FlexCOM Class Structure
Overview
The FlexCOM 2 classes that ship with DataFlex since version 8.3 completely replace the set of classes designed to work with DataFlex's previous COM technology (FlexCOM 1).
FlexCOM 2 classes are divided roughly into three categories. These are classes used to build wrapper classes for:
- ActiveX controls
- OLE Automation objects
- Embedded Document Objects
Normally, you will not need to know how to construct wrapper classes from the FlexCOM 2 classes. The DataFlex Studio has class building tools that build appropriate wrapper classes for you (see Importing COM Components for more information). However, you will find it useful to understand the capabilities of each FlexCOM class in order to gain a full understanding of the COM wrapper classes that you will use in your applications.
Below is an abbreviated class hierarchy of the classes that make up the FlexCOM 2 class set:
When you import a COM object, the properties, events, and methods that you will be most interested in will be the COM object's properties, events, and methods that are 'binded' into the wrapper. At runtime, these 'binded' properties and methods are only accessible while a COM object is 'attached' to its DataFlex wrapper object.
All of the properties and methods that belong to the FlexCOM class documented here are available during the entire lifetime of the wrapper object, regardless of whether a COM object is attached to it or not. This is an important point to understand and is a powerful feature of DataFlex's FlexCOM technology.
For more information, refer to COM Object Life Span.