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<TITLE>MPI_Type_struct</TITLE>
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MPI_Type_struct

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Creates a struct datatype 
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Synopsis

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int MPI_Type_struct(int count,
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                    int *array_of_blocklengths,
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                    MPI_Aint * array_of_displacements,
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                    MPI_Datatype * array_of_types, MPI_Datatype * newtype)
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Input Parameters

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count
number of blocks (integer) -- also number of
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entries in arrays array_of_types ,
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array_of_displacements  and array_of_blocklengths
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array_of_blocklengths
number of elements in each block (array)
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array_of_displacements
byte displacement of each block (array)
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array_of_types
type of elements in each block (array
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of handles to datatype objects)
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Output Parameters

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newtype
new datatype (handle)
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Deprecated Function

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The MPI-2 standard deprecated a number of routines because MPI-2 provides
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better versions.  This routine is one of those that was deprecated.  The
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routine may continue to be used, but new code should use the replacement
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routine.
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The replacement for this routine is <tt>MPI_Type_create_struct
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</tt>
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Notes

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If an upperbound is set explicitly by using the MPI datatype <tt>MPI_UB</tt>, the
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corresponding index must be positive.
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The MPI standard originally made vague statements about padding and alignment;
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this was intended to allow the simple definition of structures that could
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be sent with a count greater than one.  For example,
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    struct { int a; char b; } foo;
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may have <tt>sizeof(foo) > sizeof(int) + sizeof(char)</tt>; for example,
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<tt>sizeof(foo) == 2*sizeof(int)</tt>.  The initial version of the MPI standard
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defined the extent of a datatype as including an epsilon that would have
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allowed an implementation to make the extent an MPI datatype
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for this structure equal to <tt>2*sizeof(int)</tt>.
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However, since different systems might define different paddings, there was
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much discussion by the MPI Forum about what was the correct value of
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epsilon, and one suggestion was to define epsilon as zero.
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This would have been the best thing to do in MPI 1.0, particularly since
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the <tt>MPI_UB</tt> type allows the user to easily set the end of the structure.
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Unfortunately, this change did not make it into the final document.
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Currently, this routine does not add any padding, since the amount of
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padding needed is determined by the compiler that the user is using to
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build their code, not the compiler used to construct the MPI library.
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A later version of MPICH may provide for some natural choices of padding
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(e.g., multiple of the size of the largest basic member), but users are
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advised to never depend on this, even with vendor MPI implementations.
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Instead, if you define a structure datatype and wish to send or receive
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multiple items, you should explicitly include an <tt>MPI_UB</tt> entry as the
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last member of the structure.  For example, the following code can be used
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for the structure foo
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    blen[0] = 1; array_of_displacements[0] = 0; oldtypes[0] = MPI_INT;
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    blen[1] = 1; array_of_displacements[1] = &foo.b - &foo; oldtypes[1] = MPI_CHAR;
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    blen[2] = 1; array_of_displacements[2] = sizeof(foo); oldtypes[2] = MPI_UB;
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    MPI_Type_struct(3, blen, array_of_displacements, oldtypes, &newtype);
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Thread and Interrupt Safety

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This routine is thread-safe.  This means that this routine may be
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safely used by multiple threads without the need for any user-provided
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thread locks.  However, the routine is not interrupt safe.  Typically,
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this is due to the use of memory allocation routines such as <tt>malloc
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</tt>or other non-MPICH runtime routines that are themselves not interrupt-safe.
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Notes for Fortran

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All MPI routines in Fortran (except for <tt>MPI_WTIME</tt> and <tt>MPI_WTICK</tt>) have
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an additional argument <tt>ierr</tt> at the end of the argument list.  <tt>ierr
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</tt>is an integer and has the same meaning as the return value of the routine
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in C.  In Fortran, MPI routines are subroutines, and are invoked with the
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<tt>call</tt> statement.
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All MPI objects (e.g., <tt>MPI_Datatype</tt>, <tt>MPI_Comm</tt>) are of type <tt>INTEGER
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</tt>in Fortran.
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Errors

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All MPI routines (except <tt>MPI_Wtime</tt> and <tt>MPI_Wtick</tt>) return an error value;
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C routines as the value of the function and Fortran routines in the last
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argument.  Before the value is returned, the current MPI error handler is
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called.  By default, this error handler aborts the MPI job.  The error handler
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may be changed with <tt>MPI_Comm_set_errhandler</tt> (for communicators),
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<tt>MPI_File_set_errhandler</tt> (for files), and <tt>MPI_Win_set_errhandler</tt> (for
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RMA windows).  The MPI-1 routine <tt>MPI_Errhandler_set</tt> may be used but
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its use is deprecated.  The predefined error handler
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<tt>MPI_ERRORS_RETURN</tt> may be used to cause error values to be returned.
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Note that MPI does not guarentee that an MPI program can continue past
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an error; however, MPI implementations will attempt to continue whenever
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possible.
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MPI_SUCCESS
No error; MPI routine completed successfully.
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MPI_ERR_TYPE
Invalid datatype argument. Additionally, this error can
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occur if an uncommitted MPI_Datatype (see <tt>MPI_Type_commit</tt>) is used
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in a communication call.
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MPI_ERR_COUNT
Invalid count argument. Count arguments must be
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non-negative; a count of zero is often valid.
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MPI_ERR_INTERN
This error is returned when some part of the MPICH
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implementation is unable to acquire memory.  
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