VC ATL, Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components

Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components

Author	Message
Kevin Chapma #1 / 6	Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components Registering the proxy / stub pair for side by side COM components does not seem to be address by the documentation. I am generating my proxy by using the /Oicf MIDL.exe switch. The DllRegisterServer method exported by the proxy eventually calls NdrDllRegisterProxy to handle the work of actually registering each interface. NdrDllRegisterProxy creates the key HKCR\CLSID\{GUID} \InProcServer32. The default value of this key is the absolute path of the proxy's executable. For a side by side component a relative path should be registered. I don't see a way to control the path registered by NdrDllRegisterProxy. I see how I can disable the MIDL generated registration code by not defining the macro REGISTER_PROXY_DLL. If I attempt to write my own implementation of DllRegisterServer is there a documented way of extracting the supported interface IIDs from the Interpretive Marshaler. It was easy to modify the .rgs file to register CLSID of my ATL component with a relative path, but I am unsure how to handle the proxy / stub registration. I normally merge my proxy stub code with ATL generated COM component, but the absolute paths would seem to be a problem even with a standalone proxy.
Wed, 23 Feb 2005 01:58:22 GMT

Alexander Nickolo #2 / 6	Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components Why on earth would you want a relative path??? -- ===================================== Alexander Nickolov Microsoft MVP [VC], MCSD MVP VC FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/vcfaq ===================================== Quote: > Registering the proxy / stub pair for side by side COM > components does not seem to be address by the > documentation. I am generating my proxy by using the /Oicf > MIDL.exe switch. The DllRegisterServer method exported > by the proxy eventually calls NdrDllRegisterProxy to > handle the work of actually registering each interface. > NdrDllRegisterProxy creates the key HKCR\CLSID\{GUID} > \InProcServer32. The default value of this key is the > absolute path of the proxy's executable. For a side by > side component a relative path should be registered. I > don't see a way to control the path registered by > NdrDllRegisterProxy. > I see how I can disable the MIDL generated registration > code by not defining the macro REGISTER_PROXY_DLL. If I > attempt to write my own implementation of > DllRegisterServer is there a documented way of extracting > the supported interface IIDs from the Interpretive > Marshaler. > It was easy to modify the .rgs file to register CLSID of > my ATL component with a relative path, but I am unsure how > to handle the proxy / stub registration. I normally merge > my proxy stub code with ATL generated COM component, but > the absolute paths would seem to be a problem even with a > standalone proxy.
Wed, 23 Feb 2005 02:21:00 GMT

Kevin Chapma #3 / 6	Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components Haven't you heard of Side-by-Side Components? Side-by-Side components reduce DLL hell problems. Read the link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp? url=/library/en-us/dnsetup/html/sidebyside.asp
Wed, 23 Feb 2005 03:26:56 GMT

Alexander Nickolo #4 / 6	Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components Hmm, interesting article. All I can says is that the NDR layer does not support side-by-side sharing. Subsequently, you must install all proxy/stub DLLs in shared locations. Note there's no DLL hell here since these only support already immutable interfaces. The biggest issue is to ensure each newer version supports all interfaces supported by any previous version, and subsequently always install the latest version. -- ===================================== Alexander Nickolov Microsoft MVP [VC], MCSD MVP VC FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/vcfaq ===================================== Quote: > Haven't you heard of Side-by-Side Components? Side-by-Side > components reduce DLL hell problems. > Read the link: > http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp? > url=/library/en-us/dnsetup/html/sidebyside.asp
Wed, 23 Feb 2005 04:17:24 GMT

Kevin Chapma #5 / 6	Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components Quote: > Hmm, interesting article. All I can says is that the NDR layer does > not support side-by-side sharing. Subsequently, you must install > all proxy/stub DLLs in shared locations. Note there's no DLL hell > here since these only support already immutable interfaces. The > biggest issue is to ensure each newer version supports all interfaces > supported by any previous version, and subsequently always install > the latest version. Actually this is not exactly correct. I can manually edit the registry to change the HKCR\CLSID\{GUID}\InProcServer32 default key to a relative path and it works great. I would agree with you "that NDR layer does not support side-by-side sharing" if I was trying to use the proxy stub pair for DCOM. I just need the proxy for marshaling across apartment boundaries in the same process. There is definitely a possibility for DLL hell problems with the proxy / stub. When multiple copies of an application using absolute paths the registry key can only point to one of the installations. If the pointed to application is uninstalled the other installations will break. If the registry entries are created with relative paths the registry entry can be referenced counted. The entry would only delete when the last copy of the proxy is uninstalled. The issue is not trying to make an interface mutable. I merge the proxy and stub code into the component DLL. Since the proxy is in the same DLL as the component it can't be installed in a shared location. I simply want the install for an application to stand alone. I have found several articles from Microsoft recommending that new COM components be designed to run side-by-side. The problem is none of these articles addresses the issue of registering the proxy.
Wed, 23 Feb 2005 13:49:14 GMT

Alexander Nickolo #6 / 6	Registering proxy/stub for Side by Side COM Components Ah, you missed the design problem in the very beginning :). Shared interfaces must NOT have their marshaling support merged with other code. Put the marshaling code in a separate DLL and register it in a shared place, then reference count it for multiple installations. -- ===================================== Alexander Nickolov Microsoft MVP [VC], MCSD MVP VC FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/vcfaq ===================================== Quote: > > Hmm, interesting article. All I can says is that the NDR layer does > > not support side-by-side sharing. Subsequently, you must install > > all proxy/stub DLLs in shared locations. Note there's no DLL hell > > here since these only support already immutable interfaces. The > > biggest issue is to ensure each newer version supports all interfaces > > supported by any previous version, and subsequently always install > > the latest version. > Actually this is not exactly correct. I can manually edit the registry > to change the HKCR\CLSID\{GUID}\InProcServer32 default key to a relative > path and it works great. > I would agree with you "that NDR layer does not support side-by-side > sharing" if I was trying to use the proxy stub pair for DCOM. I just > need the proxy for marshaling across apartment boundaries in the same > process. > There is definitely a possibility for DLL hell problems with the proxy / > stub. When multiple copies of an application using absolute paths the > registry key can only point to one of the installations. If the pointed > to application is uninstalled the other installations will break. > If the registry entries are created with relative paths the registry > entry can be referenced counted. The entry would only delete when the > last copy of the proxy is uninstalled. > The issue is not trying to make an interface mutable. I merge the proxy > and stub code into the component DLL. Since the proxy is in the same > DLL as the component it can't be installed in a shared location. I > simply want the install for an application to stand alone. > I have found several articles from Microsoft recommending that new COM > components be designed to run side-by-side. The problem is none of these > articles addresses the issue of registering the proxy.
Sat, 26 Feb 2005 02:23:55 GMT

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