Introduction
The verify flag indicator byte (verifyFlag) of the AppleTalk
RegisterName function should always be set TRUE in published
code.
The AppleTalk chapter of Inside Macintosh, Volume II-322, in describing
the RegisterName function, states:
"If verifyFlag is TRUE, RegisterName checks on the network to see if the name
is already in use, and returns a result code of nbpDuplicate if so."
Note that verifyFlag should always be TRUE in
published code. The design of the Name Binding Protocol (NBP) requires that an
entity name be unique. The way RegisterName ensures this uniqueness
is by broadcasting a lookup request for the registered name. If any entity
responds, then RegisterName knows that the name would not be unique
and returns an error. Some developers, in anticipating the time delay involved
in broadcasting a lookup request and waiting for a response, have opted to set
verifyFlag to FALSE, not realizing the potential danger in
doing so.
Apple provides verifyFlag for experimental or developmental purposes,
such as narrowing down a problem in registering a name on a network. Always
make sure that code which ships has verifyFlag set to TRUE.
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References
Inside Macintosh, Volume II-261, The AppleTalk Manager
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