Visual C++® 6 Unleashed

Chapter 29. ATL Architecture

by Mickey Williams

In This Chapter

• The History of ATL

• ATL's Advanced Use of Templates

• Commonly Used ATL Classes

• Using the Interface Definition Language

• ATL Wizards

The Active Template Library (ATL) is a template-based class library used to create high-performance Component Object Model (COM) applications. This chapter discusses the major components of the ATL architecture. An example that uses ATL in a client program demonstrates how ATL simplifies COM programming.

This chapter also discusses the Interface Definition Language (IDL). IDL is the standard language used to define interfaces in COM. The basic structure of an IDL file is described in this chapter, and an example IDL file is presented.

The History of ATL

The Active ...