Netbios function (nb30.h)

Article
04/02/2021

[Netbios is not supported on Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and subsequent versions of the operating system]

The Netbios function interprets and executes the specified network control block (NCB).

The Netbios function is provided primarily for applications that were written for the NetBIOS interface and need to be ported to Windows. Applications not requiring compatibility with NetBIOS should use other interfaces, such as Windows Sockets, mailslots, named pipes, RPC, or distributed COM to accomplish tasks similar to those supported by NetBIOS. These other interfaces are more flexible and portable.

Syntax

UCHAR Netbios(
  PNCB pncb
);

Parameters

pncb

A pointer to an NCB structure that describes the network control block.

Return value

For synchronous requests, the return value is the return code in the NCB structure. That value is also returned in the ncb_retcode member of the NCB structure.

For asynchronous requests, there are the following possibilities:

If the asynchronous command has already completed when Netbios returns to its caller, the return value is the return code of the NCB structure, just as if it were a synchronous NCB structure.
If the asynchronous command is still pending when Netbios returns to its caller, the return value is zero.

If the address specified by the pncb parameter is invalid, the return value is NRC_BADNCB.

If the buffer length specified in the ncb_length member of the NCB structure is incorrect, or if the buffer specified by the ncb_retcode member is protected from write operations, the return value is NRC_BUFLEN.

Remarks

When an asynchronous network control block finishes and the ncb_post member is nonzero, the routine specified in ncb_post is called with a single parameter. This parameter contains a pointer to an NCB structure, the network control block.

The NCB structure contains a handle of an event (the ncb_event member). The system sets the event to the nonsignaled state when an asynchronous NetBIOS command is accepted, and sets the event to the signaled state when the asynchronous NetBIOS command is completed. Only manual reset events should be used for synchronization. A specified event should not be associated with more than one active asynchronous NetBIOS command.

Using ncb_event to submit asynchronous requests requires fewer system resources than using ncb_post. Also, when ncb_event is nonzero, the pending request is canceled if the thread terminates before the request is processed. This is not true for requests sent by using ncb_post.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	nb30.h
Library	Netapi32.lib
DLL	Netapi32.dll