Com+ Developers Reference Library

The essential reference set for anyone who develops component-based applications for Microsoftr Windows.

COM+ is the development platform for today and for the Microsoftr .NET Platform of tomorrow. Whether you work with Microsoft Visual C++r or Visual Basicr development systems, COM+ empowers you to write transaction-capable applications in a fraction of the development time and cost of other enterprise solutions. This five-volume COM+ DEVELOPER'S REFERENCE LIBRARY is your one-stop resource for COM+, providing precise information for using this powerful programming tool to build scalable and robust applications for distributed computing frameworks. It fully documents the Component Object Model (COM) and COM+, Automation, and ActiveXr controls-the core technologies behind COM+ application development. By grouping objects and components into COM+ applications, you can build better enterprise tools for all your e-commerce, online information tracking, messaging, resource planning, publishing, and knowledge management needs. And by deploying COM+ applications across multiple machines, administrators and developers can launch critical line-of-business programs, access data in legacy systems, and streamline their middle-tier application design. This well-organized reference library concentrates all the essential COM and COM+ reference materials in one place and is thoroughly indexed to help you find the topics you need fast. Each guide also contains its own comprehensive glossary of COM+ terms. This essential reference collection includes:

• COM+ PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE Understand how COM+ fits into the Windowsr DNA 2000 framework for building extensible enterprise solutions and explore key COM+ development techniques?including configuring contexts; pooling objects; using events, catalogs, queued components, and transaction processing; employing Just-in-Time (JIT) activation; and converting Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) packages to COM+ applications. You'll learn how to use COM+ programming tools such as Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC) to simplify application development and lower the cost of enterprise computing. And you'll see how to use the integrated Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MIDL) compiler to implement interfaces used in distributed applications.
• COM+ REFERENCE This volume is the complete programmatic reference for COM+, including the objects, collections, interfaces, functions, and enumerations of COM+ and the Component Services administration tool. It also includes the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), an XML-based protocol that accesses online services, objects, and servers across platforms to provide intraprocess communication across machines. It also provides complete, up-to-date information about Just-in-Time (JIT) activation, object pooling, queued components, transaction services, and COM+ events.
• COM FUNDAMENTALS This volume provides comprehensive programming guides and reference information for developing applications with the Component Object Model (COM), the platform-independent, distributed, object-oriented system that enables objects to interact across process and machine boundaries. COM is the foundation on which COM+, Microsoft OLE, ActiveX, and other programming technologies are constructed. This volume examines all the COM programming fundamentals, such as using processes and threaded apartments, working with COM clients and servers, making and processing asynchronous calls, employing activation and call security, and categorizing components. It also explores C and C++ design considerations and includes a complete COM reference section containing interfaces, functions, structures, enumerations, and Registry entries.
• AUTOMATION Automation, formerly known as OLE Automation, is a COM technology that enables software packages to expose objects and their properties so that other applications can manipulate them programmatically. This volume serves as your essential, one-stop resource on Automation, including dispatch interface and API functions; data types, structures, and enumerations; type libraries; error handling interfaces; and user-defined data types. Learn how to create exposed objects, or ActiveX objects, to enable solution providers working in a single programming environment to draw from a range of applications or programming tools, also called ActiveX clients. Administrators and developers can use Automation to take advantage of Microsoft Excel workbook objects, add a user interface to ActiveX objects for customized flowcharting, and perform countless other tasks.
• STRUCTURED STORAGE AND ACTIVEX This volume provides essential programmatic information about structured storage and ActiveX controls, two technologies built on the COM foundation, and it includes a detailed reference of the interfaces, functions, structures, and enumerations of each. You'll explore how to use structured storage to reduce overhead?using COM to store separate objects in a single, structured file that enables multiuser and incremental access, low-memory saves, and write capability in transacted mode. And you'll learn how to use ActiveX controls as the building blocks for creating application user interface elements, such as buttons that initiate a simple action when clicked.