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+<html>
+<head>
+<title>SWIG:Examples:tcl:class</title>
+</head>
+
+<body bgcolor="#ffffff">
+
+
+<tt>SWIG/Examples/tcl/class/</tt>
+<hr>
+
+<H2>Wrapping a simple C++ class</H2>
+
+<p>
+This example illustrates the most primitive form of C++ class wrapping performed
+by SWIG.  In this case, C++ classes are simply transformed into a collection of
+C-style functions that provide access to class members.
+
+<h2>The C++ Code</h2>
+
+Suppose you have some C++ classes described by the following (and admittedly lame) 
+header file:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+/* File : example.h */
+
+class Shape {
+public:
+  Shape() {
+    nshapes++;
+  }
+  virtual ~Shape() {
+    nshapes--;
+  };
+  double  x, y;   
+  void    move(double dx, double dy);
+  virtual double area() = 0;
+  virtual double perimeter() = 0;
+  static  int nshapes;
+};
+
+class Circle : public Shape {
+private:
+  double radius;
+public:
+  Circle(double r) : radius(r) { };
+  virtual double area();
+  virtual double perimeter();
+};
+
+class Square : public Shape {
+private:
+  double width;
+public:
+  Square(double w) : width(w) { };
+  virtual double area();
+  virtual double perimeter();
+};
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<h2>The SWIG interface</h2>
+
+A simple SWIG interface for this can be built by simply grabbing the header file
+like this:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+/* File : example.i */
+%module example
+
+%{
+#include "example.h"
+%}
+
+/* Let's just grab the original header file here */
+%include "example.h"
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+Note: when creating a C++ extension, you must run SWIG with the <tt>-c++</tt> option like this:
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+% swig -c++ -tcl example.i
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<h2>Some sample Tcl scripts</h2>
+
+SWIG performs two forms of C++ wrapping-- a low level interface and a high level widget-like interface.
+<ul>
+<li>
+Click <a href="example1.tcl">here</a> to see a script that calls the C++ functions using the
+low-level interface.
+<li>
+Click <a href="example2.tcl">here</a> to see a the same script written with the high-level
+interface.
+</ul>
+
+<h2>Key points</h2>
+
+<ul>
+<li>The low-level C++ interface works like this:
+<p>
+<ul>
+<li>To create a new object, you call a constructor like this:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+set c [new_Circle 10.0]
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>To access member data, a pair of accessor functions are used.
+For example:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+Shape_x_set $c 15        ;# Set member data
+set x [Shape_x_get $c]   ;# Get member data
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+Note: when accessing member data, the name of the base class must
+be used such as <tt>Shape_x_get</tt>
+
+<p>
+<li>To invoke a member function, you simply do this
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+puts "The area is [Shape_area $c]"
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>Type checking knows about the inheritance structure of C++. For example:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+Shape_area $c       # Works (c is a Shape)
+Circle_area $c      # Works (c is a Circle)
+Square_area $c      # Fails (c is definitely not a Square)
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>To invoke a destructor, simply do this
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+delete_Shape $c     # Deletes a shape
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>Static member variables are wrapped as C global variables.  For example:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+set n $Shape_nshapes    # Get a static data member
+set Shapes_nshapes 13   # Set a static data member
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+</ul>
+
+<p>
+<li>The high-level interface works like a Tk widget
+
+<p>
+<ul>
+<li>To create a new object, you call a constructor like this:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+Circle c 10      # c becomes a name for the Circle object
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>To access member data, use cget and configure methods.
+For example:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+c configure -x 15        ;# Set member data
+set x [c cget -x]        ;# Get member data
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>To invoke a member function, you simply do this
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+puts "The area is [c area]"
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>To invoke a destructor, simply destroy the object name like this:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+rename c ""         # c goes away
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>Static member variables are wrapped as C global variables.  For example:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+set n $Shape_nshapes    # Get a static data member
+set Shapes_nshapes 13   # Set a static data member
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+</ul>
+</ul>
+
+<h2>General Comments</h2>
+
+<ul>
+<li>The low-level function interface is much faster than the high-level interface.
+In fact, all the higher level interface does is call functions in the low-level interface.
+
+<p>
+<li>SWIG *does* know how to properly perform upcasting of objects in an inheritance
+hierarchy (including multiple inheritance).  Therefore it is perfectly safe to pass
+an object of a derived class to any function involving a base class.
+
+<p>
+<li>A wide variety of C++ features are not currently supported by SWIG.  Here is the
+short and incomplete list:
+
+<p>
+<ul>
+<li>Overloaded methods and functions.  SWIG wrappers don't know how to resolve name
+conflicts so you must give an alternative name to any overloaded method name using the
+%name directive like this:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+void foo(int a);  
+%name(foo2) void foo(double a, double b);
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>Overloaded operators.  Not supported at all. The only workaround for this is
+to write a helper function. For example:
+
+<blockquote>
+<pre>
+%inline %{
+    Vector *vector_add(Vector *a, Vector *b) {
+          ... whatever ...
+    }
+%}
+</pre>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>
+<li>Namespaces.  Not supported at all. Won't be supported until SWIG2.0 (if at all).
+
+</ul>
+
+<hr>
+</body>
+</html>