The handles to these storage areas for OpenAPI object information are returned to the application. The application then uses them in subsequent calls to OpenAPI functions to identify the objects.

An API function may allocate a handle even if the requested action fails (for example, a connect request may fail with an invalid password and still return a connection handle). In these cases, the associated OpenAPI function that releases the handle must still be called to release the resources associated with the handle and the failed request.