Professional DCOM Programming

This work starts by examining why we need to be able to implement and distribute code objects, and looks at the various systems of distribution that currently exist. The book then narrows the focus down to sharing data and functionality on Windows. This leads into an examination of COM, and from there, logically, to DCOM. It shows how DCOM builds on the foundations of COM and RPC. The reader should get to grips with the essentials of DCOM programming and build on this base with thorough coverage of MIDL, Microsoft's Interface Definition Language. MIDL allows one to define your interfaces, create Type Libraries and provide marshaling support. All of these topics are covered in depth and backed up with strong code examples written using the latest tools.;The latter half of the book looks at the design and implementation of distributed applications. Each chapter covers a topic of prime importance to DCOM programmers. Security is fully explained, starting with the NT security model and exploring how it relates to DCOM. The book then shows how to write your DCOM servers as NT services, before being drawn into the murky world of multithreaded applications. The book shows how to use threads in Win32 and in DCOM servers, covers the different threading models and also looks at the issues of passing interface pointers between threads. Finally, it shows how Microsoft Transaction Server can ease the life of a DCOM developer as well as the new issues introduced by this product.