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ComponentObjectModelWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

ComponentObjectModel
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

NottobeconfusedwithCOMfile.
ComponentObjectModel(COM)[Link]
[Link]
Microsofttechnologiesandframeworks,includingOLE,OLEAutomation,ActiveX,COM+,DCOM,theWindowsshell,DirectX,UMDFand
WindowsRuntime.

Contents
1Overview
2History
3Relatedtechnologies
3.1COM+andDCOM
[Link]
3.3WindowsRuntime
4Security
5Technicaldetails
5.1Interfaces
5.2Classes
5.3InterfaceDefinitionLanguageandtypelibraries
5.4COMasanobjectframework
5.5Referencecounting
5.6Programming
5.7Registryusage
5.8RegistrationfreeCOM
5.9Processandnetworktransparency
5.10Threading
6Criticisms
6.1Messagepumping
6.2Referencecounting
6.3DLLHell
7Seealso
8References
9Externallinks

Overview
TheessenceofCOMisalanguageneutralwayofimplementingobjectsthatcanbeusedinenvironmentsdifferentfromtheoneinwhichthey
werecreated,[Link],COMallowsreuseofobjectswithnoknowledgeoftheirinternal
implementation,[Link]
differentallocationsemanticsoflanguagesareaccommodatedbymakingobjectsresponsiblefortheirowncreationanddestructionthrough
[Link]
inheritancewithinCOMisthecreationofsubobjectstowhichmethodcallsaredelegated.
COMisaninterfacetechnologydefinedandimplementedasstandardonlyonMicrosoftWindowsandApple'sCoreFoundation1.3andlater
pluginAPI,[1]thatinanycaseimplementonlyasubsetofthewholeCOMinterface.[2]Forsomeapplications,COMhasbeenreplacedatleastto
[Link],andsupportforWebServicesthroughtheWindowsCommunicationFoundation(WCF).
However,[Link],
[Link],such
asCORBAandJavaBeans,althougheachhasitsownstrengthsandweaknesses.
UnlikeC++,COMprovidesastableABIthatdoesnotchangebetweencompilerreleases.[3]ThismakesCOMinterfacesattractiveforobject
orientedC++librariesthataretobeusedbyclientscompiledusingdifferentcompilerversions.

History
OneofthefirstmethodsofinterprocesscommunicationinWindowswasDynamicDataExchange(DDE),firstintroducedin1987,thatallowed
sendingandreceivingmessagesinsocalled"conversations"betweenapplications.
[Link]

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AntonyWilliams,oneofthemostnotablethinkersinvolvedinthecreationoftheCOMarchitecture,laterdistributedtwointernalpapersin
Microsoftthatembracedtheconceptofsoftwarecomponents:ObjectArchitecture:DealingWiththeUnknownorTypeSafetyina
DynamicallyExtensibleClassLibraryin1988andOnInheritance:[Link]
manyoftheideasbehindCOM.
ObjectLinkingandEmbedding(OLE),Microsoft'sfirstobjectbasedframework,wasbuiltontopofDDEanddesignedspecificallyfor
compounddocuments.ItwasintroducedwithWordforWindowsandExcelin1991,andwaslaterincludedwithWindows,startingwithversion
3.1in1992.
AnexampleofacompounddocumentisaspreadsheetembeddedinaWordforWindowsdocument:aschangesaremadetothespreadsheet
withinExcel,theyappearautomaticallyinsidetheWorddocument.
In1991,MicrosoftintroducedVisualBasicExtensions(VBX)[Link]
linklibrary(DLL)[Link]
forusebyotherlanguagessuchasVisualC++.
In1992,whenversion3.1ofWindowswasreleased,[Link]
interface(ABI)wasthesameastheMAPIABI,whichwasreleasedin1992.WhileOLE1wasfocusedoncompounddocuments,COMand
[Link]
enoughtoallowsharingapplicationfeaturesinarobustandextensibleway,soCOMwascreatedasanewfoundation,andOLEchangedto
OLE2.
In1994OLEcustomcontrols(OCXs)[Link],MicrosoftstatedthatOLE2would
justbeknownas"OLE",andthatOLEwasnolongeranacronym,butanameforallofthecompany'scomponenttechnologies.
Inearly1996,MicrosoftfoundanewuseforOLECustomControls,expandingtheirWebbrowser'scapabilitytopresentcontent,renamedsome
partsofOLErelatingtotheInternet"ActiveX",andgraduallyrenamedallOLEtechnologiestoActiveX,exceptthecompounddocument
[Link],DCOMwasintroducedasananswertoCORBA.

Relatedtechnologies
COMwasthemajorsoftwaredevelopmentplatformforWindowsand,assuch,influenceddevelopmentofanumberofsupportingtechnologies.

COM+andDCOM
InorderforMicrosofttoprovidedeveloperswithsupportfordistributedtransactions,resourcepooling,disconnectedapplications,event
publicationandsubscription,bettermemoryandprocessor(thread)management,aswellastopositionWindowsasanalternativetoother
enterpriseleveloperatingsystems,MicrosoftintroducedatechnologycalledMicrosoftTransactionServer(MTS)onWindowsNT4.
WithWindows2000,thatsignificantextensiontoCOMwasincorporatedintotheoperatingsystem(asopposedtotheseriesofexternaltools
providedbyMTS)andrenamedCOM+.Atthesametime,[Link]
COM+serviceswerehandledmoredirectlybytheaddedlayerofCOM+,[Link]
releaseofMTS,interceptionwastackedoninstallinganMTScomponentwouldmodifytheWindowsRegistrytocalltheMTSsoftware,and
notthecomponentdirectly.
Windows2000alsorevisedtheComponentServicescontrolpanelapplicationusedtoconfigureCOM+components.
AnadvantageofCOM+wasthatitcouldberunin"componentfarms".Instancesofacomponent,ifcodedproperly,couldbepooledandreused
[Link](calledfromanothermachine).
COM+andMicrosoftVisualStudioprovidedtoolstomakeiteasytogenerateclientsideproxies,soalthoughDCOMwasusedtomakethe
remotecall,itwaseasytodofordevelopers.
COM+alsointroducedasubscriber/publishereventmechanismcalledCOM+Events,andprovidedanewwayofleveragingMSMQ(inter
applicationasynchronousmessaging)[Link]+eventsextendtheCOM+programmingmodelto
supportlatebound(seeLatebinding)eventsormethodcallsbetweenthepublisherorsubscriberandtheeventsystem.

.NET
Mainarticle:.NETFramework
[Link],andtointeractwithCOM+(viaCOMinteropassemblies).NET
[Link]
development.

[Link]

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.NETcanleverageCOM+[Link],andseveraloftheservicesthatCOM+provideshavebeenduplicated
[Link],[Link],whichprovides
transactionmanagementwithoutresortingtoCOM+.Similarly,queuedcomponentscanbereplacedbyWindowsCommunicationFoundation
withanMSMQtransport.(MSMQisanativeCOMcomponent,however.)
[Link]
(RCW).[4]NETobjectsthatconformtocertaininterfacerestrictionsmaybeusedinCOMobjectsbycallingaCOMcallablewrapper(CCW).[5]
[Link],[Link].
WCF(WindowsCommunicationFoundation)easesanumberofCOM'[Link],itallowsobjectstobe
transparentlymarshalledbyvalueacrossprocessormachineboundariesmoreeasily.

WindowsRuntime
Mainarticle:WindowsRuntime
Microsoft'snewWindowsRuntime(orWinRT,nottobeconfusedwithWindowsRT)programmingandapplicationmodelisessentiallya
COMbasedAPI,[Link],WindowsRuntimeallowsrelativelyeasyinterfacing
frommultiplelanguages,justasCOMdoes,butitisessentiallyanunmanaged,[Link],however,storedin".winmd"
files,whichareencodedinECMA335metadataformat,[Link]
formatallowsforsignificantlylessoverheadthanP/[Link],anditssyntaxismuchsimpler.

Security
COMandActiveXcomponentsarerunasnativecodeontheuser'smachine,[Link]
[Link]
malwareinfections.MicrosoftrecognizedtheproblemwithActiveXasfarbackas1996whenCharlesFitzgeraldsaid,"Wenevermadethe
claimupfrontthatActiveXisintrinsicallysecure".[6]
RecentversionsofInternetExplorerprompttheuserbeforeinstallingActiveXcontrols,enablingtheusertodisallowinstallationofcontrols
[Link]
disableActiveXcontrolsaltogether,ortoallowonlyaselectedfew.
[Link]
[Link]
affectingtheintegrityoftheotherprocesses,[Link],onlytheaffectedsubsystem
[Link],wherearoguepointerinone
subsystemcanrandomlycorruptothersubsystems.

Technicaldetails
[Link](CLSIDs),which
areGloballyUniqueIdentifiers(GUIDs).[Link]
interfacessupportedbyacomponentaredistinguishedfromeachotherusinginterfaceIDs(IIDs),whichareGUIDstoo.
COMinterfaceshavebindingsinseverallanguages,suchasC,C++,VisualBasic,Delphi,Python[7][8]andseveralofthescriptinglanguages
[Link]
interprocess,orevenintercomputerprogramming(thelatterusingthesupportofDCOM).

Interfaces
AllCOMcomponentsimplementtheIUnknown(custom)interface,whichexposesmethodsforreferencecountingandtypeconversion
(casting).
AcustomIUnknowninterfaceconsistsofapointertoavirtualmethodtablethatcontainsalistofpointerstothefunctionsthatimplementthe
functionsdeclaredintheinterface,[Link]
comparabletovirtualmethodcallsinC++.
Inadditiontocustominterfaces,[Link]
[Link].

Classes

[Link]

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ACOMclass(coclass)isaconcreteimplementationofoneormoreinterfaces,andcloselyresemblesclassesinobjectorientedprogramming
[Link](CLSID)orbasedontheirprogrammaticidentifierstring(progid).
Likemanyobjectorientedlanguages,[Link]
COM,whereobjectscannotbeaccesseddirectly,[Link]
sameinterface,sothatclientsatruntimecanchoosewhichimplementationofaninterfacetoinstantiate.

InterfaceDefinitionLanguageandtypelibraries
[Link]
(MSIDL/IDL).
IDLfilesdefineobjectorientedclasses,interfaces,structures,[Link]
issimilarinappearancetoC++declarationswithsomeadditionalkeywordssuchas"interface"and"library"fordefininginterfacesand
[Link],suchasinterface
GUIDsandtherelationshipsbetweenpointerparametersandlengthfields.
[Link]/C++,theMIDLcompilergeneratesacompilerindependentheaderfilecontainingstruct
definitionstomatchthevtblsofthedeclaredinterfacesandaCfilecontainingdeclarationsoftheinterfaceGUIDs.C++sourcecodeforaproxy
[Link]
enableDCOMforoutofprocesscommunication.
IDLfilescanalsobecompiledbytheMIDLcompilerintoatypelibrary(TLB).TLBfilescontainbinarymetadatathatcanbeprocessedby
differentlanguagecompilersandruntimeenvironments([Link],Delphi,.NETetc.)togeneratelanguagespecificconstructstorepresentthe
[Link]++,thiswillconverttheTLBbacktoitsIDLrepresentation.

COMasanobjectframework
BecauseCOMisaruntimeframework,[Link],globallyunique
identifiers(GUIDs)[Link].
InorderforinformationonCOMtypestobeaccessibleatbothcompiletimeandruntime,[Link]
oftypelibrariesthatCOMachievesitscapabilitiesasadynamicframeworkfortheinteractionofobjects.
ConsiderthefollowingexamplecoclassdefinitioninanIDL:
coclassSomeClass{
[default]interfaceISomeInterface;
};

TheabovecodefragmentdeclaresaCOMclassnamedSomeClasswhichimplementsaninterfacenamedISomeInterface.
ThisisconceptuallyequivalenttodefiningthefollowingC++class:
classSomeClass:publicISomeInterface{
...
...
};

whereISomeInterfaceisaC++purevirtualclass.
TheIDLfilescontainingCOMinterfacesandclassesarecompiledintotypelibraries(TLB)files,whichcanlaterbeparsedbyclientsatruntime
todeterminewhichinterfacesanobjectsupports,andinvokeanobject'sinterfacemethods.
InC++,COMobjectsareinstantiatedwiththeCoCreateInstancefunctionthattakestheclassID(CLSID)andinterfaceID(IID)asarguments.
InstantiationofSomeClasscanbeimplementedasfollows:
ISomeInterface*interface_ptr=NULL
HRESULThr=CoCreateInstance(CLSID_SomeClass,NULL,CLSCTX_ALL,
IID_ISomeInterface,(void**)&interface_ptr);

Inthisexample,theCOMsubsystemisusedtoobtainapointertoanobjectthatimplementsISomeInterfaceinterface,andcoclass
CLSID_SomeClass'sparticularimplementationofthisinterfaceisrequired.

Referencecounting
[Link]

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[Link]
[Link]
memorywhenthereferencecountdropstozero.
Certainlanguages([Link])provideautomaticreferencecountingsothatCOMobjectdevelopersneednotexplicitlymaintainany
[Link]++,acodermayeitherperformexplicitreferencecountingorusesmartpointersto
automaticallymanagethereferencecounts.
ThefollowingareguidelinesforwhentocallAddRefandReleaseonCOMobjects:
Functionsandmethodsthatreturninterfacereferences(viareturnvalueorvia"out"parameter)shallincrementthereferencecountofthe
returnedobjectbeforereturning.
Releasemustbecalledonaninterfacepointerbeforethepointerisoverwrittenorgoesoutofscope.
Ifacopyismadeonaninterfacereferencepointer,AddRefshouldbecalledonthatpointer.
AddRefandReleasemustbecalledonthespecificinterfacewhichisbeingreferencedsinceanobjectmayimplementperinterface
referencecountsinordertoallocateinternalresourcesonlyfortheinterfaceswhicharebeingreferenced.
Allreferencecountcallsarenotsentouttoremoteobjectsoverthewireaproxykeepsonlyonereferenceontheremoteobjectandmaintainsits
ownlocalreferencecount.
TosimplifyCOMdevelopment,MicrosoftintroducedATL(ActiveTemplateLibrary)forC++[Link]
[Link],by
providingsmartpointerobjects.
OtherlibrariesandlanguagesthatareCOMawareincludetheMicrosoftFoundationClasses,theVCCompilerCOMSupport,[9]VBScript,
VisualBasic,ECMAScript(JavaScript)andBorlandDelphi.

Programming
COMisalanguageagnosticbinarystandardthatcanbedevelopedinanyprogramminglanguagecapableofunderstandingandimplementingits
binarydefineddatatypesandinterfaces.
COMimplementationsareresponsibleforenteringandleavingtheCOMenvironment,instantiatingandreferencecountingCOMobjects,
queryingobjectsforsupportedinterfaces,aswellashandlingerrors.
TheMicrosoftVisualC++compilersupportsextensionstotheC++languagereferredtoasC++Attributes.[10]Theseextensionsaredesignedto
simplifyCOMdevelopmentandremovemuchoftheplumbingcoderequiredtoimplementCOMserversinC++.[11]

Registryusage
InWindows,COMclasses,interfacesandtypelibrariesarelistedbyGUIDsintheregistry,underHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSIDforclasses
andHKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\[Link]
objectorthenetworklocationforaremoteservice.

RegistrationfreeCOM
RegistrationFreeCOM(RegFreeCOM)isatechnologyintroducedwithWindowsXPthatallowsComponentObjectModel(COM)
componentstostoreactivationmetadataandCLSID(ClassID)[Link],themetadataandCLSIDs
oftheclassesimplementedinthecomponentaredeclaredinanassemblymanifest(describedusingXML),storedeitherasaresourceinthe
executableorasaseparatefileinstalledwiththecomponent.[12]Thisallowsmultipleversionsofthesamecomponenttobeinstalledindifferent
directories,describedbytheirownmanifests,aswellasXCOPYdeployment.[13]ThistechniquehaslimitedsupportforEXECOMservers[14]
andcannotbeusedforsystemwidecomponentssuchasMDAC,MSXML,DirectXorInternetExplorer.
Duringapplicationloading,theWindowsloadersearchesforthemanifest.[15]Ifitispresent,theloaderaddsinformationfromittotheactivation
context[13]WhentheCOMclassfactorytriestoinstantiateaclass,theactivationcontextisfirstcheckedtoseeifanimplementationforthe
[Link].[13]

Processandnetworktransparency
COMobjectscanbetransparentlyinstantiatedandreferencedfromwithinthesameprocess(inprocess),acrossprocessboundaries(outof
process),orremotelyoverthenetwork(DCOM).Outofprocessandremoteobjectsusemarshallingtoserializemethodcallsandreturnvalues
[Link],whoaccessestheobjectasifitwerealocalinprocessobject.

Threading
[Link]

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InCOM,threadingisaddressedthroughaconceptknownasapartments.[16]AllCOMobjectsliveinexactlyoneapartment,whichmighteither
[Link]:SingleThreadedApartment(STA),MultiThreaded
Apartment(MTA),andThreadNeutralApartment(NA).Eachapartmentrepresentsonemechanismwherebyanobject'sinternalstatemaybe
[Link],someofwhichmayuseSTAandothersofwhichmayuse
[Link]
atruntime,andcannotbechanged.
Apartmenttype

Description

[Link],methodcallsfrom
SingleThreaded
threadsoutsideoftheapartmentaremarshalledandautomaticallyqueuedbythesystem(viaastandard
Windowsmessagequeue).Thus,theCOMruntimeprovidesautomaticsynchronizationtoensurethateach
Apartment[17](STA),
(ThreadingModel=Apartment) [Link]
doesnotneedtoworryaboutthreadlockingorraceconditions.
MultiThreaded
Apartment[18](MTA),
(ThreadingModel=Free)

TheCOMruntimeprovidesnosynchronization,andmultiplethreadsareallowedtocallCOMobjects
[Link]
[Link]
alsomarshalled.

Dynamicallydetermined
apartment
(ThreadingModel=Both)

IntheBothapartmentmode,theserverautoselectsSTAorMTAatobjectcreationtomatchtheapartmenttype
ofthecallingthread.[19]ThiscanbeusefultoavoidmarshalingoverheadwhenMTAserversareaccessedbya
STAthread.

[Link]
ThreadNeutralApartment process,thenthecallingthreadtemporarilyleavesitsapartmentandexecutescodedirectlyintheNAwithout
(NA),
anythreadswitching.[20]Therefore,onecanthinkofNAasanoptimizationforefficientinterapartmentmethod
(ThreadingModel=Neutral)
calls.
[Link]
[Link]
[Link].

Criticisms
SinceCOMhasafairlycompleximplementation,programmerscanbedistractedbysomeofthe"plumbing"issues.

Messagepumping
[Link]
[Link],failuretodosocould
[Link],which
causesaleakofimplementationdetails.

Referencecounting
[Link]
thisintoaccountsothatobjectsarenotleftorphaned.
ObjectsmayalsobeleftwithactivereferencecountsiftheCOM"eventsink"[Link]
referencetotheobjectreactingtotheevent,theobject'sreferencecountwillneverreachzero.
[Link],anobject
exposesamethodwhich,whencalled,forcesittodropitsreferencestootherobjects,[Link],a
singleimplementationexposestwoseparateCOMobjects(alsoknownasidentities).ThiscreatesaweakreferencebetweentheCOMobjects,
preventingareferencecycle.

DLLHell
BecauseinprocessCOMcomponentsareimplementedinDLLfilesandregistrationonlyallowsforasingleversionofaDLLperCLSIDthey
mightinsomesituationsbesubjecttothe"DLLHell"[Link].

Seealso
Portableobject(computing)crosslanguagecrossplatformObjectModeldefinition
DistributedComponentObjectModel(DCOM),extensionmakingCOMabletoworkinnetworks
[Link]

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[Link]
WindowsRuntime,anapplicationmodel,evolvedversionofCOMtargetingWindows8
CORBACommonObjectRequestBrokerArchitecture,opencrosslanguagecrossplatformobjectmodel
DBusopencrosslanguagecrossplatformObjectModel
KDEKPartKDEcomponentframework
SOMIBMSystemObjectModel,featurerichalternativetoCOM
XPCOMMozillaapplicationscrossPlatformComponentObjectModel
JavaBeans
JavaRemoteMethodInvocation
InternetCommunicationsEngine
Languagebinding
Foreignfunctioninterface
Callingconvention
Namemangling
ApplicationprogramminginterfaceAPI
ApplicationBinaryInterfaceABI
SWIGopensourceautomaticinterfacesbindingsgeneratorfrommanylanguagestootherlanguages

References
1. [Link]
102910BAJFDFFC
2. "PluginsandMicrosoft'sCOM"
([Link]
CJBEJBHH).AppleInc.Retrieved20101005.
3. Microsoftforum:BinarycompatibilityacrossVisualC++versions([Link]
a9d46cbe22b661f4)
4. RuntimeCallableWrapperMSDNLibrary([Link]
5. COMcallablewrapperMSDNLibrary([Link]
6. [Link]
7. [Link]
8. [Link]
9. "CompilerCOMSupport"([Link]
10. MicrosoftMSDN:C++AttributesReference([Link]
11. MSDNMagazine:C++Attributes:[Link]([Link]
us/magazine/[Link])
12. "AssemblyManifests"([Link]
13. DaveTemplin."SimplifyAppDeploymentwithClickOnceandRegistrationFreeCOM"([Link]
MSDNMagazine.Retrieved20080422.
14. "HowtouseanoutofprocessCOMserverwithoutitstlbfile"([Link]
withoutitstlbfile).Retrieved20110416.
15. "ConceptsofIsolatedApplicationsandSidebysideAssemblies"([Link]
20091105.
16. MicrosoftMSDN:Processes,Threads,andApartments([Link]
17. MicrosoftMSDN:SingleThreadedApartments([Link]
18. MicrosoftMSDN:MultithreadedApartments([Link]
19. MicrosoftMSDN:UnderstandingandUsingCOMThreadingModels([Link]
20. Codeguru:UnderstandingCOMApartments([Link]
[Link])

"COM:ABriefIntroduction(powerpoint)"([Link]
2006.
Box,Don(1998).[Link].ISBN0201634465.
Chappell,David(1996).[Link].ISBN9781572312166.
"IntegrationandMigrationofCOM+servicestoWCF"([Link]
2010.

Externallinks
MicrosoftCOMTechnologies([Link]
InterviewwithTonyWilliams,CoInventorofCOM([Link]
2006)
Info:DifferenceBetweenOLEControlsandActiveXControls([Link]
TypeLibDataFormatSpecification(unofficial)([Link]
TheCOM/DCOMGlossary([Link]
Retrievedfrom"[Link]
[Link]

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Categories: Componentbasedsoftwareengineering Interprocesscommunication Microsoftapplicationprogramminginterfaces

[Link]

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