OSF DCE Application Development Guide--Core Components

OSF DCE Application Development Guide—Core Components
ContactProvider is the first routine called by DTS. The routine is called to verify that
the TP process is running and to obtain a control message that DTS uses for subsequent
communications with the TP process and for synchronization after it receives the
timestamps. The parameters passed in the ContactProvider procedure call consist of
the following elements:
• Binding Handle
An input parameter that establishes the relationship between DTS and the TP
process. A binding handle enables the client (DTS) to recognize and find a server
(the TP process) that offers the same interface.
• Control Message
An output parameter that contains information used by DTS for subsequent
processing. The control message consists of the following elements:
TPstatus One of the following values:
— K_TPI_SUCCESS
— K_TPI_FAILURE
nextPoll A time value that tells DTS when to contact the TP process again.
For example, once a day through dial-up, radio, or satellite.
timeout A value that tells DTS how long to wait for a response from the TP
process.
noClockSet A value that specifies whether or not DTS is allowed to alter the
system clock. If noClockSet is specified as 0x01 (TRUE), DTS does
not adjust or set the clock during the current synchronization. This
option is useful for systems whose system clock is known to be
accurate (such as systems equipped with special hardware) or
systems that are managed by some other time service (such as
Network Time Protocol (NTP)), but which still wish to function as a
DTS server.
• Communication Status
An output parameter that contains a status code returned by the DCE RPC runtime
library. The status rpc_s_ok is returned if the TP process is successfully contacted.
20.1.2 ServerRequestProviderTime Procedure
After the TP process is successfully contacted, DTS makes the ServerRequestProvider-
Time procedure call to obtain the timestamps from the external time-provider. The
parameters passed in the ServerRequestProviderTime procedure call consist of the
following elements:
• Binding Handle
An input parameter that establishes the relationship between DTS and the TP
process. A binding handle enables the client (DTS) to recognize and find a server
(the TP process) that offers the same interface.
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