The purpose of this class is much like Emacs' (interactive) form: it
allows a value expression function to declare exactly how many
arguments, and of what type, it intends to receive. It then offers
type-safe access to theese arguments in a consistent manner.
An example value expression function definition in C++:
value_t fn_foo(call_scope_t& scope) {
// We expect a string, an integer, and an optional date
interactive_t args(scope, "sl&d");
std::cout << "String = " << args.get<string>(0)
<< "Integer = " << args.get<long>(1) << std::endl;
if (args.has(2)) // was a date provided?
std::cout << "Date = " << args.get<date_t>(2) << std::endl;
return NULL_VALUE;
}
There is also an in_context_t<T> template, which finds the context type
T in the current scope hierarchy. The in_context_t then also acts as a
smart pointer to reference this context object, in addition to serving
the same duty as interactive_t. This combination of intent is solely
for the sake of brevity.
value_t fn_bar(call_scope_t& scope) {
in_context_t<account_t> env(scope, "sl&d");
std::cout << "Account name = " << env->fullname()
<< "String arg = " << env.get<string>(0)
<< std::endl;
return NULL_VALUE;
}
As you can see here, 'env' acts as a smart pointer to the required
context, and an object to extract the typed arguments.
This allows reports to access the "whicheth" index of the reported
transaction. It's used mainly by the --average report, which divides
the running total by this count to get the arithmetic mean.
That is, if a metadata tag cannot be found in a transaction, look in the
parent entry to see if it was set there. Transactions "inherit"
notational details from their entries.
