.TH CECIL 1  "November 10, 1999" "ISE" "CECIL Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
eif_attribute	\- return the attribute of an Eiffel object. 
.SH SYNOPSYS
.nf
\fB#include "eif_cecil.h"\fB
.sp
.BI "EIFFEL_TYPE eif_attribute (EIF_REFERENCE " object ", char * " name ", " EIFFEL_TYPE ", int * " status ");"
.fi
.SH DESCRIPTION
The \fBeif_attribute()\fP macro returns the attribute of name \fIname\fP, which
is of type \fIEIFFEL_TYPE\fP.
.PP
\fIEIFFEL_TYPE\fP is the type of the Eiffel attribute. It can be: 
.BR EIF_INTEGER ", " EIF_CHARACTER ", " EIF_BOOLEAN ", " EIF_DOUBLE ", " EIF_REAL ", or " EIF_REFERENCE "."
.PP
If \fIstatus\fP is NULL then no status is set. Otherwise the status of the call is put into \fI*status\fP. Its value is one of the following:
.RS
.TP
.B EIF_NO_ATTRIBUTE
No attribute was found
.TP
.B EIF_CECIL_OK
Attribute was found.
.TP
.B EIF_CECIL_ERROR
An undefined error occurred, \fIobject\fP may not be valid. 
.RE
.PP 
If the visible exception is enabled, then a visible exception is raised 
upon failure (\fBEIF_NO_ATTRIBUTE\fP, \fBEIF_CECIL_ERROR\fP).
.SH RETURN VALUE
Upon failure, it returns (\fIEIFFEL_TYPE\fP) 0, otherwise the attribute is returned. 
.SH NOTES
If the return value is an \fBEIF_REFERENCE\fP, you must protect it with \fBeif_protect()\fP.
.br
You cannot access a constant attribute, or the result of a once function with \fBeif_attribute()\fP.
.SH CONFORMANCE
ISE Eiffel 4.5 and later.
.SH COMPATIBILITY
.BI "eif_attribute ( " object ", " name ", " type ", " NULL ") "  
.br
is equivalent to:
.br
.BI "eif_field ( " object ", " name ", " type ") "
.br
which is deprecated.
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR eif_protect "(1) , "attribute_exists "(1) , "eif_procedure "(1) , "eif_reference_function "(1)."