hdf5/doc/html/RM_H5.html
Frank Baker 82fb21b613 [svn-r985] Checking in changes from "HDF5 Release 1.0" CVS branch that have not yet
been checked into "HDF5 Development" branch.

General
=======
	Various "copy edit" types of repairs.
	Revisions to document cross-linking.
	Added structural links tying all docs together (banners
	   at top and bottom of documents, similar to Reference Manual
	   banners of the Beta release).
	Set background color to white in all documents.

NCSAfooterlogo.gif
hdf2.jpg
	New image files to make the documents more self-contained
	(i.e., to prevent loading images from NCSA and HDF home servers).

index.html
	Redesigned to isolate links external to the installation
	in a single location.


Intro to HDF5
=============
H5.intro.html
	Fixed banner linking Intro to other docs.
	Set all URLs to be relative within the distribution; nothing
	   points back to the HDF server.
	Updates to "Limits of the Current Release" and "Changes in
	   the Current Release."


HDF5 User's Guide
=================
	Changed several User Guide section titles such that all
	   sections that are primarily about a particular interface
	   are now titled in the format "The xxxxx Interface (H5x)".

H5.user.html
	Commented out links to developer docs since they are marked
	   in MANIFEST as not being for distribution in the release.
	Removed 2nd and 3rd indices from page.
	Changed "freeform" lists of sections (TOCs) to aligned tables.

Datatypes.html
	Removed the sentence "I'm deferring definition until later
	   since they're probably not as important as the other data
	   types." from Section 3.3, "Properties of Date and Time
	   Atomic Types."
	Added info regarding 'char' versus 'string' datatypes.  Added
	   as Section 3.7, "Character and String Datatype Issues."

References.html
	Commented out substantial material (at end of document) from
	   References planning document that is not appropriate for
 	   the User Guide but that is worth keeping around.

Groups.html
	Final edits from elimination of "current working group."


HDF5 Reference Manual
=====================
	Removed "Draft" from the <title>__</title> lines.

RM_H5Front.html
	Removed 2nd and 3rd indices from page.
	Changed "freeform" lists of sections (TOCs) to aligned tables.

RM_H5F.html
RM_H5P.html
	Add file mounting information.
1998-12-21 17:52:56 -05:00

257 lines
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HTML

<html>
<head><title>
HDF5/H5 API Specification
</title></head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<hr>
<center>
<table border=0 width=98%>
<tr><td valign=top align=left>
<a href="H5.intro.html">Introduction to HDF5</a>&nbsp;<br>
<a href="H5.user.html">HDF5 User Guide</a>&nbsp;<br>
<a href="index.html">Other HDF5 documents and links</a>&nbsp;<br>
<!--
<a href="Glossary.html">Glossary</a><br>
-->
</td>
<td valign=top align=right>
And in this document, the
<a href="RM_H5Front.html">HDF5 Reference Manual</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<br>
H5&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5A.html">H5A</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5D.html">H5D</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5E.html">H5E</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5F.html">H5F</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5G.html">H5G</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5I.html">H5I</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<br>
<a href="RM_H5P.html">H5P</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5R.html">H5R</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5RA.html">H5RA</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5S.html">H5S</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5T.html">H5T</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5Z.html">H5Z</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="Tools.html">Tools</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
<hr>
<center>
<h1>H5: General Library Functions</h1>
</center>
These functions serve general-purpose needs of the HDF5 library
and it users.
<table border=0>
<tr><td valign=top>
<ul>
<li><a href="#Library-Open">H5open</a>
<li><a href="#Library-Close">H5close</a>
</ul>
</td><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td valign=top>
<ul>
<li><a href="#Library-Version">H5get_libversion</a>
<li><a href="#Library-VersCheck">H5check_version</a>
</ul>
</td><td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td><td valign=top>
<ul>
<li><a href="#Library-DontAtExit">H5dont_atexit</a>
</ul>
</td></tr>
</table>
<hr>
<dl>
<dt><strong>Name:</strong> <a name="Library-Open">H5open</a>
<dt><strong>Signature:</strong>
<dd><em>herr_t</em> <code>H5open</code>(<em>void</em>)
<dt><strong>Purpose:</strong>
<dd>Initializes the HDF5 library.
<dt><strong>Description:</strong>
<dd><code>H5open</code> initialize the library. This function is
normally called automatically, but if you find that an
HDF5 library function is failing inexplicably, try calling
this function first.
<dt><strong>Parameters:</strong>
<dl>
<dt>None.
</dl>
<dt><strong>Returns:</strong>
<dd>Returns a non-negative value if successful;
otherwise returns a negative value.
</dl>
<hr>
<dl>
<dt><strong>Name:</strong> <a name="Library-Close">H5close</a>
<dt><strong>Signature:</strong>
<dd><em>herr_t</em> <code>H5close</code>(<em>void</em>)
<dt><strong>Purpose:</strong>
<dd>Flushes all data to disk, closes file identifiers, and cleans up memory.
<dt><strong>Description:</strong>
<dd><code>H5close</code> flushes all data to disk,
closes all file identifiers, and cleans up all memory used by
the library. This function is generall called when the
application calls <code>exit</code>, but may be called earlier
in event of an emergency shutdown or out of desire to free all
resources used by the HDF5 library.
<dt><strong>Parameters:</strong>
<dl>
<dt>None.
</dl>
<dt><strong>Returns:</strong>
<dd>Returns a non-negative value if successful;
otherwise returns a negative value.
</dl>
<hr>
<dl>
<dt><strong>Name:</strong> <a name="Library-DontAtExit">H5dont_atexit</a>
<dt><strong>Signature:</strong>
<dd><em>herr_t</em> <code>H5dont_atexit</code>(<em>void</em>)
<dt><strong>Purpose:</strong>
<dd>Instructs library not to install <code>atexit</code> cleanup routine.
<dt><strong>Description:</strong>
<dd><code>H5dont_atexit</code> indicates to the library that an
<code>atexit()</code> cleanup routine should not be installed.
The major purpose for this is in situations where the
library is dynamically linked into an application and is
un-linked from the application before <code>exit()</code> gets
called. In those situations, a routine installed with
<code>atexit()</code> would jump to a routine which was
no longer in memory, causing errors.
<p>
In order to be effective, this routine <em>must</em> be called
before any other HDF function calls, and must be called each
time the library is loaded/linked into the application
(the first time and after it's been un-loaded).
<dt><strong>Parameters:</strong>
<dl>
<dt>None.
</dl>
<dt><strong>Returns:</strong>
<dd>Returns a non-negative value if successful;
otherwise returns a negative value.
</dl>
<hr>
<dl>
<dt><strong>Name:</strong> <a name="Library-Version">H5get_libversion</a>
<dt><strong>Signature:</strong>
<dd><em>herr_t</em> <code>H5get_libversion</code>(<em>unsigned *</em><code>majnum</code>,
<em>unsigned *</em><code>minnum</code>,
<em>unsigned *</em><code>relnum</code>
)
<dt><strong>Purpose:</strong>
<dd>Returns the HDF library release number.
<dt><strong>Description:</strong>
<dd><code>H5get_libversion</code> retrieves the major, minor, and release
numbers of the version of the HDF library which is linked to
the application.
<dt><strong>Parameters:</strong>
<dl>
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>majnum</code>
<dd>The major version of the library.
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>minnum</code>
<dd>The minor version of the library.
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>relnum</code>
<dd>The release number of the library.
</dl>
<dt><strong>Returns:</strong>
<dd>Returns a non-negative value if successful;
otherwise returns a negative value.
</dl>
<hr>
<dl>
<dt><strong>Name:</strong> <a name="Library-VersCheck">H5check_version</a>
<dt><strong>Signature:</strong>
<dd><em>herr_t</em> <code>H5check_version</code>(<em>unsigned</em> <code>majnum</code>,
<em>unsigned</em> <code>minnum</code>,
<em>unsigned</em> <code>relnum</code>
)
<dt><strong>Purpose:</strong>
<dd>
<dt><strong>Description:</strong>
<dd><code>H5check_version</code> verifies that the arguments match the
version numbers compiled into the library. This function is intended
to be called from user to verify that the versions of header files
compiled into the application match the version of the HDF5 library.
<p>
Due to the risks of data corruption or segmentation faults,
<code>H5check_version</code> causes the application to abort if the
version numbers do not match.
<dt><strong>Parameters:</strong>
<dl>
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>majnum</code>
<dd>The major version of the library.
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>minnum</code>
<dd>The minor version of the library.
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>relnum</code>
<dd>The release number of the library.
<dt><em>unsigned *</em><code>patnum</code>
<dd>The patch number of the library.
</dl>
<dt><strong>Returns:</strong>
<dd>Returns a non-negative value if successful.
Upon failure, this function causes the application to abort.
</dl>
<hr>
<center>
<table border=0 width=98%>
<tr><td valign=top align=left>
<a href="H5.intro.html">Introduction to HDF5</a>&nbsp;<br>
<a href="H5.user.html">HDF5 User Guide</a>&nbsp;<br>
<a href="index.html">Other HDF5 documents and links</a>&nbsp;<br>
<!--
<a href="Glossary.html">Glossary</a><br>
-->
</td>
<td valign=top align=right>
And in this document, the
<a href="RM_H5Front.html">HDF5 Reference Manual</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<br>
H5&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5A.html">H5A</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5D.html">H5D</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5E.html">H5E</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5F.html">H5F</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5G.html">H5G</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5I.html">H5I</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<br>
<a href="RM_H5P.html">H5P</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5R.html">H5R</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5RA.html">H5RA</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5S.html">H5S</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5T.html">H5T</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="RM_H5Z.html">H5Z</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="Tools.html">Tools</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;
</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
<hr>
<address>
<a href="mailto:hdfhelp@ncsa.uiuc.edu">HDF Help Desk</a>
<br>
Last modified: 30 October 1998
</body>
</html>