IDL Import Bridge

The IDL Import Bridge technology lets you use COM and Java objects in IDL applications. For a general overview of this technology, see Overview: COM and ActiveX in IDL.

COM and ActiveX

You have two options for incorporating a COM object into IDL:

If the COM object does not have its own interface, you can use the IDLcomIDispatch object class to communicate with the underlying COM object through the COM IDispatch interface (see Using COM Objects in IDL for details)

If the COM object does have its own interface (i.e., it is an ActiveX control), you can use IDL's WIDGET_ACTIVEX routine to place the control in an IDL widget hierarchy (see Using ActiveX Controls in IDL for details)

Java

The IDL-Java bridge lets you access Java objects within IDL code. Java objects imported into IDL behave like normal IDL objects. The bridge also provides IDL with access to exceptions created by the underlying Java object. For more information, see Using Java Objects in IDL.