# phpman > man > ExtUtils::Constant::Base ## NAME [ExtUtils::Constant::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3ABase/markdown) - base class for [ExtUtils::Constant](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant/markdown) objects ## SYNOPSIS require [ExtUtils::Constant::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3ABase/markdown); @ISA = '[ExtUtils::Constant::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3ABase/markdown)'; ## DESCRIPTION [ExtUtils::Constant::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3ABase/markdown) provides a base implementation of methods to generate C code to give fast constant value lookup by named string. Currently it's mostly used [ExtUtils::Constant::XS](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3AXS/markdown), which generates the lookup code for the constant() subroutine found in many XS modules. ## USAGE [ExtUtils::Constant::Base](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3ABase/markdown) exports no subroutines. The following methods are available header A method returning a scalar containing definitions needed, typically for a C header file. memEQ_clause args_hashref A method to return a suitable C "if" statement to check whether *name* is equal to the C variable "name". If *checked_at* is defined, then it is used to avoid "memEQ" for short names, or to generate a comment to highlight the position of the character in the "switch" statement. If i is a reference to a scalar, then instead it gives the characters pre-checked at the beginning, (and the number of chars by which the C variable name has been advanced. These need to be chopped from the front of *name*). dump_names arg_hashref, ITEM... An internal function to generate the embedded perl code that will regenerate the constant subroutines. *default_type*, *types* and *ITEM*s are the same as for C_constant. *indent* is treated as number of spaces to indent by. If "declare_types" is true a $types is always declared in the perl code generated, if defined and false never declared, and if undefined $types is only declared if the values in *types* as passed in cannot be inferred from *default_types* and the *ITEM*s. assign arg_hashref, VALUE... A method to return a suitable assignment clause. If *type* is aggregate (eg *PVN* expects both pointer and length) then there should be multiple *VALUE*s for the components. *pre* and *post* if defined give snippets of C code to proceed and follow the assignment. *pre* will be at the start of a block, so variables may be defined in it. return_clause arg_hashref, ITEM A method to return a suitable "#ifdef" clause. *ITEM* is a hashref (as passed to "C_constant" and "match_clause". *indent* is the number of spaces to indent, defaulting to 6. switch_clause arg_hashref, NAMELEN, ITEMHASH, ITEM... An internal method to generate a suitable "switch" clause, called by "C_constant" *ITEM*s are in the hash ref format as given in the description of "C_constant", and must all have the names of the same length, given by *NAMELEN*. *ITEMHASH* is a reference to a hash, keyed by name, values being the hashrefs in the *ITEM* list. (No parameters are modified, and there can be keys in the *ITEMHASH* that are not in the list of *ITEM*s without causing problems - the hash is passed in to save generating it afresh for each call). params WHAT An "internal" method, subject to change, currently called to allow an overriding class to cache information that will then be passed into all the "*param*" calls. (Yes, having to read the source to make sense of this is considered a known bug). *WHAT* is be a hashref of types the constant function will return. In [ExtUtils::Constant::XS](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/perldoc/ExtUtils%3A%3AConstant%3A%3AXS/markdown) this method is used to returns a hashref keyed IV NV PV SV to show which combination of pointers will be needed in the C argument list generated by C_constant_other_params_definition and C_constant_other_params dogfood arg_hashref, ITEM... An internal function to generate the embedded perl code that will regenerate the constant subroutines. Parameters are the same as for C_constant. Currently the base class does nothing and returns an empty string. normalise_items args, default_type, seen_types, seen_items, ITEM... Convert the items to a normalised form. For 8 bit and Unicode values converts the item to an array of 1 or 2 items, both 8 bit and UTF-8 encoded. C_constant arg_hashref, ITEM... A function that returns a list of C subroutine definitions that return the value and type of constants when passed the name by the XS wrapper. *ITEM...* gives a list of constant names. Each can either be a string, which is taken as a C macro name, or a reference to a hash with the following keys name The name of the constant, as seen by the perl code. type The type of the constant (*IV*, *NV* etc) value A C expression for the value of the constant, or a list of C expressions if the type is aggregate. This defaults to the *name* if not given. macro The C pre-processor macro to use in the "#ifdef". This defaults to the *name*, and is mainly used if *value* is an "enum". If a reference an array is passed then the first element is used in place of the "#ifdef" line, and the second element in place of the "#endif". This allows pre-processor constructions such as #if defined (foo) #if !defined (bar) ... #endif #endif to be used to determine if a constant is to be defined. A "macro" 1 signals that the constant is always defined, so the "#if"/"#endif" test is omitted. default Default value to use (instead of "croak"ing with "your vendor has not defined...") to return if the macro isn't defined. Specify a reference to an array with type followed by value(s). pre C code to use before the assignment of the value of the constant. This allows you to use temporary variables to extract a value from part of a "struct" and return this as *value*. This C code is places at the start of a block, so you can declare variables in it. post C code to place between the assignment of value (to a temporary) and the return from the function. This allows you to clear up anything in *pre*. Rarely needed. def_pre def_post Equivalents of *pre* and *post* for the default value. utf8 Generated internally. Is zero or undefined if name is 7 bit ASCII, "no" if the name is 8 bit (and so should only match if SvUTF8() is false), "yes" if the name is utf8 encoded. The internals automatically clone any name with characters 128-255 but none 256+ (ie one that could be either in bytes or utf8) into a second entry which is utf8 encoded. weight Optional sorting weight for names, to determine the order of linear testing when multiple names fall in the same case of a switch clause. Higher comes earlier, undefined defaults to zero. In the argument hashref, *package* is the name of the package, and is only used in comments inside the generated C code. *subname* defaults to "constant" if undefined. *default_type* is the type returned by "ITEM"s that don't specify their type. It defaults to the value of "default_type()". *types* should be given either as a comma separated list of types that the C subroutine *subname* will generate or as a reference to a hash. *default_type* will be added to the list if not present, as will any types given in the list of *ITEM*s. The resultant list should be the same list of types that "XS_constant" is given. [Otherwise "XS_constant" and "C_constant" may differ in the number of parameters to the constant function. *indent* is currently unused and ignored. In future it may be used to pass in information used to change the C indentation style used.] The best way to maintain consistency is to pass in a hash reference and let this function update it. *breakout* governs when child functions of *subname* are generated. If there are *breakout* or more *ITEM*s with the same length of name, then the code to switch between them is placed into a function named *subname*_*len*, for example "constant_5" for names 5 characters long. The default *breakout* is 3. A single "ITEM" is always inlined. ## BUGS Not everything is documented yet. Probably others. ## AUTHOR Nicholas Clark <> based on the code in "h2xs" by Larry Wall and others