[vtk-developers] Static methods in vtkPythonArgs

[E. Tadeu]

Sorry about that, it's a plugin that renders Markdown in e-mail, and I
configured the style sheet to use a slightly larger font (but it should not
be HUGE :P).

Anyway, here it is in plain old ascii :)

  David,

  Perhaps you could help me with my first problem: I’m trying to patch
vtkWrapPython in order to fully support unicode arguments. Currently,
unicode python objects passed to VTK must be ascii-encodable (because of
_PyUnicode_AsDefaultEncodedString(o, NULL) being used in
vtkPythonGetStringValue in vtkPythonArgs.cxx). I’m trying to change it so
that it will support any unicode string, encoding them in UTF-8. This must
be done in two steps: first, using a PyObject *s =
PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(o);, which will return a new reference to a
temporary PyStringObject, and then using PyString_AS_STRING on this object,
which will return a char * pointing to an internal buffer in s.

  The problem is that this temporary PyStringObject (s) must be deleted by
calling Py_XDECREF only after the call to the wrapped function. I thought
about adding an std::vector<PyObject*> with these temporary python strings
to the vtkPythonArgs class; each new temporary would be pushed to this
vector, and, in the vtkPythonArgs destructor, they would all be released
(at the very end of the wrapping function). The only problem now is that
not all functions use an instance of vtkPythonArgs (such as the ones
implementing the sequence protocol), and an instance would be always
required in this case.

  Do you have a suggestion?

  Thanks! Best regards,

Edson


On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 3:27 PM, David Gobbi <david.gobbi at gmail.com> wrote:

> What's going on with the font in your email??  Maybe it's just my browser,
> but it's HUGE!
>
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 12:22 PM, E. Tadeu <e.tadeu at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> David,
>>
>>   Perhaps you could help me with my first problem: I’m trying to patch
>> vtkWrapPython in order to fully support unicode arguments. Currently,
>> unicode python objects passed to VTK must be ascii-encodable (because of _PyUnicode_AsDefaultEncodedString(o,
>> NULL) being used in vtkPythonGetStringValue in vtkPythonArgs.cxx). I’m
>> trying to change it so that it will support any unicode string, encoding
>> them in UTF-8. This must be done in two steps: first, using a PyObject
>> *s = PyUnicode_AsUTF8String(o);, which will return a new reference to a
>> temporary PyStringObject, and then using PyString_AS_STRING on this
>> object, which will return a char * pointing to an internal buffer in s.
>>
>>   The problem is that this temporary PyStringObject (s) must be deleted
>> by calling Py_XDECREF only after the call to the wrapped function. I
>> thought about adding an std::vector<PyObject*> with these temporary
>> python strings to the vtkPythonArgs class; each new temporary would be
>> pushed to this vector, and, in the vtkPythonArgs destructor, they would
>> all be released (at the very end of the wrapping function). The only
>> problem now is that not all functions use an instance of vtkPythonArgs
>> (such as the ones implementing the sequence protocol), and an instance
>> would be always required in this case.
>>
>>   Do you have a suggestion?
>>
>>   Thanks! Best regards,
>>
>> Edson
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 11:39 AM, David Gobbi <david.gobbi at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 7:51 AM, E. Tadeu <e.tadeu at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi!
>>>>
>>>>   Why is there a static version for many methods in vtkPythonArgs
>>>> (specially GetValue)?
>>>>
>>>
>>> It allows those methods to be called without a vtkPythonArgs object ;)
>>>
>>>   I see that they are being used only by Py*_SequenceSize. Is there a
>>>> special reason? Could the static versions be removed, and Py*_SequenceSize
>>>> generated code use an instance of vtkPythonArgs, just like all other
>>>> generated functions?
>>>>
>>>
>>> They're also called by the other methods that make up the python
>>> sequence protocol, i.e. SequenceSetItem and Sequence(Get)Item.
>>>
>>> As for why these protocol methods call the static version of GetValue(),
>>> it's because they have no need to create a vtkPythonArgs object.  The main
>>> purpose of the vtkPythonArgs object is to check the argument list, i.e. to
>>> verify that the correct number of arguments has been passed, to keep track
>>> of the current position in the argument list, etc. None of that is
>>> necessary for python protocol methods like SequenceSize.  All they need is
>>> a simple way to convert a python object to a C++ object or vice-versa.  The
>>> static methods serve that purpose.
>>>
>>> If the python wrappers handled more python protocols, the static
>>> GetValue() methods would be more widely used.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>>  - David
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
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