In this article I am going to explain how to access a .NET component from a COM client and, vice versa, how to access COM components from .NET clients.
COM is all about how little pieces of code find other little pieces of code and how they communicate with each other. COM precisely defines how the location and communication takes place.
In the .NET world, little pieces of code still find and talk with little pieces of code, but they don't use COM. Hence, if you want to access a .NET component from a COM client, you cannot do it directly. The solution to this is CCW (COM callable wrapper) which acts as a proxy for the .NET object. Similarly, if you want to access a COM component from a .NET client you will have to create a RCW (runtime callable wrapper).
Accessing .NET components from COM clients
This example demonstrates how a VB6 COM client using CCW accesses a component developed in VB.NET.
VB.NET component (testCCW.vb)
imports system
namespace CCWComponent
public class CCWClass
public function PassStr as string
PassStr = "Hi From .NET Component"
end function
end class
end namespace
Save this code to a text file with the name testCCW.vb. Now compile this file from the command line with the statement:
Vbc /t:library testCCW.vb
The VBC compiler will create a testCCW.dll file for you -- this is the .NET assembly.
Now, the next step is to create a COM Callable Wrapper proxy for the component testCCW.dll file. The regasm utility can register the .NET component and also create a .TLB file, which can be referenced from any COM client.
If you want to just register the .NET component with the registry, use Regasm testCCW.dll. It will create the required registry entries. It is useful when you want to create late binded clients. If you want to register and generate the Type library, i.e .TLB file, from the .NET component, use:
Regasm testCCW.dll /tlb:testCCW.tlb
It will create a file testCCW.tlb, which can be reference by COM clients It is useful when you want to create COM clients that want to use early binding to the .NET component.
COM client (VB6) (Late binded)
Private Sub Command1_Click()
dim o
set o = createobject("CCWComponent.CCWClass")
msgbox o.PassStr
end sub
The same client can also early bind to the CCW of the .NET component if the CCW of the .NET component was exported to .tlb file using regasm /tlb switch.
Most important
In order to find the assembly of the .NET component, the COM client executable has to be in the same directory as the .NET component, or the .NET component has to be in the Global Assembly cache.
Using RCW (runtime callable client)
If you want to access the COM component from the .NET client you will need to create a wrapper for the COM component using the TLBImp utility.
COM Server ComSrv.dll (MyCom.ComComponent)
Add the following code in a ActiveX DLL:
Public Function SayHi() As String SayHi = "Hi From COM Component" End Function
After compiling the component, create a wrapper using tlbimp utility.
Tlbimp ComSvr.dll /out c:<Path>
It is recommended to use the /out switch to prevent accidentally overwriting the COM DLL. The .NET proxy for the COM server will be created in the path specified in the /out switch.
VB.NET client (Ntest.vb)
imports system
imports microsoft.visualbasic
imports MyCom
class NTest
shared sub main
dim o as new MyCom.ComComponent
msgbox (o.sayHi)
end sub
end class
Save the file with the name Ntest.VB. Compile the VB.NET client and run it using: vbc /r:ComSvr.dll Ntest.vb.
Source: DotNetExtreme.com
This was first published in January 2003