I'd like to call a custom function that is defined in a python module from C. I have some preliminary code to do that, but it just prints the output to stdout.
mytest.py
import math
def myabs(x):
return math.fabs(x)
test.cpp
#include <Python.h>
int main() {
Py_Initialize();
PyRun_SimpleString("import sys; sys.path.append('.')");
PyRun_SimpleString("import mytest;");
PyRun_SimpleString("print mytest.myabs(2.0)");
Py_Finalize();
return 0;
}
How can I extract the return value into a C double and use it in C?
As explained before, using PyRun_SimpleString seems to be a bad idea.
You should definitely use the methods provided by the C-API (http://docs.python.org/c-api/).
Reading the introduction is the first thing to do to understand the way it works.
First, you have to learn about PyObject that is the basic object for the C API. It can represent any kind of python basic types (string, float, int,...).
Many functions exist to convert for example python string to char* or PyFloat to double.
First, import your module :
PyObject* myModuleString = PyString_FromString((char*)"mytest");
PyObject* myModule = PyImport_Import(myModuleString);
Then getting a reference to your function :
PyObject* myFunction = PyObject_GetAttrString(myModule,(char*)"myabs");
PyObject* args = PyTuple_Pack(1,PyFloat_FromDouble(2.0));
Then getting your result :
PyObject* myResult = PyObject_CallObject(myFunction, args)
And getting back to a double :
double result = PyFloat_AsDouble(myResult);
You should obviously check the errors (cf. link given by Mark Tolonen).
If you have any question, don't hesitate. Good luck.