Re: [Vala] Xlib bindings?

[Martin Olsson <mnemo minimum se>]

I think most of the VAPI bindings that exist are stored in Vala repo
under the "vapi" directory.

VAPI files have a syntax very close to Vala itself and the native
methods are referenced using CCode attributes attached to a method
or a class. The idea is in many ways similar to DllImport and it
is certainly possible to define partial bindings (just a handful
data types and functions that you need instead of everything
exported by a .SO file).

I've not seen any XLib VAPI yet either. You might want to look into
"XCB" as well though. Note, however, that there is still some things
that are hard to do using XCB (like direct rendering Mesa isn't fully
ported yet for example):
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xcb/2009-February/004285.html



                Martin

Michael B. Trausch wrote:
> I didn't see any packaged with Vala, and searching around on Google
> hasn't yet yielded me an answer, so I am hoping that someone can say
> definitively whether or not there are bindings to Xlib (or a work in
> progress to that effect).
>
> Any idea?  It would be nice to have.  I'm trying to learn how to create
> bindings for it at the moment as I am considering Vala for a project of
> mine, but it requires working with Xlib or otherwise using the X11
> protocol.
>
> Also, a question regarding bindings:  Do they *have* to be in .vapi
> files, or is it possible to create a class that does something like
> C#/Mono/.NET's P/Invoke?  For example, if I wanted to create an X11
> class, in C# I could do:
>
> namespace Foo {
>   public class X11 {
>     [DllImport(libx11)]
>     private static extern IntPtr XOpenDisplay(string dispName);
>
>     IntPtr x11_display;
>
>     public X11() {
>       x11_display = X11.XOpenDisplay(null);
>     }
>   }
> }
>
> The idea being that you would import the raw API entrypoint into the
> class as a private static method, and then it would be wrapped by the
> implementing class in some way.  In this way, you can quickly integrate
> code that exists without having to write full bindings for it, just
> using the functionality that you need from it.  This would likely be
> ideal for what I'm working on.
>
>         --- Mike