awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) (11/21/89)
Can anyone tell me what OSDispatch is supposed to do? I'm tracing through some code and I'm forced to guess what's going on behind this closed door. I gather from tech note #180's brief mention that it has something to do with MultiFinder and memory allocation. It takes an int selector code < $20 (it seems) and I found a table of addresses followed by two shorts that might have been size of parameter, size of return value. Any pointers would be appreciated. I don't have any MultiFinder documentation (except tech notes), so that might be all I need. /alastair/
andyp@gvgpvd.GVG.TEK.COM (Andy Peterman) (11/21/89)
In article <306@dbase.UUCP> awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) writes: >Can anyone tell me what OSDispatch is supposed to do? I'm tracing >through some code and I'm forced to guess what's going on behind >this closed door. I gather from tech note #180's brief mention >that it has something to do with MultiFinder and memory allocation. >It takes an int selector code < $20 (it seems) and I found a table >of addresses followed by two shorts that might have been size of >parameter, size of return value. The _OSDispatch routines are system calls to MultiFinder. Some of these are documented in the Programmer's Guide to MultiFinder available from APDA. These functions (the ones that Apple admits to) deal with memory allocation from the MultiFinder memory. There are others that are used internally by Apple products (Finder and Sade, for example) that can access information about all applications that are running under MultiFinder. System 7.0 preliminary documentation hints that these will be available then (meaning they will finally be documented). If you can't wait for System 7.0, check out the article in Autumn '89 MacTech Quarterly (page 25). This has a totally unofficial explanation of many of these other functions. Use at your own risk! Andy Peterman
chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively) (11/22/89)
In article <1333@gvgpvd.GVG.TEK.COM> andyp@gvgpvd.GVG.TEK.COM (Andy Peterman) writes: > System 7.0 preliminary documentation hints that these will > be available then (meaning they will finally be documented). If you can't > wait for System 7.0, check out the article in Autumn '89 MacTech > Quarterly (page 25). This has a totally unofficial explanation of many > of these other functions. Use at your own risk! > > Andy Peterman Thanks for doing my job for me! ;-) Seriously, I can categorically tell you here and now that the information in the MacTech Quarterly IS out of date with respect to System 7.0's MultiFinder. The bottom line? If you're gonna use it, be sure to check for the version of MultiFinder that it documents. __________________________________________________________________________ Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that they believe what I believe or vice-versa. __________________________________________________________________________ C++ -- The language in which only friends can access your private members. __________________________________________________________________________
levin@bbn.com (Joel B Levin) (11/22/89)
In article <306@dbase.UUCP> awd@dbase.UUCP (Alastair Dallas) writes: |Can anyone tell me what OSDispatch is supposed to do? . . . | |Any pointers would be appreciated. I don't have any MultiFinder |documentation (except tech notes), so that might be all I need. That's exactly right. The MultiFinder documentation available from APDA ($10 or $20) has this stuff in it. /JBL = Nets: levin@bbn.com | or {...}!bbn!levin | POTS: (617)873-3463 |