glib2/gdbus - arrays and g_variant_get() quirks

[David Sommerseth]

Hi,

I'm getting quite puzzled when trying to extract an array using
g_variant_get() ... and I don't quite follow why this happens.

Lets first look at this little and simple snippet:

---------------------------------------------------------------------
     GVariant *res = some_function_returning_int_array_via_dbus();
     printf("Format (res): %s\n", g_variant_get_type_string(res));

     GVariant *array = NULL;
     g_variant_get(res, "(*)", &array);
     printf("Format (array): %s\n", g_variant_get_type_string(array));
---------------------------------------------------------------------

When running this little snippet the output is:

     Format (res): (au)
     Format (array): au

But I'm not really happy about the '(*)'.  So I change that to say:

     g_variant_get(res, "(au)", &array);

To my understanding, that should match the signature of the data.  But
this explodes:

     Format (res): (au)
     **
     GLib:ERROR:gvarianttypeinfo.c:163:g_variant_type_info_check:
assertion failed: (info->alignment == 0 || info->alignment == 1 ||
info->alignment == 3 || info->alignment == 7)
     Aborted


In pure desperation, I try to use the type 'au' instead.  But that
doesn't resolve it either:

     Format (res): (au)

     (process:27844): GLib-CRITICAL **: the GVariant format string 'au'
has a type of 'au' but the given value has a type of '(au)'

     (process:27844): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_get: assertion
'valid_format_string (format_string, TRUE, value)' failed

     (process:27844): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_variant_get_type_string:
assertion 'value != NULL' failed
     Format (array): (null)


So there is obviously something I do not fully understand.  I do know
that results from D-Bus are inside a "container", so the ()
encapsulation is needed.  And I can easily extract data of other types
than arrays, dictionaries or tuples.  And as it works with the '(*)'
type; why not '(au)'?

What is the most appropriate and correct way to extract an array with
glib2/gdbus?


-- 
kind regards,

David Sommerseth