dos12.hlp (Table of Contents; Topic list)
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DosAllocHuge (1.2)
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#define INCL_DOSMEMMGR
 
USHORT DosAllocHuge(usNumSeg, usPartialSeg, psel, usMaxNumSeg, fsAttr)
USHORT usNumSeg;        /* number of segments requested               */
USHORT usPartialSeg;    /* number of bytes in last segment            */
PSEL psel;              /* pointer to variable for selector allocated */
USHORT usMaxNumSeg;     /* maximum number of segments to reallocate   */
USHORT fsAttr;          /* shareable/discardable flags                */
 
The DosAllocHuge function allocates a huge-memory block. This block consists
of one or more 65,536-byte memory segments and one additional segment of a
specified size.
 
The DosAllocHuge function allocates the segments and copies the selector of
the first segment to the variable pointed to by the psel parameter.
Selectors for the remaining segments are consecutive and must be computed by
using an offset from the first selector.
 
The DosAllocHuge function can specify that segments can be shared by other
processes. If the SEG_GETTABLE flag is used, other processes can gain access
to the shared memory by calling the DosGetSeg function. If the SEG_GIVEABLE
flag is used, the memory can be shared by other processes after the process
allocating the memory has called the DosGiveSeg function. In both cases, the
process allocating the memory must pass the selector to the process that
will share the memory.
 
The DosAllocHuge function is a family API function.
 
Parameter     Description
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
usNumSeg      Specifies the number of 65,536-byte segments to allocate.
 
usPartialSeg  Specifies the number of bytes in the last segment. This number
              can be any value in the range 0 through 65,535. If this value
              is zero, no additional segment is allocated.
 
psel          Points to the variable that receives the selector of the first
              segment.
 
usMaxNumSeg   Specifies the maximum number of segments that can be specified
              in any subsequent call to the DosReallocHuge function. If this
              number is zero, the memory cannot be reallocated to a size
              greater than its original size, but it can be reallocated to a
              smaller size.
 
fsAttr        Specifies the segment attributes. This parameter can be one or
              more of the following values:
 
              Value            Meaning
              ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
              SEG_DISCARDABLE  Creates a discardable, nonshareable segment.
                               Once the segment is unlocked, it may be
                               discarded to satisfy another
                               memory-allocation request.
 
              SEG_GETTABLE     Creates a shareable segment that other
                               processes can retrieve by using the
                               DosGetSeg function.
 
              SEG_GIVEABLE     Creates a shareable segment that the owning
                               process can give to other processes by using
                               the DosGiveSeg function.
 
              SEG_NONSHARED    Creates a nonshareable, nondiscardable
                               segment. This value cannot be combined with
                               any other value.
 
              SEG_SIZEABLE     Specifies that a shared segment can be
                               reduced in size by DosReallocSeg.
 
Return Value
 
The return value is zero if the function is successful. Otherwise, it is an
error value, which may be the following:
 
     ERROR_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY
 
Comments
 
Each segment in the huge memory block has a unique selector. The selectors
are consecutive. The psel parameter specifies the value of the first
selector; the remaining selectors can be computed by adding an offset to the
first selector one or more times──that is, once for the second selector,
twice for the third, and so on. The selector offset is a multiple of 2, as
specified by the shift count retrieved by using the DosGetHugeShift
function. For example, if the shift count is 2, the selector offset is 4 (1
<< 2). If the selector offset is 4 and the first selector is 6, then the
second selector is 10, the third is 14, and so on.
 
If necessary, the system will discard an unlocked discardable segment in
order to satisfy another allocation request. The new allocation request can
come from any process, including the process that allocated the segment
being discarded.
 
The DosFreeSeg function frees all segments when passed the first selector.
If the segments were declared as shareable, they will not be discarded from
memory until the last process using them calls DosFreeSeg.
 
DosAllocHuge can be issued from ring 2, but the segments will be allocated
as ring-3 segments.
 
Restrictions
 
In real mode, the following restrictions apply to the DosAllocHuge
function:
 
♦  The usPartialSeg parameter is rounded up to the next paragraph (16-byte)
   value.
 
♦  The actual segment address is copied to the psel parameter.
 
Example
 
This example calls the DosAllocHuge function to allocate two segments with
64K and one segment with 200 bytes. It then converts the first selector to a
huge pointer that can access all the memory allocated.
 
CHAR huge *pchBuffer;
SEL sel;
DosAllocHuge(2,               /* number of segments                */
    200,                      /* size of last segment              */
    &sel,                     /* address of selector               */
    5,                        /* maximum segments for reallocation */
    SEG_NONSHARED);           /* sharing flag                      */
pchBuffer = MAKEP(sel, 0);    /* converts selector to pointer      */
 
See Also
 
DosAllocSeg, DosFreeSeg, DosGetHugeShift, DosGetSeg, DosGiveSeg, DosLockSeg,
DosReallocHuge, DosUnlockSeg