Documentation doesn't match implementation in WebIDL_Binder: Use of [Const] attribute for methods
#14,747 opened on Jul 23, 2021
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Description
Hello,
Noticed a mismatch between documentation and implementation related to the use of [Const] attributes for method return types in the tools/webidl_binder.py
From the documentation:
C++ arguments or return types that use const can be specified in IDL using [Const].
For example, the following code fragments show the C++ and IDL for a function that returns a constant pointer object.
//C++
const myObject* getAsConst();// WebIDL[Const] myObject getAsConst();
So the documentation states that [Const] attribute applies to the return type of the method.
However, in reality, using the [Const] attribute in the manner above results in the method being marked as const, not the return type. This is particularly a problem when generating the Javascript implementation class for an abstract C++ interface.
Example:
[Const] DOMString foo();
turns into
char* foo() const in the generated Glue C++ source file.
The documentation never mentions that const methods are supported, so I believe this is a bug in the implementation.