OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

Chapter 17. Interface Definition Language
This chapter describes how to construct an Interface Definition Language (IDL) file.
First, it describes the IDL syntax notation conventions and lexical elements. It then
describes the interface definition structure and the individual language elements
supported by the IDL compiler.
17.1 The Interface Definition Language File
The IDL file defines all aspects of an interface that affect data passed over the network
between a caller (client) and a callee (server). An interface definition file has the suffix
.idl. In order for a caller and callee to interoperate, they both need to incorporate the
same interface definition.
17.2 Syntax Notation Conventions
In addition to the documentation conventions described in the Preface of this guide, the
IDL syntax uses the special notation described in the following subsections.
17.2.1 Typography
IDL documentation uses the following typefaces:
Bold Bold typeface indicates a literal item. Keywords and literal punctuation
are represented in bold typeface. Identifiers used in a particular example
are represented in bold typeface when mentioned in the text.
Italic Italic typeface indicates a symbolic item for which you need to
substitute a particular value. In IDL syntax descriptions, all identifiers
that are not keywords are represented in italic typeface.
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