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Wrapping the New Algorithm into the Interface

Once the algorithm has been written and integrated into LINK's C++ libraries, programmers will be able to use it to build new C++ programs; however, the real power of LINK is its computing environment, so new algorithms should be wrapped into the latter so that they can be called from the command-line and graphical interfaces. Example wrappers are shown above in Figures [*] and [*], and a similar wrapper should be written for our new algorithm. Since we are adding a fundamental graph algorithm (as opposed to a graph generating or layout algorithm), its wrapper belongs in the
$LINK\_BASE/src/algorithm/manualSTkWrappers
directory. Once the file is there, we must update the Make.algorithmWrappers file to include our new wrapper file in the ``SOURCES.cpp'' macro. The wrapper file must contain a function to create the new STk commands which will call our algorithm (for example, see the function called gen_Random_Wrapper() in Figure [*]. We must now arrange for this function to be called. This is done by editing the file $LINK\_BASE/src/wrappers/algorithmSTkInit.cpp to make the appropriate call. This file simply contains prototypes for and calls to each wrapper generating function. Figure [*] shows the contents of this file at the time of this writing.
  
Figure 2.6: algorithmSTkInit.cpp
\begin{figure}
\begin{alltt}
\relax
 ...

The functions STk_algorithm_init() and STk_algorithm_cleanup are called at the beginning and ending, respectively of a LINK session.


next up previous contents
Next: Edge Up: VertexMethods Previous: Integrating the Source Files
RHS Linux User
1/26/1998