Understanding DCOM [Paperback]

William Rubin (Author), Marshall Brain (Author)

Book Description

Series: Prentice Hall Series on Microsoft Technologies | Publication Date: November 24, 1998

Finally, there's a book that cuts through Microsoft DCOM's complexity, and shows experienced C++ developers exactly how to build and deploy distributed applications with it. Raoul Rubin and Marshall Brain reduce DCOM to its essentials as a straightforward system for network communication. Using extensive examples and sample code, they demonstrate exactly how to brainstorm, organize, implement and test sophisticated DCOM-based distributed applications. Understand the relationship of DCOM to COM, OLE and competing approaches such as CORBA; learn how to create DCOM servers and clients; use threading models, connection points and Singleton objects; and test your DCOM servers. Understand how DCOM's elements fit together, including DCOM objects, GUID, Proxy/stubs, servers and interfaces; compare implementation with the Win32 API, MFC and ATL; learn the differences between DCOM implementation in Win95/98 and NT; and more.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Microsoft's DCOM is a difficult but important standard. If you know some C++, the authors of Understanding DCOM can show you everything you need to know to use DCOM without a lot of jargon or needless complexity.

The early sections of this book provide a remarkably clear comparison of C++ and COM. (By using what you know, you can understand what is new and different about COM, including terminology such as interfaces, instances, and GUIDs [Globally Unique Identifiers].) The authors' examples for using a simple COM object are extremely clear. They walk you through the steps required to use COM on both the client and the server side, using the Active Template Library (ATL) wizards in Visual C++ 6.

After these practical examples, the authors sketch in more detail about COM with information on Microsoft IDL (MIDL), working with string data, and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Automation and dual interfaces. The authors do a good job of explaining the various apartment-threading models available for COM objects. They defer their discussion of the Registry until later in the book--after they present practical examples.

Later sections look at callback functions and connection points, as well as the move to distributed objects and DCOM. Sections on debugging COM objects provide invaluable material on showing error messages as well as some tips on building COM objects using Visual C++ features.

If you are a programmer who has been a bit baffled by DCOM, this book manages to make a difficult topic digestible. It presents a good amount of technical material but uses practical examples rather than theory to teach the reader how to be productive with DCOM. --Richard Dragan

About the Author

Raoul Rubin is a computer consultant specializing in Microsoft Technologies. He is based in North Carolina. Marshall Brain is founder and principal of Interface Technologies, Research Triangle, North Carolina. His firm specializes in software training for developers and administrators at leading financial companies such as Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. He is the author of Win32 System Services: The Heart of Windows 95 and Windows NT, and co-author of several books in the Prentice Hall Series on Microsoft Technologies, including Windows CE and Microsoft Network Technology.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall Ptr (November 24, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0130959669
• ISBN-13: 978-0130959669
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,544,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a great book, August 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Understanding DCOM (Paperback)

I found this book to be very clear and complete in it's explantion of COM and DCOM.

DCOM is clearly explained in Chapter 14(p.229). The real difference between COM and DCOM is the way you create the COM object(p.229-230). All the magic is handled by the Service Control Manager(p230). For DCOM you must use CoCreateInstanceEx instead of CoCreateInstance(p230). The COSERVERINFO struct should reflect the name of the server containing the COM object and must be passed as the fourth parameter of the CoCreateInstanceEx function(p231-233). The rest of DCOM is setting up permission so you can get around security(in NT) ( rest of chapter 14).

Again this book clearly explains what is need to do COM and DCOM. I think people thought that DCOM was this incredibly complicated mess that could not be explained so quickly. This book showed this not to be so.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome beginers book, May 11, 2005

By 

Elango Ramanathan "sala_elango" (az usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding DCOM (Paperback)

I had no clue what is a com object. All I know was how use com or ocx object. For some project, I have to add com callbacks. This books explains clearly and one baby step at a time. I strongly recommend this book to anybody who is intereted in learning any thing about COM/DCOM

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My most tattered tech book, May 2, 2001

By 

Kevin McConathy "weather thinker" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Understanding DCOM (Paperback)

I own many books on the subject on COM/DCOM. I bought this one days after it was first published in December 1998. While my other COM books are pristine, this one is tattered and torn with pages falling out. I keep it within reach at all times. When I can't find it, I panic. Whenever I'm stumped, I grab it and within a few minutes, I'm back on track. It is not a theoretical dissertation which is why I like it. If you want to spout COM jargon, buy Don Box. If you want to get work done, buy this one.