Module typeinfo

This module implements an interface to Nim's runtime type information (RTTI). Note that even though Any and its operations hide the nasty low level details from its clients, it remains inherently unsafe!

See the marshal module for what this module allows you to do.

Types

AnyKind = enum
  akNone = 0,                   ## invalid any
  akBool = 1,                   ## any represents a ``bool``
  akChar = 2,                   ## any represents a ``char``
  akEnum = 14,                  ## any represents an enum
  akArray = 16,                 ## any represents an array
  akObject = 17,                ## any represents an object
  akTuple = 18,                 ## any represents a tuple
  akSet = 19,                   ## any represents a set
  akRange = 20,                 ## any represents a range
  akPtr = 21,                   ## any represents a ptr
  akRef = 22,                   ## any represents a ref
  akSequence = 24,              ## any represents a sequence
  akProc = 25,                  ## any represents a proc
  akPointer = 26,               ## any represents a pointer
  akString = 28,                ## any represents a string
  akCString = 29,               ## any represents a cstring
  akInt = 31,                   ## any represents an int
  akInt8 = 32,                  ## any represents an int8
  akInt16 = 33,                 ## any represents an int16
  akInt32 = 34,                 ## any represents an int32
  akInt64 = 35,                 ## any represents an int64
  akFloat = 36,                 ## any represents a float
  akFloat32 = 37,               ## any represents a float32
  akFloat64 = 38,               ## any represents a float64
  akFloat128 = 39,              ## any represents a float128
  akUInt = 40,                  ## any represents an unsigned int
  akUInt8 = 41,                 ## any represents an unsigned int8
  akUInt16 = 42,                ## any represents an unsigned in16
  akUInt32 = 43,                ## any represents an unsigned int32
  akUInt64 = 44                 ## any represents an unsigned int64

what kind of any it is

Any = object
  value: pointer
  when defined(js):
      rawType: PNimType

  else:
      rawTypePtr: pointer

can represent any nim value; NOTE: the wrapped value can be modified with its wrapper! This means that Any keeps a non-traced pointer to its wrapped value and must not live longer than its wrapped value.

Procs

proc toAny[T](x: var T): Any {.inline.}

constructs a Any object from x. This captures x's address, so x can be modified with its Any wrapper! The client needs to ensure that the wrapper does not live longer than x!

proc kind(x: Any): AnyKind {.inline, raises: [], tags: [].}

get the type kind

proc size(x: Any): int {.inline, raises: [], tags: [].}

returns the size of x's type.

proc baseTypeKind(x: Any): AnyKind {.inline, raises: [], tags: [].}

get the base type's kind; akNone is returned if x has no base type.

proc baseTypeSize(x: Any): int {.inline, raises: [], tags: [].}

returns the size of x's basetype.

proc invokeNew(x: Any) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

performs new(x). x needs to represent a ref.

proc invokeNewSeq(x: Any; len: int) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

performs newSeq(x, len). x needs to represent a seq.

proc extendSeq(x: Any) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

performs setLen(x, x.len+1). x needs to represent a seq.

proc setObjectRuntimeType(x: Any) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

this needs to be called to set x's runtime object type field.

proc `[]`(x: Any; i: int): Any {.raises: [IndexError, ValueError], tags: [].}

accessor for an any x that represents an array or a sequence.

proc `[]=`(x: Any; i: int; y: Any) {.raises: [IndexError, ValueError], tags: [].}

accessor for an any x that represents an array or a sequence.

proc len(x: Any): int {.raises: [], tags: [].}

len for an any x that represents an array or a sequence.

proc base(x: Any): Any {.raises: [], tags: [].}

returns base Any (useful for inherited object types).

proc isNil(x: Any): bool {.raises: [], tags: [].}

isNil for an any x that represents a sequence, string, cstring, proc or some pointer type.

proc getPointer(x: Any): pointer {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the pointer value out of x. x needs to be of kind akString, akCString, akProc, akRef, akPtr, akPointer, akSequence.

proc setPointer(x: Any; y: pointer) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

sets the pointer value of x. x needs to be of kind akString, akCString, akProc, akRef, akPtr, akPointer, akSequence.

proc `[]=`(x: Any; fieldName: string; value: Any) {.raises: [ValueError], tags: [].}

sets a field of x; x represents an object or a tuple.

proc `[]`(x: Any; fieldName: string): Any {.raises: [ValueError], tags: [].}

gets a field of x; x represents an object or a tuple.

proc `[]`(x: Any): Any {.raises: [], tags: [].}

dereference operation for the any x that represents a ptr or a ref.

proc `[]=`(x, y: Any) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

dereference operation for the any x that represents a ptr or a ref.

proc getInt(x: Any): int {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the int value out of x. x needs to represent an int.

proc getInt8(x: Any): int8 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the int8 value out of x. x needs to represent an int8.

proc getInt16(x: Any): int16 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the int16 value out of x. x needs to represent an int16.

proc getInt32(x: Any): int32 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the int32 value out of x. x needs to represent an int32.

proc getInt64(x: Any): int64 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the int64 value out of x. x needs to represent an int64.

proc getBiggestInt(x: Any): BiggestInt {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the integer value out of x. x needs to represent some integer, a bool, a char, an enum or a small enough bit set. The value might be sign-extended to BiggestInt.

proc setBiggestInt(x: Any; y: BiggestInt) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

sets the integer value of x. x needs to represent some integer, a bool, a char, an enum or a small enough bit set.

proc getUInt(x: Any): uint {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the uint value out of x, x needs to represent an uint.

proc getUInt8(x: Any): uint8 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the uint8 value out of x, x needs to represent an uint8.

proc getUInt16(x: Any): uint16 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the uint16 value out of x, x needs to represent an uint16.

proc getUInt32(x: Any): uint32 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the uint32 value out of x, x needs to represent an uint32.

proc getUInt64(x: Any): uint64 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the uint64 value out of x, x needs to represent an uint64.

proc getBiggestUint(x: Any): uint64 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the unsigned integer value out of x. x needs to represent an unsigned integer.

proc setBiggestUint(x: Any; y: uint64) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

sets the unsigned integer value of c. c needs to represent an unsigned integer.

proc getChar(x: Any): char {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the char value out of x. x needs to represent a char.

proc getBool(x: Any): bool {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the bool value out of x. x needs to represent a bool.

proc skipRange(x: Any): Any {.raises: [], tags: [].}

skips the range information of x.

proc getEnumOrdinal(x: Any; name: string): int {.raises: [], tags: [].}

gets the enum field ordinal from name. x needs to represent an enum but is only used to access the type information. In case of an error low(int) is returned.

proc getEnumField(x: Any; ordinalValue: int): string {.raises: [], tags: [].}

gets the enum field name as a string. x needs to represent an enum but is only used to access the type information. The field name of ordinalValue is returned.

proc getEnumField(x: Any): string {.raises: [], tags: [].}

gets the enum field name as a string. x needs to represent an enum.

proc getFloat(x: Any): float {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the float value out of x. x needs to represent an float.

proc getFloat32(x: Any): float32 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the float32 value out of x. x needs to represent an float32.

proc getFloat64(x: Any): float64 {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the float64 value out of x. x needs to represent an float64.

proc getBiggestFloat(x: Any): BiggestFloat {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the float value out of x. x needs to represent some float. The value is extended to BiggestFloat.

proc setBiggestFloat(x: Any; y: BiggestFloat) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

sets the float value of x. x needs to represent some float.

proc getString(x: Any): string {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the string value out of x. x needs to represent a string.

proc setString(x: Any; y: string) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

sets the string value of x. x needs to represent a string.

proc getCString(x: Any): cstring {.raises: [], tags: [].}

retrieve the cstring value out of x. x needs to represent a cstring.

proc assign(x, y: Any) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

copies the value of y to x. The assignment operator for Any does NOT do this; it performs a shallow copy instead!

proc inclSetElement(x: Any; elem: int) {.raises: [], tags: [].}

includes an element elem in x. x needs to represent a Nim bitset.

Iterators

iterator fields(x: Any): tuple[name: string, any: Any] {.raises: [], tags: [].}

iterates over every active field of the any x that represents an object or a tuple.

iterator elements(x: Any): int {.raises: [], tags: [].}

iterates over every element of x that represents a Nim bitset.