TDRP - Table-Driven Runtime Parameters

Summary

• Name: libtdrp, tdrp_gen
• Status: mature, used in multiple Level 3 projects
• Programming language: C/C++
• Maintainer(s): Mike Dixon
• Part of /rap nightly build: Yes
• License:
• Dependencies:
• Location in CVS: libs/tdrp, apps/tdrp

TDRP - Table-Driven Runtime Parameters

TDRP is written in ANSI-C, and only an ANSI-C compiler is required to build the system which consists of the library libtdrp and the program tdrp_gen. Both C and C++ are supported explicilty.

• The command line:

Command line arguments allow the user to print default parameter files and check which parameters are set.

In addition, if the programmer codes in this manner, non-TDRP command line arguments can have the effect of overriding parameters in the parameter file.

• The parameter file:

The parameter file contains the parameter values which the program will use. Editing this file allows the user to change any of the public parameters to control program execution.

• Create the paramdef file:

This file defines the parameters to be used by the client program, as well as comments which may be used to annotate the default parameter files printed out by the user.

• Run tdrp_gen to generate the TDRP code for the program:

tdrp_gen generates two files, one header and one code file, which provide the program with a specific interface to TDRP supporting just the parameters defined in the paramdef file.

It is relatively straight-forward to set up a Makefile to automatically invoke tdrp_gen if the paramdef file changes.

• Create an override list from the command line args.

If the programmer wishes to override any of the parameters in the run-time parameter file, the override mechanism provides a simple way to do this.

• Load the parameters.

The programmer adds the the function calls to load the parameters from the parameter file.

• Provide the TDRP usage to the user.

TDRP provides a function for printing out the TDRP-specific command line options.

• C API.
• C++ API.
• Old C API - included for backward compatibillity.

• Changing TDRP parameters from within a program:

In some programs, especially those with GUIs, the programmer may wish to respond to user input by changing parameters on the fly.

• Saving out alternative TDRP parameter sets to a file:

If the previous option is used, TDRP provides a mechanism for saving the amended parameters to a file for later use. This allows a user to create multiple start-up states based on different parameter configurations.

• Creating multiple TDRP modules for a single C program.
• Creating multiple TDRP classes for a single C++ program.

• Advantages of this approach.
• How it works.
• C code example.
• C++ code example.
• A brief history.