Bonobo Activation has a query language used to request components with specific properties from the Bonobo Activation daemon. The API call bonobo_activation_activate takes a requirements parameter which is a string containing a specific request in the OAF query langage. A simple example is: CORBA_Object o = bonobo_activation_activate ("repo_ids.has ('IDL:GNOME/Graph/Layout:1.0')", NULL, 0, NULL, &ev); This will ask for a component which supports the GNOME/Graph/Lyout:1.0 interface. You can also do much more complicated things. "(repo_ids.has_all (['IDL:Bonobo/Control:1.0', 'IDL:Nautilus/ContentView:1.0']) OR repo_ids.has_one (['IDL:Bonobo/Control:1.0', 'IDL:Bonobo/Embeddable:1.0'])) AND repo_ids.has('IDL:Bonobo/PersistFile:1.0') AND foo:bar.defined()" This would get any component with both 'Control' and 'ContentView' or with either 'Control' or 'Embeddable' as long as they supported the 'PersistFile' interface, and defined the attribute 'foo:bar'. 'string': As in SQL, delimited by single quotes. Example: 'mystring' 'stringv' (string arrays): A comma-separated list of strings, surrounded by square brackets. Example: ['red','blue'] 'number': Floating point decimals. (aka "whatever atof() accepts" :) 'boolean': TRUE or FALSE (other common boolean value identifiers also accepted, but not encouraged). Names of fields are attributes of a ServerInfo record. These include 'server_type', 'location_info', and 'iid', even though these are explicitly stored instead of just other attributes. Some pseudo-fields are also available - they are all prefaced with an underscore: _active : Whether the server is currently running (boolean) Variables are various miscellaneous data items that are part of the environment. The syntax for referring to a variable is a '$' sign followed by the variable name. The following variables are available: $hostname : the hostname that the requesting client is running on. $domain : the "domain" that the client is requesting activation in. Functions perform transformations on data and return a result. There are two possible syntaxes for a function call: funcname(field, other-arguments) field.funcname(other-arguments...) Internally, 'field.funcname(other-arguments...)' is translated to be exactly the same as 'funcname(field, other-arguments)', so 'priority.max()' is exactly the same as 'max(priority)'. Function names are case insensitive. The following functions are available: defined(expression) : Returns a boolean value that indicates whether the given expression is defined for the current record. For example, using a field name would indicate whether that field is defined for the record. has_one(stringv1, stringv2) : Returns a boolean value that indicates whether any of the strings in the 'stringv2' array are contained in the 'stringv1' array. has_all(stringv1, stringv2) : Returns a boolean value that indicates whether all of the strings in the 'stringv2' array are contained in the 'stringv1' array. has(stringv, string) Returns a boolean value that indicates whether 'string' is contained in the 'stringv' array. prefer_by_list_order(string, stringv) This function is intended to use as a sort condition when you have a prioritized list of preferred values. It returns -1 if the 'string' is not in the 'stringv' array, otherwise it's position measured from the end of 'stringv'. The result is that the first item is most preferred, items after that are next most preferred, and items not in the list are lowest priority. max(expr) Evaluates 'expr' over all the available server information records in the database, and returns the maximum value as dictated by the normal sort order for the data type of 'expr'. This function is not valid for string vectors. min(expr) As with the 'max' function, but finds the minimum value. More complex queries can be built using the various operators described below. When building complex expressions, make sure they are fully parenthized or your query will fail in weird ways. Operator Signification == equal != not equal < less than > greater than <= less than or equal >= greater than or equal Operator Signification && or AND and || or OR or ^^ or XOR exclusive or Operator Signification ~ or NOT not Operator Signification / divided by + plus - minus * times Operator Signification - negate