.\" gd_put_string.3.  The gd_put_string man page.
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 D. V. Wiebe
.\"
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.\" any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
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.TH gd_put_string 3 "19 August 2011" "Version 0.8.0" "GETDATA"
.SH NAME
gd_put_string \(em retrieve a string from a dirfile database
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <getdata.h>
.HP
.nh
.ad l
.BI "int gd_put_string(DIRFILE *" dirfile ", const char *" field_code ,
.BI "const char *" data_in );
.hy
.ad n
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR gd_put_string ()
function queries a dirfile(5) database specified by
.I dirfile
and sets the
.B STRING
.I field_code ,
which should not contain a representation suffix, to the value specified in
.IR data_in .

The 
.I dirfile
argument must point to a valid DIRFILE object previously created by a call to
.BR gd_open (3).

Because string values are stored in the dirfile metadata, the new value of
.I field_code
won't be written to disk until the dirfile metadata is flushed with
.BR gd_metaflush (3),
or until the dirfile is closed.
.SH RETURN VALUE
On success,
.BR gd_put_string ()
returns the length of the string stored, including the trailing NUL character.
On error, it returns 0 and sets the dirfile error to a non-zero value.  Possible
error values are:
.TP 8
.B GD_E_ACCMODE
The specified
.I dirfile
was opened read-only.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_CODE
The field specified by
.I field_code
was not found in the database.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
An invalid
.I dirfile
was supplied.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_FIELD_TYPE
The supplied
.I field_code
referred to a field of type other than
.BR STRING .
The caller should use
.BR gd_putdata (3),
.BR gd_put_carray (3),
or
.BR gd_put_constant (3)
instead.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_TYPE
An invalid
.I data_type
was specified.
.TP
.B GD_E_INTERNAL_ERROR
An internal error occurred in the library while trying to perform the task.
This indicates a bug in the library.  Please report the incident to the
maintainer.
.TP
.B GD_E_PROTECTED
The fragment containing the string was protected from change.
.PP
The dirfile error may be retrieved by calling
.BR gd_error (3).
A descriptive error string for the last error encountered may be obtained from
a call to
.BR gd_error_string (3).
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR dirfile (5),
.BR gd_metaflush (3),
.BR gd_open (3),
.BR gd_get_string (3),
.BR gd_error (3),
.BR gd_error_string (3),
.BR gd_putdata (3)