To a first approximation, a type library in COM corresponds to
a Java "Class" object. Both let you introspect on methods that
are exposed by objects, see interfaces and properties, invoke
methods, and so on. Used with JNI, you get inter-language calling.
(JNI uses "portable C" -- it's not OS-specific.)
> Our
> technique takes the SODL document and
>
> a) generates a typelibrary from it
> b) employs a custom interface which is driven by the SODL document
>
> The advantage of (a) is that it is compatible with existing software
> however the software is limited to Windows.
Building on that correspondence, one could apply this technique with
Java based systems. A specialized DTD could generate a class file.
Whoops, whoa, don't bother, just use the Java class in the first place...
That is, if you're content to be specific to a given platform (perhaps
Java, perhaps Win32/x86 :-) you can do some very interesting tricks.
BUT ... it may be desirable to design in a platform-neutral way. Not
to ding any particular platform (certainly not Java!); I just want to
point out that when using XML with Objects, there are lots of tradeoffs.
- Dave
> XML-DEV would be an excellent place to develop an independent (b) layer
> specification. This spec would certainly need to interface with DOM.