N

named pipe

A one-way or two-way pipe used for communications between a server process and one or more client processes. A server process specifies a name when it creates one or more instances of a named pipe. Each instance of the pipe can be connected to a client process that uses the pipe name to open a handle to the other end of the pipe. See also handle, pipe.

network provider

The supplier of a complete implementation of a networking system: for example, Microsoft Server or Novell Netware.

network root

The topmost container resource in a network hierarchy. The network root can contain the network providers on a system.

nonclient area

The parts of a window that are not a part of the client area. A window's nonclient area consists of the border, menu bar, title bar, scroll bar, System menu, Minimize button, and Maximize button. See also menu bar, scroll bar, window.

nonpalettized device

The color output of a palettized device is stored in an array of RAM locations associated with the device. Images that are output to the device do not contain colors in their pixel information. They contain indexes for the array of palette colors. The contents of the palette can be changed by software as a program runs.

nonpalettized display mode

A mode in which the bit depth indicates the total number of bits that are used to describe a pixel.

nonqueued message

A message sent directly to a window procedure.

nonsignaled

The state of an object used for synchronization in one of the wait functions is either signaled or nonsignaled. A nonsignaled state can prevent the wait function from returning. See also signaled, wait function.

nonspacing character

A character that prints over the preceding character--typically, an accent mark. See also base character.

normal filemark

A filemark that does not contain an erase gap. See also erase gap.

notification message

A message a control sends to its parent window when events, such as input from the user, occur.

NTFS file system (NTFS)

A file system that supports object-oriented applications by treating all files as objects with user-defined and system-defined attributes. NTFS provides all the capabilities of the file allocation table (FAT) file system without many of its limitations.

null brush

A logical brush created from a bitmap that matches the current window background colors. (A null brush is identical to a hollow brush.) See also bitmap, hollow brush, logical brush.