ArcGIS Engine Developer Guide

GLOSSARY
class
class identifier
client
cloning
CLR
CLSID
coclass
COM
COM contract
COM interface
COM-compliant language
command
command bar
command line
component
component category
Component Category
Manager
Component Object Model
A template for a type of object in an object-oriented programming language. A
class may be considered to be a set of objects that share a common structure and
behavior.
A COM term referring to the globally unique number that is used by the system
registry and the COM framework to identify a particular coclass. See also GUID.
An application, computer, or device in a client/server model that makes requests
to a server.
The process of creating a new instance of a class with the same state as an existing
instance.
Common Language Runtime. The execution engine for .NET Framework applications,
providing services, such as code loading and execution and memory
management.
See class identifier.
A template for an object that can be instantiated in memory.
See Component Object Model.
The COM requirement that interfaces, once published, cannot be altered.
A grouping of logically related virtual functions, implemented by a server object,
allowing a client to interact with the server object. Interfaces form the basis of
COM’s communication between objects and the basis of the COM contract.
A language that can be used to create COM components.
Any class in an ArcGIS system that implements the ICommand interface and can
therefore be added to a menu or toolbar in an ArcGIS application.
A toolbar, menu bar, menu, or context menu in an ArcGIS application.
An onscreen interface in which the user types in commands at a prompt. In
geoprocessing, any tool added to the ArcToolbox window can be run from the
command line.
A binary unit of code that can be used to create COM objects.
A section of the registry that can be used to categorize classes by their functionality.
Component categories are used extensively in ArcGIS to allow extensibility
of the system.
An ArcGIS utility program (Categories.exe) that can be used to view and manipulate
component category information.
A binary standard that enables software components to interoperate in a networked
environment regardless of the language in which they were developed.
Developed by Microsoft, COM technology provides the underlying services of
interface negotiation, life cycle management (determining when an object can be
removed from a system), licensing, and event services (putting one object into
service as the result of an event that has happened to another object). The
ArcGIS system is created using COM objects.
494 • ArcGIS Engine Developer Guide