The remote procedure calls (RPCs) become M DO procedures on the M server. Since RPCs are communicated to the M server through a message mechanism, additional information is included with the message.
Parameters are processed as PASCAL short strings with a maximum of 255 characters. Each parameter is encoded with a three character length plus a type character. Therefore, every parameter occupies length (parameter) + four. The maximum transmission at this time is 240 characters since additional header information is present with every RPC.
A theoretical maximum, where every parameter was length 1 would give number of parameters = 240/5 or 48 parameters. A single parameter (e.g., a long string) could not exceed 240 – 4, or 236 characters. Future support will be based on the PASCAL 32-bit string, which can, theoretically, reach 2 GB. Limitations on the M server will still limit this to far less, however.