### Using the Reference Material in This Topic

Complete descriptions of all the XDS and XOM functions used in CDS operations can be found in the OSF DCE Application Development Reference, which you should have beside you as you read through the examples in this topic. In particular, refer to that manual for information about XDS error objects, which are not discussed in this topic.

Complete descriptions for all objects required as input parameters by XDS functions when accessing a CDS namespace can be found in XDS/CDS Object Recipes. Abbreviated definitions for these same objects can be found with all the others in Part 4. XOM functions are general-purpose utility routines that operate on objects of any class, and take the rest of their input in conventional form.

Slightly less detailed descriptions of the output objects you can expect to receive when accessing CDS through XDS are also given in XDS/CDS Object Recipes. You do not have to construct objects of these classes yourself; you just have to know their general structure so that you can disassemble them using XOM routines.

No information is given in this topic about the DS_status error objects that are returned by unsuccessful XDS functions; a description of all the subclasses of DS_status requires a topic in itself. Code for a rudimentary general-purpose DS_status -handling routine can be found in the teldir.c XDS sample program in Sample Application Programs of this guide.

###