Modules: REDISMODULE_POSTPONED_ARRAY_LEN doc.

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antirez 2016-04-26 11:29:34 +02:00
parent 42f72210fd
commit 02c4a6c7f9

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@ -411,6 +411,51 @@ To return nested arrays is easy, your nested array element just uses another
call to `RedisModule_ReplyWithArray()` followed by the calls to emit the
sub array elements.
## Returning arrays with dynamic length
Sometimes it is not possible to know beforehand the number of items of
an array. As an example, think of a Redis module implementing a FACTOR
command that given a number outputs the prime factors. Instead of
factorializing the number, storing the prime factors into an array, and
later produce the command reply, a better solution is to start an array
reply where the length is not known, and set it later. This is accomplished
with a special argument to `RedisModule_ReplyWithArray()`:
RedisModule_ReplyWithArray(ctx, REDISMODULE_POSTPONED_ARRAY_LEN);
The above call starts an array reply so we can use other `ReplyWith` calls
in order to produce the array items. Finally in order to set the length
se use the following call:
RedisModule_ReplySetArrayLength(ctx, number_of_items);
In the case of the FACTOR command, this translates to some code similar
to this:
RedisModule_ReplyWithArray(ctx, REDISMODULE_POSTPONED_ARRAY_LEN);
number_of_factors = 0;
while(still_factors) {
RedisModule_ReplyWithLongLong(ctx, some_factor);
number_of_factors++;
}
RedisModule_ReplySetArrayLength(ctx, number_of_factors);
Another common use case for this feature is iterating over the arrays of
some collection and only returning the ones passing some kind of filtering.
It is possible to have multiple nested arrays with postponed reply.
Each call to `SetArray()` will set the length of the latest corresponding
call to `ReplyWithArray()`:
RedisModule_ReplyWithArray(ctx, REDISMODULE_POSTPONED_ARRAY_LEN);
... generate 100 elements ...
RedisModule_ReplyWithArray(ctx, REDISMODULE_POSTPONED_ARRAY_LEN);
... generate 10 elements ...
RedisModule_ReplySetArrayLength(ctx, 10);
RedisModule_ReplySetArrayLength(ctx, 100);
This creates a 100 items array having as last element a 10 items array.
# Arity and type checks
Often commands need to check that the number of arguments and type of the key