module Xdr: sig .. end

External Data Representation

---

This module supports the "external data representation", or XDR for short. XDR is a means to pack structured values as strings and it serves to transport such values across character streams even between computers with different architectures.

XDR values must be formed according to an XDR type. Such types are usually written in a notation that is close to the C notation of structured types. There are some important details where XDR is better than C:

• direct support for strings
• arrays may have fixed or variable length
• unions must have a discriminator
• no pointers. The notation *t is allowed, but means something different, namely "t option" in O'Caml notation.
• recursive types are possible and behave like recursive types in O'Caml. For example,

   struct *list {
   int value;
   next list;
   }
   

  is a list of integer values and equivalent to

   type intlist = intlist_el option
   and intlist_el = { value : int; next : intlist }
   

See RFC 1014 for details about XDR.

This module defines:

• XDR types
• XDR type terms
• XDR type systems
• XDR type term systems

In "type terms" you can see the components from which the type has been formed, while a "type" is an opaque representation that has been checked and for that some preprocessing has been done.

A "type system" is a collection of several types that have names and that can refer to previously defined types (i.e. a sequence of "typedef"s). As with simple types, there is an extensive and an opaque representation.

A typical way of using this module is to define an "XDR type term system" by simply writing an O'Caml expression. After that, this system is validated and you get the "type system". From now on, you can refer to the types defined in the system by name and get the corresponding "XDR types". Once you have an XDR type you can use it to pack or unpack an XDR value.

Terms that describe possible XDR types:

• X_int: integer (32 bit)
• X_uint: unsigned integer
• X_hyper: hyper (64 bit signed integer)
• X_uhyper: unsigned hyper
• X_enum [x1,i1; ...]: enum { x1 = i1, ... }
• X_float: float (32 bit fp number)
• X_double: double (64 bit fp number)
• X_opaque_fixed n: opaque[n]
• X_opaque n: opaque<n>
• X_string n: string<n>
• X_array_fixed (t,n): t[n]
• X_array (t,n): t<n>
• X_struct [x1,t1;...]: struct { t1 x1; ...}
• X_union_over_int ([n1,t1;...], None): union switch(int) {case n1: t1; ...}
• X_union_over_int ([n1,t1;...], Some t): union switch(int) {case n1: t1; ...; default t}
• X_union_over_uint ([n1,t1;...], None): union switch(unsigned int) {case n1: t1; ...}
• X_union_over_uint ([n1,t1;...], Some t): union switch(unsigned int) {case n1: t1; ...; default t}
• X_union_over_enum (e, [n1,t1;...], None): union switch(e) {case n1:t1; ...} where e is an enumeration type
• X_union_over_enum (e, [n1,t1;...], Some t): union switch(e) {case n1:t1; ...; default t} where e is an enumeration type
• X_void: void

The X_type constructor is only useful for types interpreted relative to a type system. Then it refers to a named type in this system.

The X_param constructor includes a reference to an arbitrary type which must only be given while packing or unpacking values. (A "lazy" type reference.)

Example how to define a recursive type:

X_rec ("a", X_array ( X_struct ["value", X_int; "next", X_refer "a"], 1))

type xdr_type_term =

type xdr_type 

type xdr_type_term_system = (string * xdr_type_term) list 

type xdr_type_system 

val x_bool : xdr_type_term 

val x_optional : xdr_type_term -> xdr_type_term 

val x_opaque_max : xdr_type_term 

val x_string_max : xdr_type_term 

val x_array_max : xdr_type_term -> xdr_type_term 

Values possible for XDR types. This is straight-forward, except the "_fast" variants:

type xdr_value =

val xv_true : xdr_value 

val xv_false : xdr_value 

val xv_none : xdr_value 

val xv_some : xdr_value -> xdr_value 

exception Dest_failure

val dest_xv_int : xdr_value -> Rtypes.int4 

val dest_xv_uint : xdr_value -> Rtypes.uint4 

val dest_xv_hyper : xdr_value -> Rtypes.int8 

val dest_xv_uhyper : xdr_value -> Rtypes.uint8 

val dest_xv_enum : xdr_value -> string

val dest_xv_enum_fast : xdr_value -> int

val dest_xv_float : xdr_value -> Rtypes.fp4 

val dest_xv_double : xdr_value -> Rtypes.fp8 

val dest_xv_opaque : xdr_value -> string

val dest_xv_string : xdr_value -> string

val dest_xv_array : xdr_value -> xdr_value array

val dest_xv_array_of_string_fast : xdr_value -> string array

val dest_xv_struct : xdr_value -> (string * xdr_value) list

val dest_xv_struct_fast : xdr_value -> xdr_value array

val dest_xv_union_over_int : xdr_value -> Rtypes.int4 * xdr_value 

val dest_xv_union_over_uint : xdr_value -> Rtypes.uint4 * xdr_value 

val dest_xv_union_over_enum : xdr_value -> string * xdr_value 

val dest_xv_union_over_enum_fast : xdr_value -> int * xdr_value 

val dest_xv_void : xdr_value -> unit

val map_xv_enum_fast : xdr_type -> xdr_value -> int32

val map_xv_struct_fast : xdr_type -> xdr_value -> xdr_value array

val map_xv_union_over_enum_fast : xdr_type -> xdr_value -> int * int32 * xdr_value 

exception Xdr_format of string

exception Xdr_format_message_too_long of xdr_value 

You must use these two functions to obtain validated types and type systems. They fail with "validate_xdr_type" resp. "validate_xdr_type_system" if the parameters are incorrect.

val validate_xdr_type : xdr_type_term -> xdr_type 

val validate_xdr_type_system : xdr_type_term_system -> xdr_type_system 

Get the unvalidated version back:

• Note that X_type constructions are always resolved

val xdr_type_term : xdr_type -> xdr_type_term 

val xdr_type_term_system : xdr_type_system -> xdr_type_term_system 

You can expand any type term relative to a (validated) type system. For example: expanded_xdr_type sys1 (X_type "xy") extracts the type called "xy" defined in sys1. Expansion removes all X_type constructions in a type term.

val expanded_xdr_type : xdr_type_system -> xdr_type_term -> xdr_type 

val expanded_xdr_type_term : xdr_type_term_system -> xdr_type_term -> xdr_type_term 

val are_compatible : xdr_type -> xdr_type -> bool

Is the value properly formed with respect to this type? The third argument of this function is a list of parameter instances. Note that all parameters must be instantiated to compare a value with a type and that the parameters instances are not allowed to have parameters themselves.

val value_matches_type : xdr_value -> xdr_type -> (string * xdr_type) list -> bool

pack_xdr_value v t p print: Serialize v into a string conforming to the XDR standard where v matches t. In p the parameter instances are given. All parameters must be given, the parameters must not contain parameters themselves. The fourth argument, print, is a function which is evaluated for the pieces of the resultant string. You can use pack_xdr_value_as_string to get the whole string at once.

unpack_xdr_value s t p: Unserialize a string to a value matching t. If this operation fails you get an Xdr_format exception explaining what the reason for the failure is. Mostly the cause for failures is that t isn't the type of the value. Note that there are some implementation restrictions limiting the number of elements in array, strings and opaque fields. If you get such an error this normally still means that the value is not of the expected type, because these limits have no practical meaning (they are still higher than the usable address space).

val pack_xdr_value : xdr_value ->
 xdr_type -> (string * xdr_type) list -> (string -> unit) -> unit

val pack_xdr_value_as_string : ?rm:bool ->
 xdr_value -> xdr_type -> (string * xdr_type) list -> string

val unpack_xdr_value : ?pos:int ->
 ?len:int ->
 ?fast:bool ->
 ?prefix:bool ->
 string -> xdr_type -> (string * xdr_type) list -> xdr_value 

val unpack_xdr_value_l : ?pos:int ->
 ?len:int ->
 ?fast:bool ->
 ?prefix:bool ->
 string -> xdr_type -> (string * xdr_type) list -> xdr_value * int