INtime® 3.1 Software - tenAsys

Appendix A: INtime software system calls
Regarding INtime software system calls:
• System call names correspond to related Windows functions, where appropriate.
Where it is confusing to associate the function of an INtime software object with a
Windows object, the names reflect the difference.
For example, no Windows object corresponds closely to an INtime software region,
so these are left as regions. On the other hand, INtime software alarms are
encapsulated as an object which somewhat correspond to a specialized Windows
event object, so this is called AlarmEvent. It does not, however, perform all the
same functions as a Windows event.
• To avoid confusion with similarly-named Windows calls, INtime software system
call names usually include the letters ‘Rt’.
• RT kernel objects and the kernel interface which differ substantially from
corresponding items in the other INtime software layers, include a ‘kn’ prefix to
indicate calls that map to low-level RT kernel functions and deal with low-level
kernel objects.
NTX calls
NTX calls allow Windows applications to operate on objects created by, stored in, and
controlled by the RT kernel. This allows Windows and INtime applications to
communicate and coordinate their activities.
Handle conversion
The NTX DLL converts in transit NTXHANDLES sent to the RT kernel to RTHANDLES,
and vice-versa. This is necessary as the RT kernel cannot operate on NTXHANDLES
and NTX can’t operate on RTHANDLES.
Figure A-1. Converting NTXHANDLES to RTHANDLES
Windows
NTX
RT
kernel
If a handle passes from RT to Windows in data, ntxImportRtHandle must convert it.
Object directories and object mailboxes are converted automatically.
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