/Visual Studio 2008/CppCOMClient/ImportDirective.h

/****************************** Module Header ******************************\

* Module Name:  ImportDirective.h

* Project:      CppCOMClient

* Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.

* 

* #import (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8etzzkb6.aspx), a new 

* directive that became available with Visual C++ 5.0, creates VC++ "smart 

* pointers" from a specified type library. It is very powerful, but often not 

* recommended because of reference-counting problems that typically occur when 

* used with the Microsoft Office applications. Unlike the direct API approach 

* in RawAPI.h/cpp, smart pointers enable us to benefit from the type info to 

* early/late bind the object. #import takes care of adding the messy guids to 

* the project and the COM APIs are encapsulated in custom classes that the 

* #import directive generates.

* 

* The differences between early binding and late binding via smart pointers:

* 

* Smart pointers make creating an object that supports early binding easy, so 

* does it make creating a late bound object. The only difference between early 

* binding and late binding via smart pointer is the .tlh and .tli files 

* generated by the #import directive. If the target object supports early 

* binding, the .tlh and .tli files will make use of the custom interface (not 

* IDispatch) to call the target property/method directly. If the target COM 

* object only support late binding, the smart pointer takes care of converting 

* your method calls into GetIDsOfNames()s and Invoke()s of the IDispatch 

* interface.

* 

* References

*  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/169496

* 

* This source is subject to the Microsoft Public License.

* See http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/licenses.mspx#Ms-PL.

* All other rights reserved.

* 

* THIS CODE AND INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, 

* EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED 

* WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

\***************************************************************************/



#pragma once



#pragma region Includes

#include <ole2.h>	// OLE2 Definitions

#pragma endregion





/*!

 * \brief

 * ImportCSharpComponent - Create and access a STA COM object written in C# 

 * by using the smart pointer class and the #import compiler directive.

 * 

 * \param lpParam

 * \returns

 * The prototype of a function that serves as the starting address for a 

 * thread

 * 

 * \remarks

 * In ImportDirective.cpp, the differences between #import-ing a native COM 

 * object and #import-ing a .NET (C#) COM object are highlighted.

 */

DWORD WINAPI ImportCSharpComponent(LPVOID lpParam);