Tk_FreeXId(3)

💖 Tk_FreeXId — the Tk Library Procedures era 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because today we're talking about Tk_FreeXId from the Tk manual, and honestly? it's giving resource management realness. ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

Tk_FreeXId — make X resource identifier available for reuse 🫶

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

#include <tk.h>

Tk_FreeXId(display, id)

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• Display *display (in) — the Display that id was allocated for. like, whose house is this id from 🏠
• XID id (in) — the identifier of the X resource that's no longer in use. and bestie, that resource could be a window, a font, a pixmap, a cursor, a graphics context, or a colormap. so many options, we love versatility 💅

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

okay so here's the tea. the default allocator for resource identifiers that Xlib hands you is very simple-minded and it does not allow resource identifiers to be reused. like, not at all. it just keeps handing out new ones forever and ever. 🙈

and the way that's a problem? if a long-running application reaches the end of the resource id space, it will generate an X protocol error and crash. 💀 that's it. that's the whole vibe. crash.

so Tk said "not on my watch" and replaced the default id allocator with its own allocator, which does allow identifiers to be reused. iconic behaviour, honestly 👑

but for that to actually work, Tk_FreeXId must be called so the allocator knows about resources that have been freed. it's a whole communication thing. the allocator can't read your mind, bestie.

here's the good news though — Tk automatically calls Tk_FreeXId whenever it frees a resource. so if you're using procedures like Tk_GetFont, Tk_GetGC, and Tk_GetPixmap, then you need not call Tk_FreeXId. Tk's got you, no cap. 🫶

BUT. (and you knew there was a but) if you allocate resources directly from Xlib — for example by calling XCreatePixmap — then you should call Tk_FreeXId when you call the corresponding Xlib free procedure, such as XFreePixmap. matching set, you know? 🎀

and if you do not call Tk_FreeXId, then the resource identifier will be lost 😭 which could cause problems if the application runs long enough to lose all of the available identifiers. so like… don't do that. please. for me.

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🔥 KEYWORDS 🔥

resource identifier — that's the whole thing, that's the vibe, iykyk ✨

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

okay there's genuinely nothing else listed here, so instead please accept this moment of main character energy. go call Tk_FreeXId. free your ids. live your truth. 💅

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signing off from the Tk Library Procedures section, version Tk 4.0, dated back in the day when this page was filed under Tk_FreeXId(3) — stay freed, stay iconic, mwah 💖🧚🌸