.\" gd_flush.3.  The gd_flush man page.
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.\" Copyright (C) 2008, 2009, 2010 D. V. Wiebe
.\"
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.TH gd_flush 3 "24 July 2010" "Version 0.7.0" "GETDATA"
.SH NAME
gd_flush \(em write all pending dirfile changes to disk.
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B #include <getdata.h>
.HP
.nh
.ad l
.BI "int gd_flush(DIRFILE *" dirfile ", const char *" field_code );
.hy
.ad n
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.BR gd_flush ()
function flushes and closes all file handles associated with
.IR field_code ,
or its input(s), in the dirfile specified by
.IR dirfile .
If the
.I field_code
contains a valid representation suffix, it will be ignored.  As a special case,
if
.I field_code
is NULL, all fields in
.I dirfile
will be flushed and closed.  In this special case, modified metadata will
also be flushed to disk as if
.BR gd_metaflush (3)
had been called.
.PP
Metadata is written to disk using the current Standards Version as stored in the
.I dirfile
object.  See
.BR gd_dirfile_standards (3)
to change or report the current Standards Version.  If the dirfile metadata
conforms to no known Standards Version, a Standards non-compliant fragment will
be written.
.SH RETURN VALUE
On success, zero is returned.  On error, -1 is returned and the dirfile error is
set to a non-zero error value.  Possible error values are:
.TP 8
.B GD_E_BAD_CODE
The field specified by
.I field_code
was not found in the database.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_DIRFILE
The supplied dirfile was invalid.
.TP
.B GD_E_BAD_REPR
The representation suffix specified in
.I field_code
was not recognised.
.TP
.B GD_E_FLUSH
A temporary file could not be opened into which to write the modified metadata,
or renaming the temporary file over the original fragment failed.  Only returned
when
.I field_code
is NULL.
.TP
.B GD_E_RAW_IO
An error occurred while trying to flush or close the field(s).
.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_open (3),
.BR gd_close (3),
.BR gd_dirfile_standards (3),
.BR gd_error (3),
.BR gd_error_string (3),
.BR gd_metaflush (3)