Volume 6A: Motif Programming Manual

20.3.2 Compound String Retrieval

You can retrieve a compound string from a Motif widget using XtVaGetValues(). However, the way

XtVaGetValues() is used for compound string resources is different than how it is used for most other resources.

The value returned by XtVaGetValues() for a compound string resource is a copy of the internal data, so the

compound string must be freed by the application, as shown in the following code fragment:

XmString str;

extern Widget pushbutton;

char *text;

XtVaGetValues (pushbutton, XmNlabelString, &str, NULL);

...

/* do whatever you want with the compound string */

...

XmStringFree (str); /* must free compound strings from GetValues */

To avoid memory leaks in your application, you must remember to free any compound strings that you retrieve from a

widget using XtVaGetValues().

20.3.3 Compound String Conversion

If the Motif routines described in the previous section are inadequate for your needs, you can convert compound

strings back into C strings and manipulate them using the conventional C functions. This process can be simple or

complicated depending on the complexity of the compound string to be converted. If the compound string only has

one tag associated with it and has a left−to−right orientation, the process is quite simple. In this case, which is quite

common, you can use the following function to make the conversion:

Boolean

XmStringGetLtoR(string, tag, text)

XmString string;

XmStringCharSet tag;

char **text;

XmStringGetLtoR() takes a compound string ...