[drmaa-wg] C binding data structures

[Cargnelli, Matthieu]

Hello,

Sorry for these questions that will probably look a little dumb, but I 
just can't figure it out. I hope this is the right place to ask these 
questions...

I'm trying to write a DRMAA C binding for Torque/OpenPBS. I've read the 
drmaa C binding documents and some of this mailing list archive, but 
couldn't find an answer.

I was defining a job_template structure containing the necessary 
strings, something like this:
struct drmaa_job_template_s
{
  char* drmaa_remote_command;
  char* drmaa_js_state;
  char* drmaa_wd;
  [...]
};

But eventually I thought that it would rather be something like:
struct drmaa_job_template_s
{
  drmaa_attr_names_t* _attr_names;
  drmaa_attr_values_t* _attr_values;
  [...]
};
that should be implemented (at least that would justify the opaque 
string vectors).

Could someone please shed some light on this matter please? I'm really 
unable to find that information anywhere.

Besides, what are we supposed to put in the opaque string vectors if the 
first case apply?

In both cases how are we supposed to make the relation between the 
attr_name vector and the attr_value vector? I suppose these actually 
contain pairs of value. But as they can only be accessed by 
drmaa_get_next_attr_name and drmaa_get_next_attr_ value functions, is 
the user condamned to use alternatively get_next_name and get_next_value 
functions to be certain he gets the proper value for the proper 
attribute name?
 
Finaly, that leads to the function:
/*
 * Adds ('name', 'value') pair to list of attributes in job template 'jt'.
 * Only non-vector attributes may be passed.
 */
int drmaa_set_attribute(drmaa_job_template_t *jt, const char *name, 
const char *value, char *error_diagnosis, size_t error_diag_len);

If I'm correct, this function would add (or modify) one element to 
attr_name and one to attr_value string vectors... Or am I totally wrong 
about it ?

Sorry for such a bunch of questions.

Regards

Matthieu Cargnelli