OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

Interface Definition Language
After this sequence, neither the server stub nor the client stub can continue to execute
properly.
To avoid this situation, you must reraise the exception.
• A pipe cannot be used in an operation that has the broadcast or idempotent
attribute.
• The element type of a pipe cannot be a conformant structure.
• The maximum length of pipe type IDs is 29 characters.
17.14.5 Arrays
IDL supports the following types of arrays:
• Fixed: The size of the array is defined in IDL and all of the data in the array is
transferred during the call.
• Conformant: The size of the array is determined at runtime. At least one bound of
the array is determined at runtime by a value referenced through a min_is, max_is,or
size_is attribute. All of the data in the array is transferred during the call.
• Varying: The size of the array is defined in IDL but the part of its contents transferred
during the call is determined by the values of fields or parameters named in one or
more data limit attributes. The data limit attributes are first_is, length_is, and
last_is.
An array can also be both conformant and varying (or, as it is sometimes termed, open).
In this case, the size of the array is determined at runtime by the value of the field or
parameter referenced by the min_is, max_is or size_is attributes. The part of its contents
transferred during the call is determined by the values of fields or parameters named in
one or more of the data limit attributes.
An IDL array is declared via an array_declarator construct whose syntax is as follows:
array_identifier array_bounds_declarator ...
An array_bounds_declarator must be specified for each dimension of an array.
17.14.5.1 Array Bounds
The array_bounds_declarator for the first dimension of an array can take any of the
following forms:
[lower .. upper] The lower bound is lower. The upper bound is upper.
[size] The lower bound is 0 (zero). The upper bound is size - 1.
[*] The lower bound is 0 (zero). The upper bound is determined by a
max_is or size_is attribute.
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