Environment: VC++ 6.0, NT 4.0,Win2000, Win95/98

Using COM technology to pass simple data like long, int, etc is easy, but what about structured data like C++ classes? Most developers knows the way to pass that. The way is generally based on passing data using VARIANT as SAFEARRAY. And what does VARIANT mean?

The VARIANT is perhaps the ultimate in general purpose functionality for passing data, but its range of low-level features can be daunting. I did not find a more suitable library that could easily be used one in my projects. For this reason, I built two classes that provide richer interfaces and easier semantics.

The first class is called CDComObj. This class is responsible for reading and writing data into and from VARIANT. The second class, CDcomObjArray, is responsible for passing a collection of objects across DCOM. By using both of these classes it is easy to implement any C++ class with the ability to pass itself across DCOM.

An Example Using the Objects

Client part:

bool CServerAccessPoint::ServerConnect(CConnection& connObj)
{
  CComSafeArray conn;
  connObj.Write(conn); // Writing C++ class to VARIANT

  HRESULT hr = m_pDcomServer->Connect(&conn);
  if (FAILED(hr))
  {
    // DO something...
    return false;
  }
  return true;
}

Server part:

STDMETHODIMP CStreamingSrv::Connect(VARIANT *pConnection)
{
  Lock();
  CConnection conn;
  conn.Read(pConnection); // Reading C++ class from VARIANT

  m_connections.AddConnection(conn);
  Unlock();
  return S_OK;
}

Is that not easy?

Classes

class CDcomObj  : public CSLObject
{
public
  CDcomObj();
  virtual ~CDcomObj();

  virtual void Clear();
  virtual void Copy(const CSLObject& objectSrc);
          void Copy(const CDcomObj& objectSrc);
  virtual bool IsEqual(const CSLObject& objectSrc);

  virtual HRESULT WriteToStream(IStream* pStream);
  virtual HRESULT ReadFromStream(IStream* pStream);

  virtual long ElementSize();
          void Write(VARIANT* pSafeArray);
          void Write(CComSafeArray* safeArray);
  virtual void Write(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index);

          void Read(const CLSID& clsid);
          void Read(VARIANT* pSafeArray);
          void Read(CComSafeArray* safeArray);
  virtual void Read(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         CComVariant& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         CComPtr<IUNKNOWN>& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         IUnknown** destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         CString& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         CComBSTR& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         LONG& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         CY& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         bool& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         UINT& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         DWORD& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         int& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         double& destValue);
          void ReadValue(const CComVariant& srcValue,
                         DATETIME_STRUCT& destValue);

          void ProgIDFromCLSID(const CLSID& clsid,
                               CComBSTR& comBSTR);

          const CLSID    GetCLSID();
          const CComBSTR GetLastError();
          const bool IsModified() const;
          const bool IsModified(UINT value) const;
          const UINT GetModified() const;
                void AddModified(UINT uModified);
                void SetModified(UINT uModified);
                void RemoveModified(UINT uModified);
                void ShowError(CString lpszError);

public:

    CComBSTR  m_strCLSID;
    CComBSTR  m_strProgID;
    CComBSTR  m_strObjectName;

protected:

    // Specifics
    UINT      m_uModified;
    CComBSTR  m_bstrError;
};

Using the classes, step by step

The implementation of own DCOM class is very easy.

Step 1: Create your own class derived from CDComObj.

 class CConnection : public CDcomObj

Step 2: Redefine the following virtual member functions:

// Shows how many elements contains your class
virtual long ElementSize()

// Writing class data to VARIANT (SAFEARRAY)
virtual void Write(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index);

// Reading class data from VARIANT (SAFEARRAY)
virtual void Read(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index);

// Copying data
virtual void Copy(const CSLObject& objectSrc);


// Clear data
virtual void Clear();

The DComObj contains the set of macros so the redefinitions of mentioned functions is easy

An Example

To demonstrate this technique I built two classes: CConnection and CConnectionArray

class CConnection  : public CDcomObj
{
  DCL_DCOMOBJ(CConnection)
public:
  CConnection();
  virtual ~CConnection();

  virtual void Clear();
  virtual void Copy(const CSLObject& objectSrc);
  virtual bool IsEqual(const CSLObject& objectSrc);
  virtual long ElementSize();
  virtual void Write(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index);
  virtual void Read(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index);

protected:

  CString   m_strComputerName;
  CString   m_strApplicationName;
  CString   m_strUserName;
  CString   m_strPassword;
  CString   m_strServerName;
  CComBSTR  m_strConnectionHandle;
};

Here is the implementation of ElementSize() member function

long CConnection::ElementSize()
{
  return 6 + CDcomObj::ElementSize();
}

The implementation of Write and Read member function you can find here.

void CConnection::Write(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index)
{
  SA_BEGIN_WRITE(CDcomObj);
  SA_WRITE(m_strComputerName);
  SA_WRITE(m_strUserName);
  SA_WRITE(m_strPassword);
  SA_WRITE(m_strServerName);
  SA_WRITE(m_strApplicationName);
  SA_WRITE(m_strConnectionHandle);
}

void CConnection::Read(CComSafeArray* safeArray,long& index)
{
  SA_BEGIN_READ(CDcomObj);
  SA_READ(m_strComputerName);
  SA_READ(m_strUserName);
  SA_READ(m_strPassword);
  SA_READ(m_strServerName);
  SA_READ(m_strApplicationName);
  SA_READ(m_strConnectionHandle);
}

For streaming the collection of CConnection objects across DCOM it is enough to define class like here.

class CConnectionArray : public CDcomObjArray
{
  DCL_DCOMOBJ_ARRAY(CConnectionArray,CConnection)
public:
  CConnectionArray(){}
  CConnectionArray( ccIndex aLimit,
                    ccIndex aDelta,
                    bool shouldDelete = true):
  CDcomObjArray(aLimit,aDelta ,shouldDelete )
  {
  }
  virtual ~CConnectionArray(){}

};

Notes

To avoid MFC at Server side, I am using a CString object from WTL V.3.1. You should download one from the Microsoft site. In any case don't forget to set up a path to this library in your Compiler: Tools/Options/Directories.