xpidl is a tool for generating XPCOM interface information, based on XPIDL interface description files. It generates headers for XPCOM objects, runtime type information to call them dynamically through XPConnect and XPCall, and (sometime soon) online documentation.

Building xpidl

xpidl is based on the libIDL idl compiler from the Gnome project. The libIDL compiler depends on glib, also from the gnome project. The xpidl compiler is now part of the build process so that we can use it to generate the headers used by XPCOM components. Please check the build instructions for information on where to get libIDL and glib.

Using xpidl

See the xpidl build page for instructions on how to add XPIDL files to the Mozilla build process. xpidl can also be used from the command line on unix and windows:

Usage: xpidl [-m mode] [-w] [-v] [-I path] [-o basename] filename.idl
       -w turn on warnings (recommended)
       -v verbose mode (NYI)
       -I add entry to start of include path for ``#include "nsIThing.idl"''
       -o use basename (e.g. ``/tmp/nsIThing'') for output
       -m specify output mode:
          header        Generate C++ header            (.h)
          typelib       Generate XPConnect typelib     (.xpt)
          doc           Generate HTML documentation    (.html)

Writing XPIDL interface files

XPIDL closely resembles OMG IDL, with extended syntax to handle IIDs and additional types. Some examples are in the xpcom/base and xpcom/ds directories of the Mozilla tree.

Resources

Open bugs against xpidl.
Some unsorted notes including a keyword list

flames to mccabe@netscape.com & mang@subcarrier.org.
Last modified: Tue Jun 15 03:53:44 PDT 1999