Re: COPE and 'any' data type

The process of creating an instance of type any involves wrapping a bit of data in a two-slot array in which one slot contains the object's TypeCode and the other contains the data to be passed. The TypeCode is necessary for proper marshalling and unmarshalling since the whole point of an any is that it really can be anything at all, but the TypeCode serves as a kind of metadata to bring some sanity to process.

The COPE package provides a constructor for instantiating any's in package CORBA::Any, but you need to provide the correct TypeCode in order for it to work. Based on the IDL supplied, the Perl code would be this:

my $any = new CORBA::Any($CORBA::MyModule::MyData::_tc, $struct);
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Update: typo, this should be

my $any = new CORBA::Any($MyModule::MyData::_tc, $struct);
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(Only CORBA base types are stored in the CORBA module, e.g., $CORBA::_tc_float;)

Examine the file MyData_types.pm and you'll see the code there that sets the value of the first parameter. For more examples see the COPE test suites, in particular COPE/t/base2.t

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Re: Re: COPE and 'any' data type by Anonymous Monk on Jul 03, 2002 at 05:20 UTC
You have said to use: `$CORBA::MyModule::MyData::_tc` When I use this it doesn't recognise the data type in the Any constructor. It therefore sets the value and type to be null. In the examples in the `COPE/t/base2.t` they use `$MyModule::MyData::_tc`. This at least seems to run the correct code in the constructor but I then get an error when I run it saying: `Can't use string ("NONE") as an ARRAY ref while "strict refs" in use at Perl/perllib/COPE/CORBA/Any.pm line 63.` [download] I know this is to do with symbolic and hard references but I'm not sure what I have to do. This error occurs in the `_marshal_any` method of `Any`. I can't seem to see in the example what has been done to allow `$MyModule` to be used. Was there a reason why you used `$CORBA` and then the package so that it is different to the example? Thanks for any help. This seemingly simple problem is driving me mad.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Re: Re: COPE and 'any' data type by Anonymous Monk on Jul 04, 2002 at 02:51 UTC
Ok figured it out. One of the members of MyData was also an Any. This was not being set correctly. So the solution was `my $anyData = new CORBA::Any($MyModule::MyData::_tc, $struct).` [download] Thanks fever. You got me on the right track.	[reply] [d/l]