IC binary (was R8B PRE-RELEASES )

[Kent Boortz]

"Jouni Ryno" <jouni.ryno@REDACTED> writes:
> In the IC 4.0.7 release notes the erlang binary special type is 
> mentioned.
> Is it documented somewhere also in the User's Guide ?

The documentation is not written yet but I got this description from
Babbis Xagorarakis, the main author of the IC application:
 
  Erlang binaries have the same C-definition as if generated sequences
  of octets, and are providing a way on sending transparent data
  between C and Erlang.

  The C-definition (ic.h) for an Erlang binary is :

  typedef struct {
    CORBA_unsigned_long _maximum;
    CORBA_unsigned_long _length;
    CORBA_octet* _buffer;
  } erlang_binary;                        /* ERLANG BINARY */


  The differences (between Erlang binary and sequence<octet>) are:

  * on the Erlang side the user is sending/receiving typical Erlang
    binaries

  * no encoding/decoding functions are generated

  * the underlying protocol is more efficient than usual sequences of
    octets

  The Erlang binary IDL type is defined in the erlang.idl, while it's
  C definition is located in the ic.h header file, both in the
  IC-4.0.7/include directory.  You will have to include the file
  erlang.idl" in order to use the erlang::binary type.

kent