
       dt::Network
       dt::CDROM
       dt::Memory

sound [ FREQUENCY = 2000, DURATION = 100 ]
    Issues a tone of FREQUENCY in Hz with DURATION in milliseconds.

username
    Returns the login name of the user. Sometimes is preferred to the perl-provided "getlogin" ( see "getlogin" in perlfunc ) .

xcolor COLOR
    Accepts COLOR string on one of the three formats:

      #rgb
      #rrggbb
      #rrrgggbbb

    and returns 24-bit RGB integer value.

AUTHOR
Dmitry Karasik, <dmitry@karasik.eu.org>.

SEE ALSO
Prima