gd_flush(3)

NAME
gd_flush gd_raw_close gd_sync — write all pending dirfile changes to disk or close open raw fields

SYNOPSIS
#include <getdata.h>

int gd_flush(DIRFILE *dirfile, const char *field_code);

int gd_raw_close(DIRFILE *dirfile, const char *field_code);

int gd_sync(DIRFILE *dirfile, const char *field_code);

DESCRIPTION
The gd_sync() function flushes all pending writes to disk of raw data files associated with field_code, or its input(s), in the dirfile specified by dirfile. If the field_code contains a valid representation suffix, it will be ignored. As a special case, if field_code is NULL, all fields in dirfile will be flushed. In this special case, modified metadata will also be flushed to disk as if gd_metaflush(3) had been called. If the dirfile has been opened read-only, this function does nothing. Additionally, some encoding schemes may implement this as a NOP.

The gd_raw_close() function closes any raw data files which GetData has opened associated with field_code, or its input(s). Again, if field_code is NULL, all open data files are closed. The I/O pointer of any RAW field which is closed is reset to the beginning-of-field.

Calling gd_flush() is essentially equivalent to calling first gd_sync() and then gd_raw_close() (ie. it does both tasks), although, if field_code is NULL, the order of operations if may be different than making the two explicit calls.

RETURN VALUE
On success, these functions return zero. On error, -1 is returned and the dirfile error is set to a non-zero error value. Possible error values are:

GD_E_ALLOC
    The library was unable to allocate memory.

GD_E_BAD_CODE
    The field specified by field_code was not found in the database.

GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
    The supplied dirfile was invalid.

GD_E_IO
    An I/O error occurred while trying to write modified data or metadata to disk.

GD_E_LINE_TOO_LONG
    While attempting to flush modified metadata to disk, a field specification line exceeded the maximum allowed length. On most platforms, the maximum length is at least 2**31 bytes, so this typically indicates something pathological happening.

GD_E_RECURSE_LEVEL
    Too many levels of recursion were encountered while trying to resolve field_code. This usually indicates a circular dependency in field specification in the dirfile.

The dirfile error may be retrieved by calling gd_error(3). A descriptive error string for the last error encountered can be obtained from a call to gd_error_string(3).

SEE ALSO
gd_open(3), gd_close(3), gd_dirfile_standards(3), gd_error(3), gd_error_string(3), gd_metaflush(3)