[Gdal-dev] RFC 9: ATL Based COM Interface

[Frank Warmerdam]

ivan at ilucena.net wrote:
> Folks,
> 
> This message is about a RFC proposal that I have prepared and placed at
> http://www.gdal.org/rfc9_com.html.

Ivan,

Some things I think that should be clarified in the RFC:

  1) Where will all this source live?  Perhaps in gdal/com?

  2) You indicate the build mechanism will be separate from the regular
     gdal builds.  Can you explain a bit more about this?  Will the build
     be based on a visual studio project file instead of makefiles?

  3) What build environments will be supported? Only visual studio?  If so,
     what versions?

  4) What timeline and GDAL verison are you looking to incorporate into?
     Presumably this will go into the development branch (aka 1.5.0-dev)
     after the 1.4.0 release?

  5) What kind of documentation are you planning to provide for users?

  6) How complete a coverage are you planning?  Pretty much everything
     handled by the swig wrappers?  Only GDAL?  Only the pieces you find
     you need?

My understanding is that the C# bindings are accessable from any .net language.
So it seems that the COM interfaces will mainly be of interest to Delphi
developers - is that right?  I must confess to being a little confused by
changes in Microsoft object technology, but my understanding was that the
.net approach to object provision is now preferred to COM objects.

Generally speaking I am supportive of inclusion of COM support but I would
like to see another pass on the RFC to clarify the above points.  I'd also
stress that the current project direction is still to prefer the c# bindings
as our ".net solution" - I'd appreciate comment on whether that makes sense.
Also, does Delphi really have no convenient way of calling .net services?
It seems like an obvious step for Borland to take.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
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and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org