14. COM and ActiveX

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[oR]

Chapter 14. COM and ActiveX

The previous chapters in this book have all dealt with accessing Windows CE features through API function calls. However, many Windows CE facilities areonly available through Component Object Model (COM) components. This chapter shows how to use COM components, using the Pocket Office Object Model (POOM) as an example. Windows CE applications should use POOM components to access, add, and update information stored in Pocket Outlook in order to avoid duplicating information stored there (such as contact information or calendar appointments).

Many programmers shy away from using COM components because they look complex. This is partly because much of the literature on COM concentrates on how to build COM components rather than how to use them. Once a few rules and techniques are understood, using COM components is not very difficult.

There is much confusion between COM and ActiveX, and in fact many people use the terms interchangeably. COM is a technology that allows components to be written. ActiveX is a technology that uses COM. It allows scripting languages (such as VBScript) to call methods in components without having to use complex compiler techniques like virtual tables.

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