This guide explains the Microsoft RPC programming model, standards, and tools in detail. Part I, the Overviews portion of the guide, consists of a sequence of topics that will help you understand distributed application programming and Microsoft RPC as follows:
Microsoft RPC Model provides an overview of the client-server programming model, standards for distributed application programming, and a description of how Microsoft RPC works.
Installing The RPC Programming Environment tells how to install the files and tools needed to develop distributed applications with Microsoft RPC.
Tutorial provides an overview of the development of a small distributed application. This example demonstrates all the steps in developing a distributed application, the tools you use, and the components that make up the executable programs.
The following topics deal with the underlying mechanisms that pass data from the calling application to the remote procedure.
Building RPC Applications describes the MIDL compiler and the necessary environment for building distributed applications with Microsoft RPC.
IDL and ACF Files describes the IDL and ACF files used to specify the interface to the remote procedure call and the MIDL compiler switches that control how these files are processed.
Data and Language Features demonstrates the use of standard data types.
Arrays and Pointers explains how to pass arrays pointers as parameters.
Binding and Handles describes the binding handle — the data structure that allows the developer to bind the calling application to the remote procedure.
Memory Management offers ideas about how to manage memory on the client and server when performing remote procedure calls.
Encoding Services describes the methods for encoding or decoding data.
Run-time RPC Functions describe the Microsoft RPC run-time libraries and the functions in the run-time library that applications use to manage their own client and server binding.
Security describes the methods for implementing security features in your distributed applications.
Installing and Configuring RPC Applications discusses installing your client and server applications in the MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows NT environments, describes how to configure the name service provider and the security service. This section also contains network transport information for RPC.
Part II, The RPC Programmers' Reference provides alphabetical listings of RPC Data Types and Structures, and RPC Functions.
The Appendix contains a listing of RPC Error Codes and sample code that demonstrates a variety of RPC concepts.
For detailed information on using the MIDL Compiler, and for descriptions of MIDL language attributes, see the MIDL Programmers' Reference. For information about Microsoft Windows 3.x, see the Microsoft Windows 3.x software development kit. For information about the Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95 operating systems, see the Microsoft Win32 software development kit. For information about C and C++, see your C/C++ programming documentation.