Microsoft® .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting

The IComponent Interface

To make matters a little confusing, the .NET Framework also defines a component as a class that implements the System.ComponentModel.IComponent interface or that derives from another class that implements IComponent (such as System.ComponentModel.Component). These IComponent classes have a few characteristics that distinguish them from ordinary classes:

• They provide a way to release resources deterministically. Because the IComponent interface extends the System.IDisposable interface, every component provides a Dispose method. When this method is invoked, the component immediately frees the resources it uses—assuming you’ve added the necessary code.

• They provide basic design-time support—that is, the ability to be hosted ...