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-
- <manualpage metafile="hooks.xml.meta">
- <parentdocument href="./">Developer Documentation</parentdocument>
-
- <title>Apache 2.0 Hook Functions</title>
-
- <summary>
- <note type="warning"><title>Warning</title>
- <p>This document is still in development and may be partially out of
- date.</p>
- </note>
-
- <p>In general, a hook function is one that Apache will call at
- some point during the processing of a request. Modules can
- provide functions that are called, and specify when they get
- called in comparison to other modules.</p>
- </summary>
-
- <section id="create"><title>Creating a hook function</title>
- <p>In order to create a new hook, four things need to be
- done:</p>
-
- <section id="create-declare"><title>Declare the hook function</title>
- <p>Use the <code>AP_DECLARE_HOOK</code> macro, which needs to be given
- the return type of the hook function, the name of the hook, and the
- arguments. For example, if the hook returns an <code>int</code> and
- takes a <code>request_rec *</code> and an <code>int</code> and is
- called <code>do_something</code>, then declare it like this:</p>
- <example>
- AP_DECLARE_HOOK(int, do_something, (request_rec *r, int n))
- </example>
-
- <p>This should go in a header which modules will include if
- they want to use the hook.</p>
- </section>
-
- <section id="create-create"><title>Create the hook structure</title>
- <p>Each source file that exports a hook has a private structure
- which is used to record the module functions that use the hook.
- This is declared as follows:</p>
-
- <example>
- APR_HOOK_STRUCT(<br />
- <indent>
- APR_HOOK_LINK(do_something)<br />
- ...<br />
- </indent>
- )
- </example>
- </section>
-
- <section id="create-implement"><title>Implement the hook caller</title>
- <p>The source file that exports the hook has to implement a
- function that will call the hook. There are currently three
- possible ways to do this. In all cases, the calling function is
- called <code>ap_run_<var>hookname</var>()</code>.</p>
-
- <section><title>Void hooks</title>
- <p>If the return value of a hook is <code>void</code>, then all the
- hooks are called, and the caller is implemented like this:</p>
-
- <example>
- AP_IMPLEMENT_HOOK_VOID(do_something, (request_rec *r, int n), (r, n))
- </example>
-
- <p>The second and third arguments are the dummy argument
- declaration and the dummy arguments as they will be used when
- calling the hook. In other words, this macro expands to
- something like this:</p>
-
- <example>
- void ap_run_do_something(request_rec *r, int n)<br />
- {<br />
- <indent>
- ...<br />
- do_something(r, n);<br />
- </indent>
- }
- </example>
- </section>
-
- <section><title>Hooks that return a value</title>
- <p>If the hook returns a value, then it can either be run until
- the first hook that does something interesting, like so:</p>
-
- <example>
- AP_IMPLEMENT_HOOK_RUN_FIRST(int, do_something, (request_rec *r, int n), (r, n), DECLINED)
- </example>
-
- <p>The first hook that does <em>not</em> return <code>DECLINED</code>
- stops the loop and its return value is returned from the hook
- caller. Note that <code>DECLINED</code> is the tradition Apache
- hook return meaning "I didn't do anything", but it can be
- whatever suits you.</p>
-
- <p>Alternatively, all hooks can be run until an error occurs.
- This boils down to permitting <em>two</em> return values, one of
- which means "I did something, and it was OK" and the other
- meaning "I did nothing". The first function that returns a
- value other than one of those two stops the loop, and its
- return is the return value. Declare these like so:</p>
-
- <example>
- AP_IMPLEMENT_HOOK_RUN_ALL(int, do_something, (request_rec *r, int n), (r, n), OK, DECLINED)
- </example>
-
- <p>Again, <code>OK</code> and <code>DECLINED</code> are the traditional
- values. You can use what you want.</p>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section id="create-call"><title>Call the hook callers</title>
- <p>At appropriate moments in the code, call the hook caller,
- like so:</p>
-
- <example>
- int n, ret;<br />
- request_rec *r;<br />
- <br />
- ret=ap_run_do_something(r, n);
- </example>
- </section>
- </section>
-
- <section id="hooking"><title>Hooking the hook</title>
- <p>A module that wants a hook to be called needs to do two
- things.</p>
-
- <section id="hooking-implement"><title>Implement the hook function</title>
- <p>Include the appropriate header, and define a static function
- of the correct type:</p>
-
- <example>
- static int my_something_doer(request_rec *r, int n)<br />
- {<br />
- <indent>
- ...<br />
- return OK;<br />
- </indent>
- }
- </example>
- </section>
-
- <section id="hooking-add"><title>Add a hook registering function</title>
- <p>During initialisation, Apache will call each modules hook
- registering function, which is included in the module
- structure:</p>
-
- <example>
- static void my_register_hooks()<br />
- {<br />
- <indent>
- ap_hook_do_something(my_something_doer, NULL, NULL, HOOK_MIDDLE);<br />
- </indent>
- }<br />
- <br />
- mode MODULE_VAR_EXPORT my_module =<br />
- {<br />
- <indent>
- ...<br />
- my_register_hooks /* register hooks */<br />
- </indent>
- };
- </example>
- </section>
-
- <section id="hooking-order"><title>Controlling hook calling order</title>
- <p>In the example above, we didn't use the three arguments in
- the hook registration function that control calling order.
- There are two mechanisms for doing this. The first, rather
- crude, method, allows us to specify roughly where the hook is
- run relative to other modules. The final argument control this.
- There are three possible values: <code>HOOK_FIRST</code>,
- <code>HOOK_MIDDLE</code> and <code>HOOK_LAST</code>.</p>
-
- <p>All modules using any particular value may be run in any
- order relative to each other, but, of course, all modules using
- <code>HOOK_FIRST</code> will be run before <code>HOOK_MIDDLE</code>
- which are before <code>HOOK_LAST</code>. Modules that don't care
- when they are run should use <code>HOOK_MIDDLE</code>. <em>(I spaced
- these out so people could do stuff like <code>HOOK_FIRST-2</code>
- to get in slightly earlier, but is this wise? - Ben)</em></p>
-
- <p>Note that there are two more values,
- <code>HOOK_REALLY_FIRST</code> and <code>HOOK_REALLY_LAST</code>. These
- should only be used by the hook exporter.</p>
-
- <p>The other method allows finer control. When a module knows
- that it must be run before (or after) some other modules, it
- can specify them by name. The second (third) argument is a
- NULL-terminated array of strings consisting of the names of
- modules that must be run before (after) the current module. For
- example, suppose we want "mod_xyz.c" and "mod_abc.c" to run
- before we do, then we'd hook as follows:</p>
-
- <example>
- static void register_hooks()<br />
- {<br />
- <indent>
- static const char * const aszPre[] = { "mod_xyz.c", "mod_abc.c", NULL };<br />
- <br />
- ap_hook_do_something(my_something_doer, aszPre, NULL, HOOK_MIDDLE);<br />
- </indent>
- }
- </example>
-
- <p>Note that the sort used to achieve this is stable, so
- ordering set by <code>HOOK_<var>ORDER</var></code> is preserved, as far
- as is possible.</p>
-
- <p class="cite"><cite>Ben Laurie</cite>, 15th August 1999</p>
- </section>
- </section>
- </manualpage>
-
-