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  61. <a name="Forwarding-hook"></a>
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  64. Previous: <a href="Dynamically-registering-methods.html#Dynamically-registering-methods" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Dynamically registering methods</a>, Up: <a href="Messaging-with-the-GNU-Objective_002dC-runtime.html#Messaging-with-the-GNU-Objective_002dC-runtime" accesskey="u" rel="up">Messaging with the GNU Objective-C runtime</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Option-Index.html#Option-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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  67. <a name="Forwarding-Hook"></a>
  68. <h4 class="subsection">8.10.2 Forwarding Hook</h4>
  69. <p>The GNU Objective-C runtime provides a hook, called
  70. <code>__objc_msg_forward2</code>, which is called by
  71. <code>objc_msg_lookup()</code> when it cannot find a method implementation in
  72. the runtime tables and after calling <code>+resolveInstanceMethod:</code>
  73. and <code>+resolveClassMethod:</code> has been attempted and did not succeed
  74. in dynamically registering the method.
  75. </p>
  76. <p>To configure the hook, you set the global variable
  77. <code>__objc_msg_forward2</code> to a function with the same argument and
  78. return types of <code>objc_msg_lookup()</code>. When
  79. <code>objc_msg_lookup()</code> cannot find a method implementation, it
  80. invokes the hook function you provided to get a method implementation
  81. to return. So, in practice <code>__objc_msg_forward2</code> allows you to
  82. extend <code>objc_msg_lookup()</code> by adding some custom code that is
  83. called to do a further lookup when no standard method implementation
  84. can be found using the normal lookup.
  85. </p>
  86. <p>This hook is generally reserved for &ldquo;Foundation&rdquo; libraries such as
  87. GNUstep Base, which use it to implement their high-level method
  88. forwarding API, typically based around the <code>forwardInvocation:</code>
  89. method. So, unless you are implementing your own &ldquo;Foundation&rdquo;
  90. library, you should not set this hook.
  91. </p>
  92. <p>In a typical forwarding implementation, the <code>__objc_msg_forward2</code>
  93. hook function determines the argument and return type of the method
  94. that is being looked up, and then creates a function that takes these
  95. arguments and has that return type, and returns it to the caller.
  96. Creating this function is non-trivial and is typically performed using
  97. a dedicated library such as <code>libffi</code>.
  98. </p>
  99. <p>The forwarding method implementation thus created is returned by
  100. <code>objc_msg_lookup()</code> and is executed as if it was a normal method
  101. implementation. When the forwarding method implementation is called,
  102. it is usually expected to pack all arguments into some sort of object
  103. (typically, an <code>NSInvocation</code> in a &ldquo;Foundation&rdquo; library), and
  104. hand it over to the programmer (<code>forwardInvocation:</code>) who is then
  105. allowed to manipulate the method invocation using a high-level API
  106. provided by the &ldquo;Foundation&rdquo; library. For example, the programmer
  107. may want to examine the method invocation arguments and name and
  108. potentially change them before forwarding the method invocation to one
  109. or more local objects (<code>performInvocation:</code>) or even to remote
  110. objects (by using Distributed Objects or some other mechanism). When
  111. all this completes, the return value is passed back and must be
  112. returned correctly to the original caller.
  113. </p>
  114. <p>Note that the GNU Objective-C runtime currently provides no support
  115. for method forwarding or method invocations other than the
  116. <code>__objc_msg_forward2</code> hook.
  117. </p>
  118. <p>If the forwarding hook does not exist or returns <code>NULL</code>, the
  119. runtime currently attempts forwarding using an older, deprecated API,
  120. and if that fails, it aborts the program. In future versions of the
  121. GNU Objective-C runtime, the runtime will immediately abort.
  122. </p>
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