PMGETCHILDREN(3)           Library Functions Manual           PMGETCHILDREN(3)

NAME
       pmGetChildren - return the descendent nodes of a PMNS node

C SYNOPSIS
       #include <pcp/pmapi.h>

       int pmGetChildren(const char *name, char ***offspring);

       cc ... -lpcp

DESCRIPTION
       Given a fully qualified pathname to a node in the current Performance
       Metrics Name Space (PMNS), as identified by name, pmGetChildren returns
       via offspring a list of the relative names of all of the immediate
       descendent nodes of name in the current PMNS.

       As a special case, if name is an empty string (i.e.""), the immediate
       descendants of the root node in the PMNS will be returned.

       Normally, pmGetChildren will return the number of descendent names
       discovered, else a value less than zero for an error.  The value zero
       indicates that name is a valid metric name, i.e. is associated with a
       leaf node in the PMNS.

       The resulting list of pointers offspring and the values (the relative
       names) that the pointers reference will have been allocated by
       pmGetChildren with a single call to malloc(3), and it is the
       responsibility of the pmGetChildren caller to free(offspring) to
       release the space when it is no longer required.

       When an error occurs, or name is a leaf node (i.e. the result of
       pmGetChildren is less than one), offspring is undefined (no space will
       have been allocated, and so calling free(3) is a singularly bad idea).

DIAGNOSTICS
       PM_ERR_NOPMNS
              Failed to access a PMNS for operation.  Note that if the
              application hasn't a priori called pmLoadNameSpace(3) and wants
              to use the distributed PMNS, then a call to pmGetChildren must
              be made inside a current context.

       PM_ERR_NAME
              The pathname name is not valid in the current PMNS

       PM_ERR_*
              Other diagnostics are for protocol failures when accessing the
              distributed PMNS.

PCP ENVIRONMENT
       Environment variables with the prefix PCP_ are used to parameterize the
       file and directory names used by PCP.  On each installation, the file
       /etc/pcp.conf contains the local values for these variables.  The
       $PCP_CONF variable may be used to specify an alternative configuration
       file, as described in pcp.conf(5).  Values for these variables may be
       obtained programmatically using the pmGetConfig(3) function.

SEE ALSO
       PMAPI(3), pmGetChildrenStatus(3), pmGetConfig(3),
       pmLoadASCIINameSpace(3), pmLoadNameSpace(3), pmLookupName(3),
       pmNameID(3), pcp.conf(5), pcp.env(5) and PMNS(5).


Performance Co-Pilot                  PCP                     PMGETCHILDREN(3)