.\" gd_entry_type.3.  The gd_entry_type man page.
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 D. V. Wiebe
.\"
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.\"
.\" This file is part of the GetData project.
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.\" under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
.\" any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
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.TH gd_entry_type 3 "21 August 2012" "Version 0.8.0" "GETDATA"
.SH NAME
gd_entry_type \(em retrieve the type of a dirfile field
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <getdata.h>
.HP
.nh
.ad l
.BI "gd_entype_t gd_entry_type(const DIRFILE *" dirfile ", const char"
.BI * field_code );
.hy
.ad n
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR gd_entry_type ()
function queries a dirfile(5) database specified by
.I dirfile
and returns the field type of the field specified by
.IR field_code .
If
.I field_code
contains a valid representation suffix, it will be ignored.

The
.B gd_entype_t
type is an enumerated type which may take any of the following values:
.IP
.nh
.ad l
.BR GD_BIT_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_CARRAY_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_CONST_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_DIVIDE_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_INDEX_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_LINCOM_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_LINTERP_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_MPLEX_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_MULTIPLY_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_PHASE_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_POLYNOM_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_RAW_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_RECIP_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_SBIT_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_STRING_ENTRY ,
.BR GD_WINDOW_ENTRY .
.ad n
.hy
.SH RETURN VALUE
Upon successful completion,
.BR gd_entry_type ()
returns the field type of the specified field.  On error,
.BR gd_entry_type ()
returns
.B GD_NO_ENTRY
and sets the dirfile error a non-zero error value.  Possible error
values are:
.TP 8
.B GD_E_ALLOC
The library was unable to allocate memory.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
The supplied dirfile was invalid.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_CODE
The field specified by
.I field_code
was not found in the database.
.PP
The dirfile error may be retrieved by calling
.BR gd_error (3).
A descriptive error string for the last error encountered can be obtained from
a call to
.BR gd_error_string (3).

.SH SEE ALSO
.BR gd_cbopen (3),
.BR gd_entry (3),
.BR gd_error (3),
.BR gd_error_string (3),
.BR gd_fragmentname (3),
.BR gd_parent_fragment (3),
.BR dirfile (5)