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CallingFromSMLToC

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MLton's ForeignFunctionInterface allows an SML program to import C functions. Suppose you would like to import from C a function with the following prototype:

    int foo (double d, char c);

MLton extends the syntax of SML to allow expressions like the following:

    _import "foo": real * char -> int;

This expression denotes a function of type `real * char -> int` whose behavior is implemented by calling the C function whose name is `foo`. Thinking in terms of C, imagine that there are C variables `d` of type `double`, `c` of type `unsigned char`, and `i` of type `int`. Then, the C statement `i = foo (d, c)` is executed and `i` is returned.

The general form of an `_import` expression is:

    _import "C function name" attr... : cFuncTy;

The type and the semicolon are not optional.

The function name is followed by a (possibly empty) sequence of attributes, analogous to C `__attribute__` specifiers. For now, the only attributes supported are `cdecl` and `stdcall`. These specify the calling convention of the C function on Cygwin/Windows, and are ignored on all other platforms. The default is `cdecl`. You must use `stdcall` in order to correctly call Windows API functions.

## Example

`import.sml` imports the C function `ffi` and the C variable `FFI_INT` as follows.

    (* main.sml *)

    (* Declare ffi to be implemented by calling the C function ffi. *)
    val ffi = _import "ffi": real array * int ref * int -> char;
    open Array

    val size = 10
    val a = tabulate (size, fn i => real i)
    val r = ref 0
    val n = 17

    (* Call the C function *)
    val c = ffi (a, r, n)

    val (nGet, nSet) = _symbol "FFI_INT": (unit -> int) * (int -> unit);

    val _ = print (concat [Int.toString (nGet ()), "\n"])

    val _ =
       print (if c = #"c" andalso !r = 45
                 then "success\n"
              else "fail\n")

`ffi-import.c` is

    #include "platform.h"

    Int32 FFI_INT = 13;
    Word32 FFI_WORD = 0xFF;
    Bool FFI_BOOL = TRUE;
    Real64 FFI_REAL = 3.14159;

    Char8 ffi (Pointer a1, Pointer a2, Int32 n) {
            double *ds = (double*)a1;
            int *p = (int*)a2;
            int i;
            double sum;

            sum = 0.0;
            for (i = 0; i < GC_getArrayLength (a1); ++i) {
                    sum += ds[i];
                    ds[i] += n;
            }
            *p = (int)sum;
            return 'c';
    }

Compile and run the program.

    % mlton -default-ann 'allowFFI true' import.sml ffi-import.c
    % ./import
    13
    success

## Download

- import.sml

- ffi-import.c

## Next Steps

- CallingFromSMLToCFunctionPointer

Last edited on 2006-11-14 01:25:50 by MatthewFluet.