Chapter 27: Living with COM

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Overview

In this chapter, you will learn how to:

• How Microsoft .NET lets you use COM objects from .NET projects

• How to use COM objects through early and late binding

• How to use ActiveX controls in Windows Forms projects

• How to expose .NET objects as COM objects

Although the types provided in the Microsoft .NET Framework are sufficient for the vast majority of programs, sometimes you’ll need to interact with existing components, particularly COM components and ActiveX controls. This chapter shows you how the worlds of .NET and COM can interoperate so you can make the best use of new and existing technologies.

Note

This chapter assumes that you know what COM objects are and something about how to use them outside the .NET world. If terms such as GUID, HRESULT, IUnknown, IDispatch, and type library don’t mean anything to you, you should learn more about COM before proceeding with this chapter.