MSGRTRV(3x,L) AIX Technical Reference MSGRTRV(3x,L) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- msgrtrv PURPOSE Retrieves a message, insert, or help text. LIBRARY Run-time Services Library (librts.a) SYNTAX #include int msgrtrv (flags, compid, index, buf, nbytes) unsigned int flags, nbyte; char *compid, *buf; int index; DESCRIPTION The msgrtrv subroutine retrieves a predefined message, insert, or help description from a message/insert/help file or a resident message/insert table, and then constructs the message, insert, or help text as specified and returns the text. The flags parameter allows default attributes to be overridden. All flag bits for attributes you do not want to override must not be set. If no attributes are overridden, insert text is retrieved from a file. Attribute override flag bits that can be set are: MSGFLTAB Indicates that the compid parameter is a pointer to a message/insert table instead of a pointer to a six-character component ID identifying a message/insert/help file. The MSGFLTAB flag should not be set if the MSGFLHLP flag is set because helps reside only in a message/insert/help file, not in a message/insert table. MSGFLMSG Retrieves message text instead of insert text. MSGFLHLP Retrieves help text instead of insert text. The compid parameter is either a pointer to a message/insert table or identifies the message/insert/help file. If the MSGFLTAB flag is set, then the compid parameter points to a message/insert table where the message or insert description resides. If the MSGFLTAB flag is not set, then the compid parameter identifies the message/insert/help file where the message, insert, or help description resides. In this case, the compid parameter is either: Processed November 7, 1990 MSGRTRV(3x,L) 1 MSGRTRV(3x,L) AIX Technical Reference MSGRTRV(3x,L) xxxccc For a component file, where, by convention: xxx Identifies the software provider or product. IBM reserves the use of the identifiers COM, com, SYc, syc, IBc, and ibc, where c is any alphanumeric character. ccc Identifies the particular software component. common For the common message/insert/help file. The index parameter is an index into the message/insert table or message/insert/help file specified by the compid parameter. The index parameter is an integer value from 1 to 999 and identifies which message, insert, or help description in the file or table is to be used. The buf parameter must be either a pointer to a buffer or a pointer to a structure, depending on the value of the nbyte parameter. o If the nbyte parameter is greater than 0, then buf parameter points to a buffer where the message, insert, or help text is to be stored. o If the nbyte parameter is equal to 0, then the buf parameter points to a msg__rtrv structure provided by the requesting program. The msg__rtrv is defined as a typedef in the msg05.h header file. The nbyte parameter is either the size of the buffer pointed to by the buf parameter, or 0. The buffer size should include space for a terminating null character. If the nbyte parameter is 0, a buffer is allocated by the msgrtrv subroutine. The buffer pointer (msgbufp in the msg05.h header file) returned by the msgrtrv subroutine should always be inspected by the requesting program after the returned text has been processed. If the inspection finds other than a NULL buffer pointer, the buffer should be freed. This should be done regardless of the value of the return code. RETURN VALUE Upon successful completion, a positive value is returned. If the msgrtrv subroutine fails, it returns a negative value that indicates the reason why the text could not be retrieved. The value returned upon successful completion is the actual length of the constructed text, not including the terminating null character. The following should be noted concerning the length: o If the nbyte parameter was 0 and help text with a title was retrieved, the length returned is the sum of the title length and the text length, including the null terminators after the title and the text. o If the nbyte parameter was not 0, and the retrieved text is longer than the buffer provided (minus 1 character for the null terminator), the excess text is truncated. The length of the truncated text is included in the length returned. If the return code value is greater than the length Processed November 7, 1990 MSGRTRV(3x,L) 2 MSGRTRV(3x,L) AIX Technical Reference MSGRTRV(3x,L) specified by the nbyte parameter minus 1, the following considerations should be noted: - The length of the text returned in the buffer is the length specified by the nbyte parameter minus one instead of the return code value. - The requesting program knows that the retrieved text had to be truncated in order to fit into the buffer provided. If the msghelp subroutine fails, then it returns one of the following negative values. The following values are defined in the msg04.h header file, which is included by the msg00.h header file: MSG_CPID The compid parameter is not six characters long. The request is ignored. MSG_INDX The index parameter is not in the range of 1 to 999. The request is ignored. MSG_TABP Both the msgfltab and msgflhlp flags are on. Since helps cannot reside in a message/insert table, this is not a valid combination of flag bits. The request is ignored. MSG_ALLO The necessary Message Services work area cannot be allocated. The request is ignored. MSG_SREG A segment register is not available for mapping a message/insert/help file. The request is ignored. MSG_BADP The message/insert table pointer provided does not point to a message/insert table. The request is ignored. MSG_TABI The message/insert table that is provided does not contain the requested message or insert. The request is ignored. MSG_COMP The message/insert/help file specified by the compid parameter cannot be found. If a message was specified, then Message Services error message 090-001 is output instead. If an insert was specified, then the request is ignored. If help text was specified, then Message Services error message 090-002 is output instead. MSG_INVL The file specified by the compid parameter is not a valid message/insert/help file. If a message was specified, then Message Services error message 090-001 is output instead. If an insert was specified, then the request is ignored. If help text was specified, then Message Services error message 090-002 is output instead. Processed November 7, 1990 MSGRTRV(3x,L) 3 MSGRTRV(3x,L) AIX Technical Reference MSGRTRV(3x,L) MSG_MTCH The file specified by the compid parameter does not contain descriptions for the specified component. The first six characters of the component file name must be identical to the six-character component ID that was specified in the file to the puttext command when the component file was built. If a message was specified, then Message Services error message 090-001 is output instead. If an insert was specified, then the request is ignored. If help text was specified, then Message Services error message 090-002 is output instead. MSG_NONE The correct component files are found, but none contain the message, insert, or help description specified by the index parameter. If a message was specified, then Message Services error message 090-001 is output instead. If an insert was specified, then the request is ignored. If help text was specified, then Message Services error message 090-002 is output instead. MSG_REFN The requested message, insert, or help description is found but the description references another message, insert, or help description (in the same file) as the source of the text. The referenced message, insert, or help description does not exist. If a message was specified, then Message Services error message 090-001 is output instead. If an insert was specified, the request is ignored. If help text was specified, then Message Services error message 090-002 is output instead. Note: Certain errors involve the failure of AIX system calls. In these cases, the msghelp subroutine negates the error code that the system call stored in errno and returns this value. One of the following values is returned when an attempt to open a message/insert/help file fails: -EACCES Search permission is denied for a directory in the path prefix of the message/insert/help file. -ENOTDIR A component of the path name of the message/insert/help file is not a directory. -EMFILE Too many files are open for the process. RELATED INFORMATION In this book: "msghelp," "msgimed," "msgqued," and "message." Processed November 7, 1990 MSGRTRV(3x,L) 4