Begining with COM -- Books/Doc to read 1

[burgdavid]

I would like to know what books or other documentation should read someone (by example me...) who need to use COM (and not just a little) in his programms, when he does never have use COM before.<br><br>Also, if someone know how to transform a existing not-COM using project to a COM using project, I will appreciate (I have got compiler error when trying to use COM object like IShellLink or simply CoInitializeEx :<br>error C2065: 'CoInitializeEx' : undeclared identifier<br>but I include the header :<br>#include &quot;objbase.h&quot;<br>Probably because _WIN32_DCOM is not define, so can I do this manually or with a wizard/dialog and where (in the files or the menus) should I do this ?<br>).<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>David.

 

[palbano]

David,<br><br>In your CWinApp classes file<br><br>#include &lt;afxdisp.h&gt;<br><br>Then in the InitInstance() function<br><br>if ( !AfxOleInit()){<br>AfxMessageBox(&quot;Failed to initialize COM&quot;<br>}<br><br>For anyone beginning with COM and primarily using C++ I highly recommend Inside COM by Dale Rogerson ISBN: 1572313498 <br><br>Hope this helps<br>-pete<br>

 

[burgdavid]

Hello Pete,<br><br>I'm a little surprise because the book you recommand dates from january 1996. And 4 years make a lot of new things in computers usually, no ? Or maybe COM doesn't change much since ?<br><br>David.

 

[palbano]

David,<br><br>Yes, you are correct, I'm very glad to see you are paying attention. COM is a huge subject, if you are just looking for some quick 'how to' examples etc then you want something else. I highly recommend another dated book &quot;The Essence of COM and ActiveX&quot; by David Platt.<br><br>Again COM is a LARGE subject so multiple books will probably be required to develop a good understanding and working knowledge. There are also excellent and newr books from other authors like Don Box that cover recent topics like COM+.<br><br>The book I mentioned is more in response to this statement from your post:<br><br>&gt; when he does never have use COM before.<br><br>Inside COM provides a great C++ ground up introduction into the architecture of COM.<br><br>Good luck<br>-pete

 

[burgdavid]

Hello pete,<br><br>thanks for your advices.<br><br>I'm not looking for 'how-to' examples in a book, since such examples can be found on the Internet. No, I prefer a book that explain the reason(s) and the way of COM in order to not simply do it, but also, understand what I am doing. So I will look for this &quot;Inside COM&quot; on amazone.<br><br>Thanks again,<br><br>David.

 

[brother]

Hi David,<br>another good one is Inside Distributed COM by Guy and Henry Eddon. ISBN 1-57231-849-X<br>

 

[burgdavid]

Hi Brother,<br><br>I have already buy the book Inside COM at amazone, and by the way the title you give I can't found but :<br><br>Inside Distributed Compilers <br><br>by Eddon, Guy <br>&nbsp;<br>Publisher's price: £29.99 <br><br>Paperback ¦ 552 pages ¦ <br>Microsoft Press International ¦ 1998 <br>ISBN 157231849X <br><br>David.