NAME rpc_intro - Introduction to the DCE RPC programmer commands DESCRIPTION DCE RPC provides the following programmer commands: + The idl command invokes the Interface Definition Language (IDL) compiler to convert an interface definition, written in IDL, to output files. + The uuidgen command creates a 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 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. Base Data Type Specifiers - rpc_intro ___________________________________________________________ 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 - - 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. RELATED INFORMATION Commands: idl uuidgen Messages: OSF DCE Problem Determination Guide. Books: OSF DCE Application Development Guide.