Re: Interface introspection

[Alex Graveley <alex helixcode com>]

Hi,

>         I assume you mean 'ComponentProperties' to _The_ Bonobo_Unknown,
> ie. as part of the aggregate.
>   
>         There is precicely 0 point in adding it to Bonobo_Unknown, because
> a single Bonobo_Unknown does _not_ describe a component, a component is   
> described ( on a trivial level ) by the sum of the interfaces it
> implements across the aggregate.
>   
>         Hence, having an interface ( perhaps called ComponentProperties
> ) only makes a lot of sense as part of the Aggregate.
>   
>         NB. the ComponentProperties interface is the equivalent of the
> XServiceInfo interface we discussed some time back ( to much public
> misunderstanding ).

Hehe. I talked with Maciej a bit yesterday and proposed an idea very close to this (I seem to have missed the original XServiceInfo discussion).

>         I think Maciej's comment is a great one, being able to get an
> OAFID from an activated component is a useful property ( especialy for   
> easy serialization and re-activation; except damn it we don't want to do  
> that do we I forgot [1]) see samples/compound-doc/sample-container's hack 
> around this problem.

Another thought I have been tossing around is to have an optional OafActivatedObject interface, that could be QI'd for by oaf before returning the object from a query. Oaf would then call a set method, passing in the object's ServerInfo struct and setting a reference to the ActivationContext or ObjectDirectory from which the object was activated.

This would allow for client's to get at a server's oafinfo properties as was Joe's original request. It would also allow for the use of a remote oaf, to do federations with other oafd's and bootstrapping of ObjectDirectorys for the local oaf. It could also allow changes to a ServerInfo's properties to be persisted back to the original oafinfo on whichever machine activated the object.

This does cross a line in that oaf would be manipulating the objects it activates without prompting from the client.

Thoughts?

-Alex