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)