SoBaseKit(3IV)

SoBaseKit - base class for all node kits

Showing IRIX 6.5.30 (default release). Added in IRIX 6.5.22.

NAME
     SoBaseKit - base class for all node kits

INHERITS FROM
     SoBase > SoFieldContainer > SoNode > SoBaseKit

SYNOPSIS
     #include <Inventor/nodekits/SoBaseKit.h>

          Parts from class SoBaseKit:

     (SoNodeKitListPart)  callbackList

          Methods from class SoBaseKit:

                              SoBaseKit()
     static const SoNodekitCatalog *
                              getClassNodekitCatalog() const
     virtual const SoNodekitCatalog *
                              getNodekitCatalog() const
     virtual SoNode *         getPart(const SbName &partName, SbBool
                                   makeIfNeeded)
     SbString                 getPartString(const SoBase *part)
     virtual SoNodeKitPath *  createPathToPart(const SbName &partName, SbBool
                                   makeIfNeeded, const SoPath *pathToExtend =
                                   NULL)
     virtual SbBool           setPart(const SbName &partName, SoNode *newPart)
     SbBool                   set(char *partName, char *parameters)
     SbBool                   set(char *nameValuePairs)
     static SbBool            isSearchingChildren()
     static void              setSearchingChildren(SbBool newVal)
     static SoType            getClassTypeId()

          Methods from class SoNode:

     void                setOverride(SbBool state)
     SbBool              isOverride() const
     SoNode *            copy(SbBool copyConnections = FALSE) const
     virtual SbBool      affectsState() const
     static SoNode *     getByName(const SbName &name)
     static int          getByName(const SbName &name, SoNodeList &list)

          Methods from class SoFieldContainer:

     void                setToDefaults()
     SbBool              hasDefaultValues() const
     SbBool              fieldsAreEqual(const SoFieldContainer *fc) const
     void                copyFieldValues(const SoFieldContainer *fc, SbBool
                              copyConnections = FALSE)
     void                get(SbString &fieldDataString)
     virtual int         getFields(SoFieldList &resultList) const

     virtual SoField *   getField(const SbName &fieldName) const
     SbBool              getFieldName(const SoField *field, SbName &fieldName)
                              const
     SbBool              isNotifyEnabled() const
     SbBool              enableNotify(SbBool flag)

          Methods from class SoBase:

     void                ref()
     void                unref() const
     void                unrefNoDelete() const
     void                touch()
     virtual SoType      getTypeId() const
     SbBool              isOfType(SoType type) const
     virtual void        setName(const SbName &name)
     virtual SbName      getName() const

          Macros from class SoBaseKit:

     SO_GET_PART(kit, partName, partClass)
     SO_CHECK_PART(kit, partName, partClass)


DESCRIPTION
     This is the base class from which all nodekit nodes are derived. Nodekits
     provide a convenient mechanism for creating groups of scene graph nodes
     with some larger meaning. When you create a shape node such as an indexed
     face set, for example, you almost always precede it with a coordinate
     node. You may also want to add a transform node or specify properties
     with material, drawing style, material binding, etc. Instead of creating
     each of these nodes individually and then arranging them into a subgraph,
     you can use a nodekit of the appropriate type (in this case, SoShapeKit).

     Each class of nodekit has a nodekit catalog (SoNodekitCatalog) that
     describes the nodes in the subgraph, referred to as parts. The catalog
     has an entry for each part, with information such as the partName,
     partType, and nullByDefault (if FALSE the constructor creates it). The
     catalog also describes the arrangement of parts in the subgraph. (Other
     information is described below; a complete description is in the
     SoNodekitCatalog reference page.)

     If we regard the scene graph arrangement as a branching tree, then the
     top node (root) of the arrangement is always the nodekit itself. The leaf
     nodes are those at the bottom (containing no children). Some leaves of
     the tree are defined in the catalog to be public parts, while other
     leaves are private. All non-leaf parts are considered internal to the
     nodekit structure and are marked private. Public parts are accessible;
     they may be requested, changed, or set by the programmer with member
     functions such as getPart(). Private parts are not accessible, so methods
     such as getPart() will have no effect on them. For example, if you call
     getPart() to retrieve a private part, NULL will be returned even when the
     part exists.
     Every nodekit reference page has a Parts section describing the function
     of each public part it adds to those inherited from its parent class.
     Also, a Catalog Parts section has tables of often-needed information from
     the catalog (part type, etc.). These tables include all public parts,
     both new and inherited. Only the public parts of a nodekit are described
     in the reference pages. Nodekits take care of the rest for you; they
     automatically arrange the subgraph, creating and deleting the private
     parts when necessary. (The SoNodekitCatalog reference page has methods
     for finding out the part names and arrangement of all parts, both public
     and private.)

     The nodekit catalog is a template shared by all instances of a class.
     They use the shared catalog as a guide when creating parts (i.e.,
     constructing actual nodes), but each instance stores its own parts
     separately. Moreover, nodekits are not SoGroup nodes, and parts are added
     as hidden children; you can only access parts with the methods of
     SoBaseKit and its derived classes.

     Any public part may be retrieved with getPart(), installed with
     setPart(), or removed by giving a NULL argument to setPart(). Paths from
     the nodekit down to a part can be created by createPathToPart().

     By default, parts are not created until the user requests or sets them.
     This keeps the subgraph uncluttered and efficient for traversal.
     Additionally, removing a part (setting it to NULL) has the extra effect
     of removing any internal parts that are no longer needed.

     Since nodekits hide their children, any SoPath containing nodekits will
     end at the topmost nodekit. However, since nodekits may be nested within
     other nodekits, you may wish to cast an (SoPath *) into an (SoNodeKitPath
     *). The methods of SoNodeKitPath allow you to view all nodekits that lie
     on the path (see the reference page for SoNodeKitPath).

     Public parts in the nodekit catalog fall into three categories:

     [1] regular nodes

     [2] nodekits, or nested nodekits (which may nest recursively). Any node
     which is public in a nested nodekit is accessible to the higher level
     nodekit(s) that contains it. The description of getPart() below shows how
     to refer to nested parts by name (e.g., "appearance.material"). This
     works for any nodekit method that takes a part name for an argument.

     [3] lists, or list parts. These parts group together children (list
     elements) of a particular type or types. As with nested nodekits, you can
     refer to individual elements using notation described in getPart() (e.g.,
     "childList[0]", or if the list elements are in turn nodekits,
     "childList[2].transform").

     When the catalog denotes that a part is a list, the part itself is always
     a node of type SoNodeKitListPart. The catalog specifies a set of
     permissible listItemTypes and a listContainerType for that part. It gives
     this information to the SoNodeKitListPart when it creates it. From then
     on, the list part will enforce type checking. So even if you retrieve the
     SoNodeKitListPart with getPart(), you will not be able to add illegal
     children. (See the SoNodeKitListPart reference page for more
     information). As an example, the callbackList part of SoBaseKit has an
     SoSeparator container and allows only SoCallback and SoEventCallback
     nodes in the list. Children may be added, retrieved, and removed from an
     SoNodeKitListPart node using methods that parallel those of SoGroup.
     However, type-checking is strictly enforced.

     Note that, although all public parts are leaves in the nodekit catalog,
     you are free to add children to them (assuming that they are groups,
     nodekits, or list parts). A part's status as a leaf in the catalog just
     means that the nodekit will not manage the part's children. For example,
     SoWrapperKit has a part called contents with a part type of SoSeparator.
     You can put whatever you want underneath the separator, as long as
     contents itself is an SoSeparator.

     Thus, a nodekit only controls a section of the scene graph. Above and
     below that section, anything goes.

     However, when nodekits are nested, they effectively create a larger
     `known' section of the scene graph. For example, the appearance part of
     the SoSeparatorKit is a leaf node in the SoSeparatorKit catalog. But
     appearance is in turn an SoAppearanceKit, containing parts such as
     material and drawStyle. The two nodekits combine to make an even larger
     template, which the SoSeparatorKit can examine by looking at the catalogs
     for both classes. So an SoSeparatorKit can successfully return a part
     named "material"; first it finds (or creates) the appearance part, then
     it gets the material by calling getPart() on the appearance.

     When the catalog defines the listItemTypes of a list part to be nodekits,
     the name-able space expands further. For example, SoSeparatorKit has a
     part childList which permits only SoSeparatorKits, so each list element
     can be further searched. Hence the name
     "childList[0].childList[1].childList[2].material" is perfectly legal.

PARTS
     (SoNodeKitListPart)  callbackList
          This is the only part that the base class SoBaseKit creates. It is a
          public part that is inherited by all nodekits. It provides an easy
          way to add callbacks for a nodekit to use during action traversal
          (e.g. SoHandleEventAction). It is a list part and may contain
          numerous SoCallback and/or SoEventCallback nodes.


METHODS
                              SoBaseKit()
          Constructor.

     static const SoNodekitCatalog *
                              getClassNodekitCatalog() const
          Returns the SoNodekitCatalog for the class SoBaseKit.

     virtual const SoNodekitCatalog *
                              getNodekitCatalog() const
          Returns the SoNodekitCatalog for this instance of SoBaseKit. While
          each instance of a given class creates its own distinct set of parts
          (which are actual nodes), all instances share the same catalog
          (which describes the parts but contains no actual node pointers).

     virtual SoNode *         getPart(const SbName &partName, SbBool
                                   makeIfNeeded)
          Searches the nodekit catalog (and those of all nested nodekits) for
          the part named partName. Returns a pointer to the part if a match is
          found, the part is public, and the part has already been built. If
          no match is found, or if the part is private, NULL is returned. If
          partName is in the catalog (or that of one of its nested nodekit
          parts), but the part has not been built yet, the argument
          makeIfNeeded determines the course of action. When makeIfNeeded is
          FALSE, NULL is returned; when makeIfNeeded is TRUE, getPart() will
          create the part (as well as any necessary intermediary parts), put
          it in the correct place, and return a pointer to the newly created
          part.

          Elements of list parts and parts within nested nodekits can all be
          retrieved with getPart() The full syntax for legal partName
          arguments is given below.

          Part name BNF notation:

          partName = singleName | compoundName

          compoundName = singleName | compoundName.singleName

          singleName = singlePartName | singleListElementName

          singlePartName = the name of any single part in the catalog
          (including those that are lists or nodekits), or in the recursively
          nested catalogs of any of its parts.

          singleListElementName = singleListName[index]

          singleListName = the name of any single list-type part in the
          catalog, or in the recursively nested catalogs of any of its parts.

          index = integer

          Examples of valid part names are:

          "transform", "appearance.material", "childList[2].drawStyle",
          "foot", "bird.leftLeg.foot", "octopus.leg[4].suctionCup[2].material"
     SbString                 getPartString(const SoBase *part)
          Given a node or a path to a node, checks if the part exists in the
          nodekit, in a nested nodekit, or an element of a list part. If so,
          returns a string describing the part name; otherwise, returns an
          empty string ("").

     virtual SoNodeKitPath *  createPathToPart(const SbName &partName, SbBool
                                   makeIfNeeded, const SoPath *pathToExtend =
                                   NULL)
          Returns a path that begins at this nodekit and ends at partName.
          Searching for the part is the same as in getPart(). NULL is returned
          if partName cannot be found, or if makeIfNeeded is FALSE and the
          part is not yet built. If the the part is retrieved and the argument
          pathToExtend is NULL, the path returned begins at this and ends at
          partName. If pathToExtend is not NULL, the path created is a copy of
          pathToExtend with entries appended all the way down to partName. It
          is okay for pathToExtend to go beyond the nodekit; extra nodes will
          be popped off the tail before continuing from this down to partName.

     virtual SbBool           setPart(const SbName &partName, SoNode *newPart)
          Inserts the given node (not a copy) as the new part specified by
          partName. See getPart() for the syntax of partName. This method adds
          any extra nodes needed to fit the part into the nodekit's catalog.
          For example, if you call:

               mySepKit->setPart("childList[0]", myNewChild);

          the kit may need to create the part childList before it can install
          myNewChild. Run-time type checking verifies that the node type of
          newPart matches the type called for by partName. For example, if
          partName was a material for an SoSeparatorKit, but newPart was an
          SoTransform node, then the node would not be installed, and FALSE
          would be returned.

          If newPart is NULL, then the node specified by partName is removed.
          If this renders any private parts useless (as occurs when you remove
          the last child of an SoGroup node), they will also be removed. Hence
          nodekits do not retain unnecessary nodes.

          TRUE is returned on success, and FALSE upon error.

     SbBool                   set(char *partName, char *parameters)
     SbBool                   set(char *nameValuePairs)
          These functions allow field values of parts (nodes) to be set. If
          partName and parameters are used, then a single part is specified by
          partName; the field values are specified in parameters. The format
          of paramaters is the Inventor File Format syntax.  For example,

               mySepKit->set("material", "diffuseColor 1 0 0 shininess 0.6");

          sets the part material to the values "diffuseColor 1 0 0 shininess
          0.6". The values used in parameters must of course be appropriate
          for the node-type to which partName belongs. In this case, the
          nodekit SoSeparatorKit has a part named material which is of type
          SoMaterial.

          The nameValuePairs syntax can be used to set the field values in
          several different parts simultaneously. In this case, the argument
          string, nameValuePairs contains name-value pairs: "partName1 {
          parameters1 } ... partNameN { parametersN }".

          For example,

               mySepKit->set("material { diffuseColor 1 1 1 }
                           transform { translation 4 3 .6 }");
               mySepKit->set("childList[0].material { ambientColor .5 .5 .5 }");


     static SbBool            isSearchingChildren()
     static void              setSearchingChildren(SbBool newVal)
          Sets and queries if nodekit children are searched during
          SoSearchAction traversal. By default, they are not.

     static SoType            getClassTypeId()
          Returns type identifier for this class.


MACROS
     SO_GET_PART(kit, partName, partClass)
          Calls getPart() with makeIfNeeded set to TRUE, then casts the result
          to the type partClass. Note that in the debug library, this macro
          checks to see if the part is of type partClass, while the regular
          library does no type checking.

     SO_CHECK_PART(kit, partName, partClass)
          Calls getPart(), but with makeIfNeeded set to FALSE, then casts the
          result to the type partClass. Note that in the debug library, this
          macro checks to see if the part is of type partClass, while the
          regular library does no type checking.


ACTION BEHAVIOR
     SoGLRenderAction, SoCallbackAction, SoGetBoundingBoxAction,
     SoHandleEventAction
          Behaves like an SoGroup. Traverses each child in order.

     SoRayPickAction
          Traverses each child in order. Then, for any pick containing the kit
          on its path, makes an SoNodeKitDetail as follows: Sets the
          "detailNodeKit" (retrievable with SoNodeKitDetail::getNodeKit()) to
          be a pointer to itself. Sets the "detailPart" (retrievable with
          SoNodeKitDetail::getPart()) to be a pointer to the kit's leaf-most
          part that lies on the pickPath. Sets the "detailPartName"
          (retrievable with SoNodeKitDetail::getPartName()) to be the partName
          of that part, as found in the catalog.

          Does not descend into nested nodekits. Each nodekit along the path
          is the "detailPart" in its parent's detail. However, if the pick
          path goes through a list part, a pointer to the child is used for
          the "detailPart", and "detailPartName" is of the form "listName[i]".

     SoGetMatrixAction
          Behaves like an SoGroup. Does nothing unless the kit is in the
          middle of the path chain the action is being applied to. If so, the
          children up to and including the next node in the chain are
          traversed.

     SoSearchAction
          First, searches itself like an SoNode. Then, checks the value of
          isSearchingChildren(). If TRUE, traverses the children in order. If
          FALSE, returns.

     SoWriteAction
          Begins by writing out regular fields, then writes out the parts. A
          nodekit does not write out its parts the way an SoGroup writes out
          its children. Instead, it writes each part as an SoSFNode field.
          First the partName is written, then the node being used for that
          part.

          To keep the files terse, nodekits write out as few parts as
          possible. However, nodekits always write a part if another instance
          or a path is writing it. If this is not the case, parts are left out
          according to the following rules:

          [1] NULL parts only write if the catalog states they are created by
          default.

          [2] Empty SoGroup and SoSeparator nodes do not write.

          [3] Non-leaf parts only write if they have non-default field values.

          [4] List parts only write if they have children or if the container
          node has non-default field values.

          [5] Nested nodekit parts only write if they need to write one or
          more parts, or if they have non-default field values.


CATALOG PARTS

     _________________________________________________________
                             All parts
                                                      NULL by
      Part Name      Part Type         Default Type   Default

      callbackList   NodeKitListPart   --               yes

     _________________________________________________________
     |




                                                              |





     ________________________________________________________________
            Extra information for list parts from above table

      Part Name      Container Type   Permissible Types

                                      Callback, EventCallback
      callbackList   Separator

     ________________________________________________________________
     |




                                                                     |






FILE FORMAT/DEFAULTS
     BaseKit {
          callbackList  NULL
     }

SEE ALSO
     SoAppearanceKit, SoCameraKit, SoLightKit, SoNodeKit, SoNodeKitDetail,
     SoNodeKitListPart, SoNodeKitPath, SoNodekitCatalog, SoSceneKit,
     SoSeparatorKit, SoShapeKit, SoWrapperKit