Files

and possibly further included files are processed by SIP. They are the source file(s) defining the wrapping. They closely resemble the header files they describe but also contain additional directives for a range of special cases and purposes (e.g. prductin of documentation, treatment of different versions a wrapped libraries).

is produced by SIP. It initializes the wrapping and imports the dynamic lib lib$(module)c.pyd which contains the actual C++ wrapping code.

Code from %PrePythonCode and %PythonCode sections is also placed in this file as in the following example (assuming a module MOD wrapping classes A and B):

    # Python wrapper code
    # Copying: Copyright (c) ....
    import libMODc
    libMc.sipInitModule()
    # here comes code from %PrePythonCode sections
    class A:
    	...
    class B:
    	...
    libMc.sipRegisterClasses()
    # here comes code from %PythonCode sections			

This dynamic library is compiled from the following, SIP generate intermediate files:

A pair of corresponding header and C++ files for each wrapped class.

A global module header, which (beside all im- and exports) contains all %ExportedHeaderCode and %HeaderCode (from imported .sip files only %ExportedHeaderCode).

which contains the module global and initialisation code.

If SIP option "-m makefile_name" is given, one of a set of makefile templates (defined in the SIP files) is seletected and instantiated with the appropriate module and class names. It is typically used to compile the wrapping.

All code from %VersionCode sections will be placed in this file. Typically it is compiled into sip_helper.exe, which then produces sip$(module)Version.h. This is included in all relevant files to maintain version information for the conditional sections.

Why not just #include the necessary file that provides the version information and use the C++ test specified as part of the version definition in the .sip files?

The answer is that moc can't handle C++ pre-processor commands so the proxy header file must be run through the C++ pre-processor beforehand. The code generated by moc is then #included by the main module code.

The net result is that the header file specifying the version information is #included by the main module code and #included a second time - but the second time is a version that has already been run through the C++ pre-processor and has therefore lost it's usual means of protecting itself from being #included twice.

Unless the file follows certain rules (like having no function definitions) it is likely to make the C++ compiler complain. Therefore the solution is to use a generated file that isn't going to cause complaints.

If SIP option "-m docfile_name" is given, documentation records are extracted from the SIP file(s) and written to docfile_name.