XMSTRING(3)

📦
version 2.5.2 · 2 versions
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💖 XmString — bestie edition 💖

okay so this is XmString, from the library call manual (section 3, the C library girlies 🫶). Buckle up, we're doing compound strings.

✨ NAME ✨

XmString — the data type for a compound string. that's it, that's the name, and honestly? iconic.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <Xm/Xm.h>

that's the whole vibe check. one include and you're in. 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so XmString is literally THE data type for a compound string. and a compound string is a sequence of components — like a little playlist of stuff, lowkey. the components include, but are not limited to, these baddies:

  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_SEPARATOR
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_TAB
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_LAYOUT_POP
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_DIRECTION
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_LAYOUT_PUSH
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_CHARSET
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_FONTLIST_ELEMENT_TAG
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_LOCALE
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_LOCALE_TEXT
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_TAG
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_TEXT
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_END
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_RENDITION_BEGIN
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_RENDITION_END
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_UNKNOWN
  • XmSTRING_COMPONENT_WIDECHAR_TEXT

and also a rendition tags table, text, and text component. so it's not just a list of components, bestie, it's a whole situation. 💀

when a compound string gets displayed, the rendition tags and the direction are what decide how that text shows up. like, they're the main characters of the render, no cap. 👑

not me about to tell you the most important thing: when you call XtGetValues for a resource whose type is XmString, you get back a copy of the compound string resource value. and you, yes YOU, are responsible for calling XmStringFree to free the memory allocated for that copy. don't ghost it, it will leak. 😭

if you want the full lore on compound string components — and honestly the order the components are supposed to appear in — go read the XmStringComponentType reference page. and if you wanna know the algorithm that matches up the rendition tags used to display a compound string text component with a rendition in a render table, the XmRenderTable reference page has you. fr fr. 📚

the whole friend group, in order, so you can go hang out with all of them:

okay that's the whole page, you ate that. 💅✨

this was XmString from the library call manual — that's the source and the version vibe, straight off the XmString(library call) footer, no extra dates or numbers attached because the page didn't give me any, and I would never make one up. 🎀 bye bestie, go free your strings. 🦋💜

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