sd_bus_call_method, sd_bus_call_methodv, sd_bus_call_method_async, sd_bus_call_method_asyncv — Initialize a bus message object and invoke the corresponding D-Bus method call
#include <systemd/sd-bus.h>
| typedef int (*sd_bus_message_handler_t)( | sd_bus_message *m, | 
| void *userdata, | |
| sd_bus_error *ret_error ); | 
| int sd_bus_call_method( | sd_bus *bus, | 
| const char *destination, | |
| const char *path, | |
| const char *interface, | |
| const char *member, | |
| sd_bus_error *ret_error, | |
| sd_bus_message **reply, | |
| const char *types, | |
| ... ); | 
| int sd_bus_call_methodv( | sd_bus *bus, | 
| const char *destination, | |
| const char *path, | |
| const char *interface, | |
| const char *member, | |
| sd_bus_error *ret_error, | |
| sd_bus_message **reply, | |
| const char *types, | |
| va_list ap ); | 
| int sd_bus_call_method_async( | sd_bus *bus, | 
| sd_bus_slot **slot, | |
| const char *destination, | |
| const char *path, | |
| const char *interface, | |
| const char *member, | |
| sd_bus_message_handler_t callback, | |
| void *userdata, | |
| const char *types, | |
| ... ); | 
| int sd_bus_call_method_asyncv( | sd_bus *bus, | 
| sd_bus_slot **slot, | |
| const char *destination, | |
| const char *path, | |
| const char *interface, | |
| const char *member, | |
| sd_bus_message_handler_t callback, | |
| void *userdata, | |
| const char *types, | |
| va_list ap ); | 
sd_bus_call_method() is a convenience function for initializing a
    bus message object and calling the corresponding D-Bus method. It combines the
    sd_bus_message_new_method_call(3),
    sd_bus_message_append(3) and
    sd_bus_call(3)
    functions into a single function call.
sd_bus_call_method_async() is a convenience function for initializing
    a bus message object and calling the corresponding D-Bus method asynchronously. It combines the
    sd_bus_message_new_method_call(3),
    sd_bus_message_append(3) and
    sd_bus_call_async(3)
    functions into a single function call.
On success, these functions return a non-negative integer. On failure, they return a negative errno-style error code.
See the man pages of sd_bus_message_new_method_call(3), sd_bus_message_append(3), sd_bus_call(3) and sd_bus_call_async(3) for a list of possible errors.
Functions described here are available as a shared
  library, which can be compiled against and linked to with the
  libsystemd pkg-config(1)
  file.
The code described here uses
getenv(3),
which is declared to be not multi-thread-safe. This means that the code calling the functions described
here must not call
setenv(3)
from a parallel thread. It is recommended to only do calls to setenv()
from an early phase of the program when no other threads have been started.
Example 1. Make a call to a D-Bus method that takes a single parameter
/* SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT-0 */
/* This is equivalent to:
 * busctl call org.freedesktop.systemd1 /org/freedesktop/systemd1 \
 *       org.freedesktop.systemd1.Manager GetUnitByPID $$
 *
 * Compile with 'cc print-unit-path-call-method.c -lsystemd'
 */
#include <errno.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <systemd/sd-bus.h>
#define _cleanup_(f) __attribute__((cleanup(f)))
#define DESTINATION "org.freedesktop.systemd1"
#define PATH        "/org/freedesktop/systemd1"
#define INTERFACE   "org.freedesktop.systemd1.Manager"
#define MEMBER      "GetUnitByPID"
static int log_error(int error, const char *message) {
  errno = -error;
  fprintf(stderr, "%s: %m\n", message);
  return error;
}
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
  _cleanup_(sd_bus_flush_close_unrefp) sd_bus *bus = NULL;
  _cleanup_(sd_bus_error_free) sd_bus_error error = SD_BUS_ERROR_NULL;
  _cleanup_(sd_bus_message_unrefp) sd_bus_message *reply = NULL;
  int r;
  r = sd_bus_open_system(&bus);
  if (r < 0)
    return log_error(r, "Failed to acquire bus");
  r = sd_bus_call_method(bus, DESTINATION, PATH, INTERFACE, MEMBER, &error, &reply, "u", (unsigned) getpid());
  if (r < 0)
    return log_error(r, MEMBER " call failed");
  const char *ans;
  r = sd_bus_message_read(reply, "o", &ans);
  if (r < 0)
    return log_error(r, "Failed to read reply");
  printf("Unit path is \"%s\".\n", ans);
  return 0;
}
This defines a minimally useful program that will open a connection to the bus, call a method, wait for the reply, and finally extract and print the answer. It does error handling and proper memory management.
sd_bus_call_method(),
    sd_bus_call_methodv(),
    sd_bus_call_method_async(), and
    sd_bus_call_method_asyncv() were added in version 246.