rpc_intro(1rpc) — Commands
NAME
rpc_intro - Introduction to the DCE RPC programmer commands
DESCRIPTION
The DCE remote procedure call (RPC) component provides the following programmer commands:
idlInvokes the Interface Definition Language (IDL) compiler to convert an interface definition, written in IDL, to output files.
uuidgenCreates a Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) string that you assign to an object to uniquely distinguish it from other objects.
See each command’s reference page for further information.
IDL Base Data Types and IDL-to-C Type Mappings
The following table lists the IDL base data type specifiers. Where applicable, the table shows the size of the corresponding transmittable type and the type macro emitted by the IDL compiler for resulting declarations.
Note that you can use the idl_ macros in the code you write for an application to ensure that your type declarations are consistent with those in the stubs, even when the application is ported to another platform. The idl_ macros are especially useful when passing constant values to RPC calls. For maximum portability, all constants passed to RPC calls declared in your network interfaces should be cast to the appropriate type because the size of integer constants (like the size of the int data type) is unspecified in the C language.
The idl_ macros are defined in dce/idlbase.h, which is included by header files that the IDL compiler generates.
| Base Data Type Specifiers—rpc_intro(1rpc) | ||||
| Specifier | Type Macro | |||
| (sign) | (size) | (type) | Size | Emitted by idl |
| small | int | 8 bits | idl_small_int | |
| short | int | 16 bits | idl_short_int | |
| long | int | 32 bits | idl_long_int | |
| hyper | int | 64 bits | idl_hyper_int | |
| unsigned | small | int | 8 bits | idl_usmall_int |
| unsigned | short | int | 16 bits | idl_ushort_int |
| unsigned | long | int | 32 bits | idl_ulong_int |
| unsigned | hyper | int | 64 bits | idl_uhyper_int |
| float | 32 bits | idl_short_float | ||
| double | 64 bits | idl_long_float | ||
| char | 8 bits | idl_char | ||
| boolean | 8 bits | idl_boolean | ||
| byte | 8 bits | idl_byte | ||
| void | — | idl_void_p_t | ||
| handle_t | — | — | ||
RELATED INFORMATION
Commands: idl(1rpc), uuidgen(1rpc).
Books: OSF DCE Application Development Guide, OSF DCE Problem Determination Guide.