Add $_as_string convenience function

This patch is a follow-up to "Add printf format specifier for printing
enumerator":

  https://sourceware.org/ml/gdb-patches/2016-02/msg00144.html

Instead of having a solution specific to the printf command, Pedro
suggested adding a general purpose function $_as_string() that would
cover this use case and more.

So, in order to print the textual label of an enum, one can use:

  (gdb) printf "Visiting node of type %s\n", $_as_string(node)
  Visiting node of type NODE_INTEGER

gdb/ChangeLog:

	* data-directory/Makefile.in (PYTHON_FILE_LIST): Install
	gdb/function/as_string.py.
	* python/lib/gdb/function/as_string.py: New file.
	* NEWS: Mention the new $_as_string function.

gdb/testsuite/ChangeLog:

	* gdb.python/py-as-string.exp: New file.
	* gdb.python/py-as-string.c: New file.

gdb/doc/ChangeLog:

	* gdb.texinfo (Convenience Functions): Document $_as_string.

1 files changed, 39 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/gdb/python/lib/gdb/function/as_string.py b/gdb/python/lib/gdb/function/as_string.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d55a466
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gdb/python/lib/gdb/function/as_string.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+# Copyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+import gdb
+
+
+class _AsString(gdb.Function):
+    """Return the string representation of a value.
+
+Usage:
+  $_as_string(value)
+
+Arguments:
+
+  value: A gdb.Value.
+
+Returns:
+  The string representation of the value.
+"""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        super(_AsString, self).__init__("_as_string")
+
+    def invoke(self, val):
+        return str(val)
+
+_AsString()