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CFBag Reference

Overview

CFBag and its derived mutable type, CFMutableBag, manage non-sequential collections of values called bags in which there can be duplicate values. CFBag creates static bags and CFMutableBag creates dynamic bags.

Use bags or sets as an alternative to arrays when the order of elements isn't important and performance in testing whether a value is contained in the collection is a consideration—while arrays are ordered, testing for membership is slower than with bags or sets. Use bags over sets if you want to allow duplicate values in your collections.

You create a static bag object using either the CFBagCreate or CFBagCreateCopy function. These functions return a bag containing the values you pass in as arguments. (Note that bags can't contain NULL pointers; in most cases, though, you can use the kCFNull constant instead.) Values are not copied but retained using the retain callback provided when the bag was created. Similarly, when a value is removed from a bag, it is released using the release callback.

CFBag provides functions for querying the values of a bag. The CFBagGetCount returns the number of values in a bag, the CFBagContainsValue function checks if a value is in a bag, and CFBagGetValues returns a C array containing all the values in a bag.

The CFBagApplyFunction function lets you apply a function to all values in a bag.

Functions by Task

Creating a Bag

• CFBagCreate
• CFBagCreateCopy

Examining a Bag

• CFBagContainsValue
• CFBagGetCount
• CFBagGetCountOfValue
• CFBagGetValue
• CFBagGetValueIfPresent
• CFBagGetValues

Applying a Function to the Contents of a Bag

• CFBagApplyFunction

Getting the CFBag Type ID

• CFBagGetTypeID

Functions

CFBagApplyFunction

Calls a function once for each value in a bag.

void CFBagApplyFunction (
   CFBagRef theBag,
   CFBagApplierFunction applier,
   void *context
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to operate upon.

applier

The callback function to call once for each value in the theBag. If this parameter is not a pointer to a function of the correct prototype, the behavior is undefined. If there are values in the range that the applier function does not expect or cannot properly apply to, the behavior is undefined.

context

A pointer-sized program-defined value, which is passed as the second parameter to the applier function, but is otherwise unused by this function. If the context is not what is expected by the applier function, the behavior is undefined.

Discussion

While this function iterates over a mutable collection, it is unsafe for the applier function to change the contents of the collection.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagContainsValue

Reports whether or not a value is in a bag.

Boolean CFBagContainsValue (
   CFBagRef theBag,
   const void *value
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to examine.

value

The value to match in theBag. The equal callback provided when theBag was created is used to compare. If the equal callback was NULL, pointer equality (in C, ==) is used. If value, or any other value in theBag, is not understood by the equal callback, the behavior is undefined.

Return Value

true if value is contained in theBag, otherwise false.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagCreate

Creates an immutable bag containing specified values.

CFBagRef CFBagCreate (
   CFAllocatorRef allocator,
   const void **values,
   CFIndex numValues,
   const CFBagCallBacks *callBacks
);

Parameters

allocator

The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new bag and its storage for values. Pass NULL or kCFAllocatorDefault to use the current default allocator.

values

A C array of the pointer-sized values to be in the new bag. This parameter may be NULL if the numValues parameter is 0. The C array is not changed or freed by this function. values must be a valid pointer to a C array of at least numValues elements.

numValues

The number of values to copy from the values C array in the new CFBag object. If the number is negative or is greater than the actual number of values, the behavior is undefined.

callBacks

A pointer to a CFBagCallBacks structure initialized with the callbacks to use to retain, release, describe, and compare values in the bag. A copy of the contents of the callbacks structure is made, so that a pointer to a structure on the stack can be passed in or can be reused for multiple collection creations. This parameter may be NULL, which is treated as if a valid structure of version 0 with all fields NULL had been passed in. Otherwise, if any of the fields are not valid pointers to functions of the correct type, or this parameter is not a valid pointer to a CFBagCallBacks structure, the behavior is undefined. If any value put into the collection is not one understood by one of the callback functions, the behavior when that callback function is used is undefined. If the collection contains CFType objects only, then pass kCFTypeBagCallBacks as this parameter to use the default callback functions.

Return Value

A new bag, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagCreateCopy

Creates an immutable bag with the values of another bag.

CFBagRef CFBagCreateCopy (
   CFAllocatorRef allocator,
   CFBagRef theBag
);

Parameters

allocator

The allocator to use to allocate memory for the new bag and its storage for values. Pass NULL or kCFAllocatorDefault to use the current default allocator.

theBag

The bag to copy. The pointer values from theBag are copied into the new bag. However, the values are also retained by the new bag. The count of the new bag is the same as the count of theBag. The new bag uses the same callbacks as theBag.

Return Value

A new bag that contains the same values as theBag, or NULL if there was a problem creating the object. Ownership follows the Create Rule.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagGetCount

Returns the number of values currently in a bag.

CFIndex CFBagGetCount (
   CFBagRef theBag
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to examine.

Return Value

The number of values in theBag.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagGetCountOfValue

Returns the number of times a value occurs in a bag.

CFIndex CFBagGetCountOfValue (
   CFBagRef theBag,
   const void *value
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to examine.

value

The value for which to find matches in theBag. The equal callback provided when theBag was created is used to compare. If the equal callback was NULL, pointer equality (in C, ==) is used. If value, or any other value in theBag, is not understood by the equal callback, the behavior is undefined.

Return Value

The number of times value occurs in theBag.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagGetTypeID

Returns the type identifier for the CFBag opaque type.

CFTypeID CFBagGetTypeID (
   void
);

Return Value

The type identifier for the CFBag opaque type.

Special Considerations

CFMutableBag objects have the same type identifier as CFBag objects.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagGetValue

Returns a requested value from a bag.

const void * CFBagGetValue (
   CFBagRef theBag,
   const void *value
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to examine.

value

The value for which to find matches in theBag. The equal callback provided when theBag was created is used to compare. If the equal callback was NULL, pointer equality (in C, ==) is used. If value, or any other value in theBag, is not understood by the equal callback, the behavior is undefined.

Return Value

A pointer to value, or NULL if value is not in theBag. If the value is a Core Foundation object, ownership follows the Get Rule.

Discussion

Depending on the implementation of the equal callback specified when creating theBag, the value returned may not have the same pointer equality as value.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagGetValueIfPresent

Reports whether or not a value is in a bag, and returns that value indirectly if it exists.

Boolean CFBagGetValueIfPresent (
   CFBagRef theBag,
   const void *candidate,
   const void **value
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to be searched.

candidate

The value for which to find matches in theBag. The equal callback provided when theBag was created is used to compare. If the equal callback was NULL, pointer equality (in C, ==) is used. If candidate, or any other value in theBag, is not understood by the equal callback, the behavior is undefined.

value

A pointer to a value object. Set to the matching value if it exists in the bag, otherwise NULL. If the value is a Core Foundation object, ownership follows the Get Rule.

Return Value

true if value is present in theBag, otherwise false.

Discussion

Depending on the implementation of the equal callback specified when creating theBag, the value returned in value may not have the same pointer equality as candidate.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagGetValues

Fills a buffer with values from a bag.

void CFBagGetValues (
   CFBagRef theBag,
   const void **values
);

Parameters

theBag

The bag to examine.

values

A C array of pointer-sized values to be filled with values from theBag. The value must be a valid C array of the appropriate type and size (that is, a size equal to the count of theBag).

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

Callbacks

CFBagApplierFunction

Prototype of a callback function that may be applied to every value in a bag.

typedef void (*CFBagApplierFunction) (
   const void *value,
   void *context
);

If you name your function MyCallBack, you would declare it like this:

void MyCallBack (
   const void *value,
   void *context
);

Parameters

value

The current value in a bag.

context

The program-defined context parameter given to the apply function.

Discussion

This callback is passed to the CFBagApplyFunction function which iterates over the values in a bag and applies the behavior defined in the applier function to each value in a bag.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagCopyDescriptionCallBack

Prototype of a callback function used to get a description of a value in a bag.

typedef CFStringRef (*CFBagCopyDescriptionCallBack) (
   const void *value
);

If you name your function MyCallBack, you would declare it like this:

CFStringRef MyCallBack (
   const void *value
);

Parameters

value

The value to be described.

Return Value

A textual description of value. mmancreate

Discussion

This callback is passed to CFBagCreate in a CFBagCallBacks structure. This callback is used by the CFCopyDescription function.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagEqualCallBack

Prototype of a callback function used to determine if two values in a bag are equal.

typedef Boolean (*CFBagEqualCallBack) (
   const void *value1,
   const void *value2
);

If you name your function MyCallBack, you would declare it like this:

Boolean MyCallBack (
   const void *value1,
   const void *value2
);

Parameters

value1

A value in the bag.

value2

Another value in the bag.

Return Value

true if value1 and value2 are equal, false otherwise.

Discussion

This callback is passed to CFBagCreate in a CFBagCallBacks structure.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagHashCallBack

Prototype of a callback function invoked to compute a hash code for a value. Hash codes are used when values are accessed, added, or removed from a collection.

typedef CFHashCode      (*CFBagHashCallBack) (
   const void *value
);

If you name your function MyCallBack, you would declare it like this:

CFHashCode CFBagHashCallBack (
   const void *value
);

Parameters

value

The value used to compute the hash code.

Return Value

An integer that can be used as a table address in a hash table structure.

Discussion

This callback is passed to CFBagCreate in a CFBagCallBacks structure.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagReleaseCallBack

Prototype of a callback function used to release a value before it’s removed from a bag.

typedef void (*CFBagReleaseCallBack) (
   CFAllocatorRef allocator,
   const void *value
);

If you name your function MyCallBack, you would declare it like this:

void MyCallBack (
   CFAllocatorRef allocator,
   const void *value
);

Parameters

allocator

The bag’s allocator.

value

The value being removed from the bag.

Discussion

This callback is passed to CFBagCreate in a CFBagCallBacks structure.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagRetainCallBack

Prototype of a callback function used to retain a value being added to a bag.

typedef const void *(*CFBagRetainCallBack) (
   CFAllocatorRef allocator,
   const void *value
);

If you name your function MyCallBack, you would declare it like this:

const void *MyCallBack (
   CFAllocatorRef allocator,
   const void *value
);

Parameters

allocator

The bag’s allocator.

value

The value being added to the bag.

Return Value

The value to store in the bag, which is usually the value parameter passed to this callback, but may be a different value if a different value should be stored in the collection.

Discussion

This callback is passed to CFBagCreate in a CFBagCallBacks structure.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

Data Types

CFBagCallBacks

This structure contains the callbacks used to retain, release, describe, and compare the values of a CFBag object.

struct CFBagCallBacks {
   CFIndex version;
   CFBagRetainCallBack retain;
   CFBagReleaseCallBack release;
   CFBagCopyDescriptionCallBack copyDescription;
   CFBagEqualCallBack equal;
   CFBagHashCallBack hash;
};
typedef struct CFBagCallBacks CFBagCallBacks;

Fields

version

The version number of this structure. If not one of the defined version numbers for this opaque type, the behavior is undefined. The current version of this structure is 0.

retain

The callback used to retain each value as they are added to the collection. If NULL, values are not retained. See CFBagRetainCallBack for a descriptions of this function’s parameters.

release

The callback used to release values as they are removed from the collection. If NULL, values are not released. See CFBagReleaseCallBack for a description of this callback.

copyDescription

The callback used to create a descriptive string representation of each value in the collection. If NULL, the collection will create a simple description of each value. See CFBagCopyDescriptionCallBack for a description of this callback.

equal

The callback used to compare values in the collection for equality for some operations. If NULL, the collection will use pointer equality to compare values in the collection. See CFBagEqualCallBack for a description of this callback.

hash

The callback used to compute a hash code for values in a collection. If NULL, the collection computes a hash code by converting the pointer value to an integer. See CFBagHashCallBack for a description of this callback.

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

CFBagRef

A reference to an immutable bag object.

typedef const struct __CFBag *CFBagRef;

Availability

• Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared In

CFBag.h

Constants

Predefined Callback Structures

CFBag provides some predefined callbacks for your convenience.

const CFBagCallBacks kCFTypeBagCallBacks;
const CFBagCallBacks kCFCopyStringBagCallBacks;

Constants

kCFTypeBagCallBacks

Predefined CFBagCallBacks structure containing a set of callbacks appropriate for use when the values in a CFBag are all CFType-derived objects. The retain callback is CFRetain, the release callback is CFRelease, the copy callback is CFCopyDescription, the equal callback is CFEqual, and the hash callback is CFHash. Therefore, if you use this constant when creating the collection, items are automatically retained when added to the collection, and released when removed from the collection.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in CFBag.h

kCFCopyStringBagCallBacks

Predefined CFBagCallBacks structure containing a set of callbacks appropriate for use when the values in a CFBag are all CFString objects. The bag makes immutable copies of the strings placed into it.

Available in Mac OS X v10.0 and later.

Declared in CFBag.h

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