OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

OSF DCE Application Development Guide—Core Components
17.11 Operation Declarations
The IDL operation_declaration can take the following forms:
[[operation_attribute, ...]] type_specifier operation_identifier (parameter_declaration, ...);
[[operation_attribute, ...]] type_specifier operation_identifier ([void]);
Use the first form for an operation that has one or more parameters; use the second form
for an operation that has no parameters.
An operation_attribute can take the following forms:
• idempotent: The operation is idempotent.
• broadcast: The operation is always to be broadcast.
• maybe: The caller of the operation does not require and will not receive any
response.
• reflect_deletions:Ifrpc_ss_free( ) is applied by application code on the server side
to memory used for the referent of a full pointer that is part of an [in] parameter, the
storage occupied by that referent on the client side is released.
• ptr: The operation returns a full pointer. This attribute must be supplied if the
operation returns a pointer result and reference pointers are the default for the
interface.
• context_handle: The operation returns a context handle.
• string: The operation returns a string.
The type_specifier in an operation declaration specifies the data type that the operation
returns, if any. This type must be either a scalar type or a previously defined type. If the
operation does not return a result, its type_specifier must be void.
For information on the semantics of pointers as operation return values, refer to the
discussion of pointers in Section 17.14.7.
The operation_identifier in an operation declaration is an identifier that names the
operation.
Each parameter_declaration in an operation declaration declares a parameter of the
operation. A parameter_declaration takes the following form:
[parameter_attribute, ...] type_specifier parameter_declarator
Parameter declarations and the parameter attributes are described separately in the
following sections.
17 − 18 Tandem Computers Incorporated 124245