/* TODO: Can we just replace this whole thing with a GCache */

/**

 * @file stringref.h Reference-counted immutable strings

 * @ingroup core

 */

/* purple

 *

 * Purple is the legal property of its developers, whose names are too numerous

 * to list here.  Please refer to the COPYRIGHT file distributed with this

 * source distribution.

 *

 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify

 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by

 * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or

 * (at your option) any later version.

 *

 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,

 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of

 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the

 * GNU General Public License for more details.

 *

 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License

 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software

 * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02111-1301  USA

 *

 */

#ifndef _PURPLE_STRINGREF_H_

#define _PURPLE_STRINGREF_H_

#ifdef __cplusplus

extern "C" {

#endif

typedef struct _PurpleStringref PurpleStringref;

/**

 * Creates an immutable reference-counted string object.  The newly

 * created object will have a reference count of 1.

 *

 * @param value This will be the value of the string; it will be

 *              duplicated.

 *

 * @return A newly allocated string reference object with a refcount

 *         of 1.

 */

PurpleStringref *purple_stringref_new(const char *value);

/**

 * Creates an immutable reference-counted string object.  The newly

 * created object will have a reference count of zero, and if it is

 * not referenced before the next iteration of the mainloop it will

 * be freed at that time.

 *

 * @param value This will be the value of the string; it will be

 *              duplicated.

 *

 * @return A newly allocated string reference object with a refcount

 *         of zero.

 */

PurpleStringref *purple_stringref_new_noref(const char *value);

/**

 * Creates an immutable reference-counted string object from a printf

 * format specification and arguments.  The created object will have a

 * reference count of 1.

 *

 * @param format A printf-style format specification.

 *

 * @return A newly allocated string reference object with a refcount

 *         of 1.

 */

PurpleStringref *purple_stringref_printf(const char *format, ...);

/**

 * Increase the reference count of the given stringref.

 *

 * @param stringref String to be referenced.

 *

 * @return A pointer to the referenced string.

 */

PurpleStringref *purple_stringref_ref(PurpleStringref *stringref);

/**

 * Decrease the reference count of the given stringref.  If this

 * reference count reaches zero, the stringref will be freed; thus

 * you MUST NOT use this string after dereferencing it.

 *

 * @param stringref String to be dereferenced.

 */

void purple_stringref_unref(PurpleStringref *stringref);

/**

 * Retrieve the value of a stringref.

 *

 * @note This value should not be cached or stored in a local variable.

 *       While there is nothing inherently incorrect about doing so, it

 *       is easy to forget that the cached value is in fact a

 *       reference-counted object and accidentally use it after

 *       dereferencing.  This is more problematic for a reference-

 *       counted object than a heap-allocated object, as it may seem to

 *       be valid or invalid nondeterministically based on how many

 *       other references to it exist.

 *

 * @param stringref String reference from which to retrieve the value.

 *

 * @return The contents of the string reference.

 */

const char *purple_stringref_value(const PurpleStringref *stringref);

/**

 * Compare two stringrefs for string equality.  This returns the same

 * value as strcmp would, where <0 indicates that s1 is "less than" s2

 * in the ASCII lexicography, 0 indicates equality, etc.

 *

 * @param s1 The reference string.

 *

 * @param s2 The string to compare against the reference.

 *

 * @return An ordering indication on s1 and s2.

 */

int purple_stringref_cmp(const PurpleStringref *s1, const PurpleStringref *s2);

/**

 * Find the length of the string inside a stringref.

 *

 * @param stringref The string in whose length we are interested.

 *

 * @return The length of the string in stringref

 */

size_t purple_stringref_len(const PurpleStringref *stringref);

#ifdef __cplusplus

}

#endif

#endif /* _PURPLE_STRINGREF_H_ */