 ShapeFile" -->
<h3><a name="label-6" id="label-6">class methods</a></h3><!-- RDLabel: "class methods" -->
<p>Following two class methods <code>new</code> and <code>open</code>
return an instance of <a href="#label-5">class ShapeFile</a> if succeeded.
Exception is raised on failure.
It is recommended to call <a href="#label-28">shapefile.close</a>
when each shapefile is no longer used.</p>
<dl>
<dt><a name="label-7" id="label-7"><code>ShapeFile::open <var>filename</var>, <var>access</var> = '<var>rb</var>'<