The xpidl compiler
xpidl is a tool for generating XPCOM interface information, based on XPIDL interface description files. It generates headers for XPCOM objects, runtime type information to call them dynamically through XPConnect and XPCall, and (sometime soon) online documentation.Building xpidl
xpidl is based on the libIDL idl compiler from the Gnome project. The libIDL compiler depends on glib, also from the gnome project. The xpidl compiler is now part of the build process so that we can use it to generate the headers used by XPCOM components. Please check the build instructions for information on where to get libIDL and glib.(unix) If you just want to build xpidl, you only need to build a few directories. After pulling mozilla and executing 'configure', you should be able to build xpidl in dist/bin with
make -C config
make -C nsprpub
make -C xpcom/typelib
Using xpidl
See the xpidl build page for instructions on how to add XPIDL files to the Mozilla build process. xpidl can also be used from the command line on unix and windows:
Usage: xpidl [-m mode] [-w] [-v] [-I path] [-o basename] filename.idl
-w turn on warnings (recommended)
-v verbose mode (NYI)
-I add entry to start of include path for ``#include "nsIThing.idl"''
-o use basename (e.g. ``/tmp/nsIThing'') for output
-m specify output mode:
header Generate C++ header (.h)
typelib Generate XPConnect typelib (.xpt)
doc Generate HTML documentation (.html)
Writing XPIDL interface files
XPIDL closely resembles OMG IDL, with extended syntax to handle IIDs and additional types. Some examples are in the xpcom/base and xpcom/ds directories of the Mozilla tree.- XPIDL syntax (Out of date.)
- XPIDL Author's Guide (Mostly up-to-date.)
Resources
- Open bugs against xpidl.
- Some unsorted notes including a keyword list
flames to
mike+mozilla@meer.net & mang@subcarrier.org.
Last modified: Tue Jun 15 03:53:44 PDT 1999