# SoDB Class Reference
[General classes]

`#include <Inventor/SoDB.h>`

List of all members.

## Detailed Description

The SoDB class keeps track of internal global data.

This class collects various methods for initializing, setting and accessing common global data from the Coin library.

All methods on SoDB are static.

Make sure you call SoDB::init() (either directly or indirectly through the init() method of the GUI glue library) before you use any of the other Coin classes.

## Static Public Member Functions

void | init (void)
void | cleanup (void)
const char * | getVersion (void)
SbBool | read (SoInput *in, SoPath *&path)
SbBool | read (SoInput *in, SoBase *&base)
SbBool | read (SoInput *in, SoNode *&rootnode)
SoSeparator * | readAll (SoInput *in)
SoVRMLGroup * | readAllVRML (SoInput *in)
SbBool | isValidHeader (const char *teststring)
SbBool | registerHeader (const SbString &headerstring, SbBool isbinary, float ivversion, SoDBHeaderCB *precallback, SoDBHeaderCB *postcallback, void *userdata=NULL)
SbBool | getHeaderData (const SbString &headerstring, SbBool &isbinary, float &ivversion, SoDBHeaderCB *&precallback, SoDBHeaderCB *&postcallback, void *&userdata, SbBool substringok=FALSE)
int | getNumHeaders (void)
SbString | getHeaderString (const int i)
SoField * | createGlobalField (const SbName &name, SoType type)
SoField * | getGlobalField (const SbName &name)
void | renameGlobalField (const SbName &from, const SbName &to)
void | setRealTimeInterval (const SbTime &interval)
const SbTime & | getRealTimeInterval (void)
void | enableRealTimeSensor (SbBool on)
SoSensorManager * | getSensorManager (void)
void | setDelaySensorTimeout (const SbTime &t)
const SbTime & | getDelaySensorTimeout (void)
int | doSelect (int nfds, void *readfds, void *writefds, void *exceptfds, struct timeval *usertimeout)
void | addConverter (SoType from, SoType to, SoType converter)
SoType | getConverter (SoType from, SoType to)
SbBool | isInitialized (void)
void | startNotify (void)
SbBool | isNotifying (void)
void | endNotify (void)

## Member Function Documentation

void SoDB::init | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| Initialize the Coin system. This needs to be done as the first thing before you start using the library, or you'll probably see an early crash.

void SoDB::cleanup | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

Invoke this method as the last call of the application code, to trigger a clean-up of all static resources used by the Coin library.

This is usually not necessary for stand-alone executable applications, as the operating system will take care of cleaning up after the process as it exits.

It may be necessary to invoke this method to avoid leaks for "special" execution environments, though, like if the Coin library is used as e.g. a browser plug-in, or some other type of component which can be started, shut down and restarted multiple times.

const char * SoDB::getVersion | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| Returns a text string containing the name of the library and version information.

SbBool SoDB::read | ( | SoInput * | in,
|  | SoPath *& | path
| ) | `[static]`

| Instantiates and reads an SoPath object from in and returns a pointer to it in path. The reference count of the SoPath object will initially be zero. Returns `FALSE` on error. Returns `TRUE` with path equal to NULL if we hit end of file instead of a new path specification in the file.

SbBool SoDB::read | ( | SoInput * | in,
|  | SoBase *& | base
| ) | `[static]`

| Instantiates and reads an object of type SoBase from in and returns a pointer to it in base. base will be `NULL` on return if we hit end of file. The reference count of the base object will initially be zero. Returns `FALSE` on error.

SbBool SoDB::read | ( | SoInput * | in,
|  | SoNode *& | rootnode
| ) | `[static]`

| Instantiates and reads an object of type SoNode from in and returns a pointer to it in rootnode. The reference count of the node will initially be zero. Returns `FALSE` on error. Returns `TRUE` with rootnode equal to `NULL` if we hit end of file instead of a new node specification in the file.

SoSeparator * SoDB::readAll | ( | SoInput * | in | ) | `[static]`

Reads all graphs from in and returns them under an SoSeparator node. If the file contains only a single graph under an SoSeparator node (which is the most common way of constructing and exporting scene graphs), no extra SoSeparator root node will be made, but the returned root node will be the top-most node from the file.

The reference count of the root separator returned from this method will be zero. Other nodes in the returned scene graph will have reference counts according to the number of parent-child relationships, as usual.

The common layout for how to load, work with and then finally destruct and return memory resources of scenegraphs usually goes like this:

      // [snip]
      SoInput in;
      if (!in.openFile(filename)) { exit(1); }

      SoSeparator * root = SoDB::readAll(&in);
      if (!root) { exit(1); }

      // root-node returned from SoDB::readAll() has initial zero
      // ref-count, so reference it before we start using it to
      // avoid premature destruction.
      root->ref();

      // [do your thing here -- attach the scene to a viewer or whatever]

      // Bring ref-count of root-node back to zero to cause the
      // destruction of the scene.
      root->unref();
      // (Upon self-destructing, the root-node will also de-reference
      // it's children nodes, so they also self-destruct, and so on
      // recursively down the scenegraph hierarchy until the complete
      // scenegraph has self-destructed and thereby returned all
      // memory resources it was using.)

Returns `NULL` on any error.

Tip: a common operation to do after importing a scene graph is to pick out the memory pointers to one or more of the imported nodes for further handling. This can be accomplished by using either the SoNode::getByName() function (which is the easier approach) or by using an instance of the SoSearchAction class (which is the more complex but also more flexible approach).

SoVRMLGroup * SoDB::readAllVRML | ( | SoInput * | in | ) | `[static]`

Same as SoDB::readAll(), except it return an SoVRMLGroup instead of an SoSeparator.

See also:
  SoDB::readAll()

Since:
  Coin 2.0

SbBool SoDB::isValidHeader | ( | const char * | teststring | ) | `[static]`

Check if testString is a valid file format header identifier string.

See also:
  getHeaderData(), registerHeader()

SbBool SoDB::registerHeader | ( | const SbString & | headerstring,
|  | SbBool | isbinary,
|  | float | ivversion,
|  | SoDBHeaderCB * | precallback,
|  | SoDBHeaderCB * | postcallback,
|  | void * | userdata = NULL
| ) | `[static]`

Register a header string which should be recognized by SoInput upon file import. This is a convenient way for library users to register their own VRML or Coin derived file formats.

Set isbinary to `TRUE` if the file should be read as binary data, and set ivversion to indicate which Coin library version is needed to read the file.

Callbacks precallback and postcallback will be called before and after importing the custom format.

If headerstring can not be accepted as a valid file format header for Coin files, `FALSE` will be returned. A valid header must start with a '#' character, and not be more than 80 characters long.

See also:
  getHeaderData()

SbBool SoDB::getHeaderData | ( | const SbString & | headerstring,
|  | SbBool & | isbinary,
|  | float & | ivversion,
|  | SoDBHeaderCB *& | precallback,
|  | SoDBHeaderCB *& | postcallback,
|  | void *& | userdata,
|  | SbBool | substringok = FALSE
| ) | `[static]`

Returns the settings for the given headerstring, if headerstring is a valid header.

If substringok is `TRUE`, ignore trailing characters in headerstring when checking for validity.

If no valid header string by this name is found, `FALSE` is returned, otherwise `TRUE` will be returned, and the other input arguments will be set to their respective values.

See also:
  isValidHeader(), registerHeader()

int SoDB::getNumHeaders | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

Returns number of registered file headers.

See also:
  getHeaderString()

SbString SoDB::getHeaderString | ( | const int | i | ) | `[static]`

Returns the identifier header string of index i.

See also:
  getNumHeaders(), getHeaderData()

SoField * SoDB::createGlobalField | ( | const SbName & | name,
|  | SoType | type
| ) | `[static]`

Create a new global field by the given type, and identified in subsequent accesses to getGlobalField() by name. If a global field by the name and type already exists, returns a pointer to it. If a global field with the same name but a different type exists, returns `NULL`.

A global field can be deallocated by calling SoDB::renameGlobalField(), with the second argument set to an empty string.

See also:
  getGlobalField(), renameGlobalField()

SoField * SoDB::getGlobalField | ( | const SbName & | name | ) | `[static]`

If there exist a global field with the given name, return a pointer to it. If there is no field with this name, return `NULL`.

Of particular interest is the `realTime` global field set up by the library on initialization. This field is used as a source field to all the autonomous animation objects within the library, like for instance the SoTimeCounter engine or the SoRotor node.

If you want to control the speed of "action" of a scene with animating / moving components (for instance for doing fixed frame-time snapshots for generating a movie), grab the global field named "realTime" and use it in the manner depicted in the class documentation of the SoOffscreenRenderer class.

See also:
  createGlobalField(), renameGlobalField()

void SoDB::renameGlobalField | ( | const SbName & | from,
|  | const SbName & | to
| ) | `[static]`

Rename a global field. If to is an empty name, the from field gets deleted. If another global field already goes by the name to, that field will get deleted before the rename operation.

See also:
  getGlobalField(), createGlobalField()

void SoDB::setRealTimeInterval | ( | const SbTime & | interval | ) | `[static]`

Set the time interval between updates for the `realTime` global field to interval. Default value is 1/12 s.

See also:
  getRealTimeInterval(), getGlobalField()

const SbTime & SoDB::getRealTimeInterval | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

Returns the current trigger interval for the global realTime SbTime field.

See also:
  setRealTimeInterval(), getGlobalField()

void SoDB::enableRealTimeSensor | ( | SbBool | on | ) | `[static]`

Turn on or off the realtime sensor.

The most common use for turning the realtime sensor off is to control the realTime global field from the user application. This is for instance handy when you want to take screen snapshots at fixed intervals. See the class documentation of SoOffscreenRenderer for further information.

See also:
  setRealTimeInterval(), getGlobalField()

SoSensorManager * SoDB::getSensorManager | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| Returns a pointer to the global sensor manager. The sensor manager keeps track of the sensor queues.

void SoDB::setDelaySensorTimeout | ( | const SbTime & | t | ) | `[static]`

This is just a wrapper for the method in SoSensorManager by the same name.

See also:
  getDelaySensorTimeout(), SoSensorManager

const SbTime & SoDB::getDelaySensorTimeout | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

This is just a wrapper for the method in SoSensorManager by the same name.

See also:
  setDelaySensorTimeout(), SoSensorManager

int SoDB::doSelect | ( | int | nfds,
|  | void * | readfds,
|  | void * | writefds,
|  | void * | exceptfds,
|  | struct timeval * | usertimeout
| ) | `[static]`

NOTE: THIS METHOD IS OBSOLETED. DON'T USE IT.

This is a wrapper around the POSIX `select()` call. It is provided so you can do synchronous I/O while Coin continues to handle sensor events, rendering, etc. The parameters are the same as for `select()`, so check your system documentation on how to use them.

The void* arguments must be valid pointers to fd_set structures. We've changed this from the original SGI Inventor API to avoid messing up the header file with system-specific includes.

NOTE: THIS METHOD IS OBSOLETED. DON'T USE IT.

void SoDB::addConverter | ( | SoType | from,
|  | SoType | to,
|  | SoType | converter
| ) | `[static]`

Notify SoDB that there exists a way to convert data from the from SoField type to the to SoField type, by connecting them with an instance of the converter SoFieldConverter type.

By doing this, SoDB::getConverter() will later be able to automatically return the type of the correct conversion class when requested.

Coin internally provides conversion between most field types, so application programmers should usually not need to use this function. The exception is if you are writing your own field type classes, and want to be able to connect them to the internal field types (or other extensions field types).

See also:
  createConverter(), SoFieldConverter

SoType SoDB::getConverter | ( | SoType | from,
|  | SoType | to
| ) | `[static]`

Return the type of an SoFieldConverter class which is able to convert data between fields of type from to the data field(s) of field type to.

If no conversion between the given field types is possible, returns SoType::badType().

See also:
  addConverter()

SbBool SoDB::isInitialized | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

Returns `TRUE` if init() has been called.

See also:
  init()

void SoDB::startNotify | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer.

SbBool SoDB::isNotifying | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer.

void SoDB::endNotify | ( | void |  | ) | `[static]`

| This API member is considered internal to the library, as it is not likely to be of interest to the application programmer.

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

- SoDB.h
- SoDB.cpp