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Property Lists

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A property list is a block of memory containing a sequence of value lists. Property lists are used as input and output parameters of many control code functions and utility functions.

A property list consists of the following elements:

  • A count of the properties in the list, represented by a CLUSPROP_LIST structure.
  • One value list for each property.
  • Each property value list, in turn, consists of the following entries:
  • A property name represented by a CLUSPROP_PROPERTY_NAME structure.
  • A property value, represented by a data structure appropriate to the type of data being stored. The property value can consist of multiple data values, such as an array or a structure.
  • Additional property values, if necessary. Each property value is represented by a data structure and can consist of multiple data values.
  • A CLUSPROP_SYNTAX union set to CLUSPROP_SYNTAX_ENDMARK.

Typically, the value list for a property contains only one property value. It is possible, however, to have a multi-valued property. When writing code to parse property lists, don't assume there will be only one property value.

The following diagram illustrates the layout of a property list.

For information on creating and parsing property lists, see Using Property Lists.