| The Interface Files

The interface files are the heart of Pyste. The user creates one or more interface files declaring the classes and functions he wants to export, and then invokes Pyste passing the interface files to it. Pyste then generates a single cpp file with Boost.Python code, with all the classes and functions exported.

Besides declaring the classes and functions, the user has a number of other options, like renaming e excluding classes and member functionis. Those are explained later on.

## Basics

Suppose we have a class and some functions that we want to expose to Python declared in the header `hello.h`:

`

        struct World
        {
            World(std::string msg): msg(msg) {}
            void set(std::string msg) { this->msg = msg; }
            std::string greet() { return msg; }
            std::string msg;
        };

        enum choice { red, blue };

        namespace test {

        void show(choice c) { std::cout << "value: " << (int)c << std::endl; }

        }

`

We create a file named `hello.pyste` and create instances of the classes `Function`, `Class` and `Enum`:

`

        Function("test::show", "hello.h")
        Class("World", "hello.h")
        Enum("choice", "hello.h")

`

That will expose the class, the free function and the enum found in `hello.h`.

## Inheritance

Pyste automatically generates the correct code (specifying `bases<>` in the `class_` declaration) if the Class() function that exports the base classes and their children are in the same Pyste file. If that's not the case, you have to indicate that there's a relationship between the Pyste files using the `Import` function specifying the other Pyste file.

Suppose we have two classes, `A` and `B`, and A is a base class for B. We create two Pyste files:

`A.pyste`:

`

        Class("A", "A.h")

`

`B.pyste`:

`

        Import("A.pyste")
        Class("B", "B.h")

`

Note that we specify that `B` needs to know about `A` to be properly exported.

Copyright © 2003 Bruno da Silva de Oliveira
Copyright © 2002-2003 Joel de Guzman
Permission to copy, use, modify, sell and distribute this document is granted provided this copyright notice appears in all copies. This document is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty, and with no claim as to its suitability for any purpose.