User Interfaces, Object-Oriented Programming, Other Programming Languages

Essential Idl : Interface Design for Com

Name: Essential Idl : Interface Design for Com
Author: Mart Gudgin
ISBN: 9780201615951

by Mart Gudgin

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Overview

Definition Language (IDL), is an essential topic for all programmers working with COM. Essential IDL offers these programmers a detailed yet accessible description of IDL and its application to COM development projects. The book presents all of the various IDL constructs and offers insight into their purpose and function in interface definitions. In particular,Essential IDL focuses on IDL constructs that support the efficient marshalling of data as performed by the COM interception layer. Taking a top-down approach, this book opens with the basics of defining interfaces and then details data types, pointers and arrays, aliasing, and IDL support for asynchronous COM. Numerous examples of both server-side and client-side programming illustrate concepts and techniques throughout the book. Readers will learn about such key topics as:

Generating type information
Building proxy-stub DLLs
Local and remote interfaces
Primitive, enumerated, and user-defined data types
Interface inheritance
Top-level versus embedded pointers
Object references and pointers
Fixed arrays, conformant arrays, and SAFEARRAYS
Multi-dimensional conformant pointers
Method and type aliasing
Asynchronous calls
Client-side and server-side asynchrony

Also included is a comprehensive and concise reference to IDL built-in data types, modifiers, keywords, and attributes. This combination of comprehensive description, understandable explanation, convenient reference, and practical working guide makes Essential IDL an important resource for all COM programmers.

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Booknews

Introduces the interface definition language (IDL), the core language of Microsoft's component object model (COM). The author lays out the various IDL constructs, why they exist, what they are for, and how and when to use them in interface definitions. Topics include data types, local and remote interfaces, interface inheritance, object references and pointers, fixed and conformant arrays, method and type aliasing, and asynchronous calls. Examples of both server-side and client-side programming illustrate the concepts and techniques. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)