Click above to get retro games delivered to your door ever month!

 12  The Extend System
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     The Extend system is a set of functions that are used by C and Assembly
     language programs to interface with Clipper programs.  The Extend
     system includes two memory allocation functions, _xalloc() and
     _xgrab(), which allow C programs to allocate memory from Clipper.
     These functions call the fixed memory allocator (see above).

     The Extend system also allows C programs to gain access to Clipper data
     values.  The Extend system _parc() function, used to inspect character
     values passed from Clipper, is defined as returning an address in real
     memory.  Since character values are stored in virtual memory under SVOS
     (see above), the Extend system automatically locks the appropriate VM
     segments in response to _parc() requests.  The segments are
     automatically unlocked when the C function returns control to Clipper
     (they may also be unlocked manually from C, see below).

     A conflict can occur if a C function locks a VM segment via _parc() and
     then attempts to allocate a large amount of memory using the Extend
     allocators.  If the segment is locked near the low end of the swap
     space, the fixed allocator may be unable to lock or expand a fixed
     segment to satisfy the allocation request.  If this occurs, a new fixed
     segment is created and locked higher in memory.  This reduces memory
     efficiency because the VMM is not allowed to move fixed segments (in
     severe cases, the VMM may issue a swap space exhausted error
     because the swap space has become too cluttered with fixed segments).
     To prevent this, the VMM maintains a safety zone at the low end of
     the swap space.  _parc() requests are prevented from locking segments
     within this zone.

     Configuration:  The Clipper 5.0 VMM defines an entry point called
     _xunlock().  This function can be called from C or assembly language
     programs to unlock SVOS segments when large amounts of memory are to be
     allocated after _parc() has been called.

     Caution:  Calling _xunlock() causes any pointers returned from
     previous _parc() calls to become invalid.  To access a Clipper
     character value after calling _xunlock(), you must make another call to
     _parc() to get a new pointer.