tcl7.6 C API - Tcl_Main
NAME
Tcl_Main - main program for Tcl-based applications
SYNOPSIS
#include <tcl.h>
Tcl_Main(argc, argv, appInitProc)
ARGUMENTS
int argc (in) Number of ele-
ments in argv.
char *argv[] (in) Array of strings
containing
command-line
arguments.
Tcl_AppInitProc *appInitProc (in) Address of an
application-
specific initial-
ization pro-
cedure. The
value for this
argument is usu-
ally Tcl_AppInit.
DESCRIPTION
Tcl_Main acts as the main program for most Tcl-based appli-
cations. Starting with Tcl 7.4 it is not called main
anymore because it is part of the Tcl library and having a
function main in a library (particularly a shared library)
causes problems on many systems. Having main in the Tcl
library would also make it hard to use Tcl in C++ programs,
since C++ programs must have special C++ main functions.
Normally each application contains a small main function
that does nothing but invoke Tcl_Main. Tcl_Main then does
all the work of creating and running a tclsh-like applica-
tion.
When it is has finished its own initialization, but before
it processes commands, Tcl_Main calls the procedure given by
the appInitProc argument. This procedure provides a
``hook'' for the application to perform its own initializa-
tion, such as defining application-specific commands. The
procedure must have an interface that matches the type
Tcl_AppInitProc:
typedef int Tcl_AppInitProc(Tcl_Interp *interp);
AppInitProc is almost always a pointer to Tcl_AppInit; for
more details on this procedure, see the documentation for
Tcl_AppInit.
KEYWORDS
application-specific initialization, command-line arguments,
main program