Microsoft .NET is here, but COM and COM+ will be a valuable part of every Microsoft Windows programmer’s toolbox for years. This in-depth programming guide explains how and where COM and COM+ fit into the new .NET world, demonstrates the new technologies that are available in .NET, and shows how to interoperate between COM/COM+ and .NET. It explains how to use Microsoft Visual Studio .NET to write traditional COM objects, how to use COM objects in .NET code, and how to use .NET objects as COM objects. It also discusses COM+ topics such as disconnected applications and subscriptions. The authors show you both theoretical and practical approaches—explaining how the mechanisms work and also providing practical advice with sample code to show how to handle interoperability.
Topics covered include:
The .NET view of COM and COM+
- COM, COM+, and .NET
- Using COM components in .NET code
- Using .NET components in COM applications
- Overview of COM+ coding for .NET
Writing COM code
- Attributed programming
- Active Template Library (ATL) and ATL Server
Writing COM+ code
- A simple COM+ example
- Working with disconnected applications
- Creating subscriptions
- Web application scenarios
Interoperability
- Interacting with unmanaged code
- Advanced interaction
- Working with predefined interfaces
Includes sample code on the Web
As a professional consultant, trainer, and writer, Julian Templeman has been involved in using, teaching, and writing about COM for five years. He's taught COM courses to hundreds of students throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, and as a result he knows how to explain complex COM issues to programmers. As a consultant, he's advised large and small companies on COM technology, and he has a firm grasp of the practicalities involved in the everyday use of COM in Windows-based software development.
Julian has also been sole or joint author of 10 programming books, so he has expertise in explaining programming topics in writing. Two of these books concerned COM: the first was the only detailed book on using COM with the Microsoft MFC library, and the second was the best-selling Beginning ATL COM Programming from Wrox Press. Julian's most recent book, published through Microsoft Press, is Microsoft Visual C++ .NET Step by Step.
On the .NET side, Julian has been using .NET since the first alpha version was handed out at the Denver Professional Developers' Conference in 1998. At the time of writing (April 2002), he has contributed to three .NET books on the market, and he has an in-depth knowledge of the .NET technologies at both overview and detailed levels. In addition, he has recently coauthored Microsoft Official Curriculum course 2558 on writing .NET code using Visual C++ .NET. Julian is also currently running .NET programming courses and doing a small (but increasing) amount of .NET consultancy work.
