somGetInitFunction
This method obtains the name of the function that initializes the SOM classes in a class library.
For backward compatibility, this method does not take an Environment parameter.
- Original Class
- SOMClassMgr
Syntax
string somGetInitFunction (SOMClassMgr receiver)
Parameters
- receiver (SOMClassMgr)
- Usually SOMClassMgrObject (or a pointer to an instance of a user-supplied subclass of SOMClassMgr).
Return Code
- rc (string)
- Returns a string that names the initialization function of class libraries. By default, this name is the value of the global variable SOMClassInitFuncName, the default value of which is SOMInitModule.
Remarks
The somGetInitFunction method supplies the name of the initialization function for OS/2 class libraries (DLLs) that contain more than one SOM class. The default implementation returns the value of the global variable SOMClassInitFuncName, which by default is set to the value "SOMInitModule".
For AIX, the name of the class initialization function is not important, since AIX class libraries should always be constructed as shared libraries with a designated entry point which can be executed automatically by the loader when the class is loaded. Consequently, the result of this method is not significant on AIX.
Similarly, if an OS/2 class library (DLL) has been constructed with a DLL initialization function assigned by the linker, you can choose to invoke the <className>NewClass functions for all of the classes in the DLL during DLL initialization. In this case (as on AIX), there is no need to export a "SOMInitModule" function. On the other hand, if your compiler does not provide a convenient mechanism for creating a DLL initialization function, you can elect to export a function named "SOMInitModule" (or whatever name is ultimately returned by the somGetInitFunction method).
The OS/2 SOMClassMgrObject, after loading a class library, will invoke the method somGetInitFunction to obtain the name of a possible initialization function. If this name has been exported by the class library just loaded, the SOMClassMgrObject calls this function to initialize the classes in the library. If the name has not been exported by the DLL, the SOMClassMgrObject then looks for an exported name of the form <className>NewClass, where <className> is the name of the class supplied with the method that caused the DLL to be loaded. If the DLL exports this name, it is invoked to create the named class.
On Windows, the SOM class manager does not call SOMInitModule. It must be called from the default Windows DLL initialization function, LibMain. This call is made indirectly through the SOM_ClassLibrary macro.
Regardless of the technique employed, the SOMClassMgrObject expects that all classes packaged in a single class library will be created during this sequence.
This method is generally not invoked directly by users. User-defined subclasses of SOMClassMgr, however, can override this method.