PMDF Programmer's Reference Manual
PMDF-PRM-6.0

Each routine in the PMDF API has two calling formats: an OpenVMS-style format and a C-style format. The only difference between the two is the mechanism used to pass string data. Whereas the VMS-style format uses string descriptors, the C-style format uses pointers to strings. All routines return VMS-style status codes for which the low bit set indicates success. The strings returned by the C-style routines will always be zero terminated; however, strings passed in to those routines need not be.

The API routines fall into three classes: routines to enqueue a message, routines to dequeue a message, and miscellaneous routines which typically query or set PMDF states. The use of the enqueue and dequeue routines is discussed at length in Sections 1.2 and 1.3 .

A working knowledge of RFC 822, ² and the relevant sections of RFC 1123, ³ is essential to programmers writing software which will create electronic mail messages with PMDF. Programmers interested in creating MIME compliant messages should also familiarize themselves with RFCs 2045 and 2046. ⁴

Note that channel programs written using the API should always use the PMDF_log routine to write output to the channel log file.

Note

² A copy of RFC 822, Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages written by David Crocker, may be found in the RFC subdirectory of the PMDF documentation directory, PMDF_ROOT:[doc.rfc] on OpenVMS or /pmdf/doc/rfc on UNIX and NT.

³ A copy of RFC 1123, Internet Host Requirements --- Application and Support edited by Robert Braden, may be found in the RFC subdirectory of the PMDF documentation directory.

⁴ A copy of these RFCs, may be found in the RFC subdirectory of the PMDF documentation directory.