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PERTEXT - IPersistStreamInit Persistent Object Server

 

SUMMARY

PERTEXT is the second sample in a group of samples that covers various techniques for implementing COM object persistence. The first sample, PERSERVE, covers persistence by implementing the IPersistStream standard interface. This sample, PERTEXT, covers persistence by implementing the IPersistStreamInit standard interface. The third sample, PERDRAW, covers persistence by implementing the IPersistStorage standard interface. The fourth sample, PERCLIEN, covers how a client exploits the kinds of persistence provided the PERSERVE, PERTEXT, and PERDRAW server components.

The PERTEXT sample introduces the COTextPage COM object, which encapsulates the data of an editable page of text. COTextPage objects expose a set of interfaces whose methods make the objects connectable, persistent managers of text data. Client access to this data is available through an ITextPage custom interface. COTextPage implements the ITextPage interface.

The PERTEXT sample keeps a clear architectural distinction between client and server. Among other things, COTextPage provides no graphical user interface (GUI), relying instead upon the client for all GUI behavior.

The PERCLIEN client provides the GUI display and manages the list of pages, the contents of which are stored in a compound file that contains both the contents of the list and of each page in that list. The user of PERCLIEN can edit the content of two types of pages: text pages and drawing pages. Text pages have data that the user can edit using a simple windowed text editor. Drawing pages have drawing data that the user can edit using free-form, scribble-like functionality based on the earlier STOSERVE and STOCLIEN samples. Both types of editing are done in separate client windows. For more information, see PERCLIEN.HTM.

Storage in the compound file is achieved because the components provide persistent COM objects that encapsulate the page list and edited page data. PERSERVE houses a persistent object that encapsulates the single page list kept in each compound file containing such pages. PERTEXT houses a persistent object that encapsulates the edited text data for each text page. PERDRAW houses a persistent object that encapsulates the drawing data for each drawing page.

The COPageList object in the PERSERVE sample encapsulates the persistent page list data. COPageList implements the IPersistStream standard interface to expose control of the page list storage located in the client-provided stream of a compound file. The COTextPage object in this PERTEXT sample encapsulates the data of an edited text page. COTextPage implements the IPersistStreamInit standard interface to expose control of the text data storage that is located in the client-provided stream of a compound file. In contrast to these stream-based persistent objects, the CODrawPage object in the PERDRAW sample encapsulates the persistent drawing-ink data. CODrawPage implements the IPersistStorage standard interface to expose control of the drawing-ink data storage located in the client-provided substorage of a compound file.

This code sample focuses primarily on COTextPage's implementation of the IPersistStreamInit interface to provide stream-based persistence for a COM object. IPersistStreamInit's InitNew method is the main difference between the IPersistStream interface used in the PERSERVE sample and the IPersistStreamInit interface used in the PERTEXT sample. This sample covers the InitNew method in detail. PERTEXT works with the PERCLIEN code sample to illustrate the joint use by client and server of IPersistStreamInit-based persistence.

COTextPage's support for object persistence is the primary means of storing the text page data. COTextPage stores its text data in a client-provided stream located in a structured storage compound file. The compound file has a unique format because of the various streams and storages used. The client identifies these compound files as page files with a .PAG extension. The client controls the use of the containing compound file and provides COTextPage with a pointer to the IStream interface to load and save its text data in the compound file. The IStream pointer is passed to COTextPage in calls to the IPersistStreamInit interface methods.

COTextPage also exposes an ITextPage custom interface to manipulate the text that is encapsulated in the text page. ITextPage exposes the GetLength, GetText, PutText, and Clear methods.

COTextPage also supports connectable object features. The IConnectionPointContainer interface is exposed, an appropriate connection point is implemented, and an outgoing custom ITextPageSink interface is declared to send notifications to the client.

The two ITextPage and ITextPageSink custom interfaces are declared in IPAGES.H located in the common INC directory. PAGEGUID.H, which contains the GUIDs for the interfaces and objects, is also located in that same directory.

The PERTEXT sample uses the CThreaded facility in APPUTIL to achieve thread safety in the server housing and the class factory. Because the PERTEXT.DLL is generally accessed from a Single Threaded Apartment (STA) as an in-process server, COTextPage instances are not coded as thread-safe using the CThreaded facility. The CLSID_TextPage component is registered as supporting the apartment threading model.

For functional descriptions and a tutorial code tour of the PERTEXT sample, see the Code Tour section in PERTEXT.HTM. For details on setting up the programmatic usage of PERTEXT.DLL, see the Usage section in PERTEXT.HTM. To read PERTEXT.HTM, run TUTORIAL.EXE in the main tutorial directory and click the PERTEXT lesson in the table of lessons. You can also do the same thing by double-clicking the PERTEXT.HTM file after locating the main tutorial directory in Windows Explorer. For more details on the PERCLIEN client application and how it works with PERTEXT.DLL, see also PERCLIEN.HTM in the main tutorial directory. You must build PERTEXT.DLL before running the PERCLIEN sample.

The PERTEXT server provides a TextPage component that can create instances of the COTextPage COM object. COTextPage is housed in the PERTEXT.DLL in-process server and is made publicly available as a custom COM component. Like all other servers in this tutorial series, PERTEXT.DLL is a self-registering COM server. It makes the COTextPage object type available to clients as the TextPage component in the PERTEXT server using a CLSID_TextPage registration in the Registry.

PERTEXT's makefile automatically registers its TextPage COM component in the registry, which it must do before clients can use PERTEXT.DLL as a server for the TextPage component. This self-registration is started in the makefile using the REGISTER.EXE utility built in the REGISTER sample. To build or run PERTEXT.DLL, you must build the REGISTER code sample first.

For details on setting up your system to build and test the code samples in this COM Tutorial series, see TUTORIAL.HTM. The supplied MAKEFILE is Microsoft NMAKE-compatible. To create a debug build, issue the NMAKE command in the Command Prompt window.

Usage

To use PERTEXT.DLL, a client program does not need to include PERTEXT.H or link to PERTEXT.LIB. A COM client of PERTEXT.DLL obtains access solely through its object's CLSID and COM services. For PERTEXT.DLL, that CLSID is CLSID_TextPage (defined in PAGEGUID.H in the INC sibling directory). The PERCLIEN code sample shows how the client obtains this access.

PERTEXT.DLL is intended primarily as a COM server. Although it can be implicitly loaded by linking to its associated .LIB file, it is normally used after an explicit LoadLibrary call, usually from within COM's CoGetClassObject function. PERTEXT.DLL is a self-registering in-process server.

The makefile that builds this sample automatically registers the server in the registry. You can manually initiate its self-registration by issuing the following command at the command prompt in the PERTEXT directory:

 
  nmake register
  

This assumes that you have a compilation environment set up. If not, you can also directly invoke the REGISTER.EXE command at the command prompt while in the PERTEXT directory.

 
  ..\register\register.exe pertext.dll
  

These registration commands require a prior build of both the REGISTER sample and PERTEXT.DLL.

In this series, the makefiles use the REGISTER.EXE utility from the REGISTER sample. Recent releases of the Microsoft Platform SDK and Visual C++® include a utility, REGSVR32.EXE, which can be used in a similar fashion to register in-process servers and marshaling DLLs.

Run the Sample

The client sample and other related samples must be compiled before you can run the client. For more details on building the samples, see Building the Code Samples.

If you have already built the appropriate samples, PERCLIEN.EXE is the client executable to run for this sample. Click here to run PERCLIEN.EXE.

Depending on the security level of your browser you may see a dialog allowing you to either open the .EXE file or save it to disk. Click the "Open it" choice and then click the OK button.

 

CODE TOUR

 
Files         Description
PERTEXT.TXT   Short description of sample.
MAKEFILE      The generic makefile for building the PERTEXT.DLL
              code sample of this lesson.
PERTEXT.H     The include file for declaring as imported or defining as
              exported the service functions in PERTEXT.DLL.
PERTEXT.CPP   The main implementation file for PERTEXT.DLL. Has DllMain
              and the COM server functions (for example, DllGetClassObject).
PERTEXT.DEF   The module definition file. Exports server housing functions.
PERTEXT.RC    The DLL resource definition file for the executable.
PERTEXT.ICO   The icon resource for the executable.
SERVER.H      The include file for the server control C++ object.
SERVER.CPP    The implementation file for the server control C++ object.
FACTORY.H     The include file for the server's class factory COM objects.
FACTORY.CPP   The implementation file for the server's class factories.
CONNECT.H     The include file for the connection point enumerator,
              connection point, and connection enumerator classes.
CONNECT.CPP   The implementation file for the connection point enumerator,
              connection point, and connection enumerators objects.
TEXTPAGE.H    The include file for the COTextPage COM object class.
TEXTPAGE.CPP  The implementation file for the COTextPage COM object class
              and the connection points.
 

PERTEXT.DLL uses many of the utility classes and services provided by APPUTIL. For more details on APPUTIL, study the APPUTIL library's source code in the sibling APPUTIL directory and APPUTIL.HTM in the main tutorial directory.

This sample is part of a graduated series of tutorial code samples and assumes that you have had some exposure to those samples. It does not revisit basic interface implementation techniques, COM object construction, in-process server construction, class factory construction, connectable object construction, or use of structured storage in compound files. For information on these topics, study the earlier tutorial samples.

The major topics covered in this code tour are:

The COTextPage COM object is the single object type managed by this PERTEXT in-process server. COTextPage is a connectable COM object that implements the IConnectionPointContainer standard interface, the IPersistStreamInit standard interface, and the ITextPage custom interface.

COTextPage exposes the ITextPage custom interface so clients can perform a small set of operations on the text data that is encapsulated by COTextPage. Here is a summary of the ITextPage methods from IPAGES.H located in the common INC directory.

 
  GetLength
    Get the current length (in WCHARs) of the text page.

  GetText
    Get the current page text held in this object.

  PutText
    Put specified wide character text of specified length
    into this text page object. Does not save persistently.

  Clear
    Clears all text from the entire text page.
 

The implementation of ITextPage is straightforward: a set of properties for the text page is maintained and the text data itself is maintained. For more details, see TEXTPAGE.H and TEXTPAGE.CPP.

COTextPage manages its text data in RAM. However, since COTextPage is also a persistent object, it also manages the persistent image of this text data in a stream of a structured storage compound file. COTextPage exposes the IPersistStreamInit interface so that clients can control the perisitence features of COTextPage. The implementation of IPersistStreamInit in COTextPage is the principal focus of this sample.

The client is responsible for a presentation of the text to the user. In PERCLIEN a standard multiline edit control in a separate window is used. The client uses the ITextPage interface on COTextPage to obtain the data for display in this edit control and to update COTextPage with any user-requested changes to the text data. The client cooperates with COTextPage to manage the text data. The client manages creation or opening of a stream in the compound file containing the data. When the client needs to control the persistence of COTextPage it passes an IStream interface to COTextPage, usually during calls to the IPersistStreamInit Load and Save methods. COTextPage then uses that stream for all its persistent storage of its object state data.

Two major data constructs are stored for COTextPage's state data: the page text and the page text properties. The text data is stored in the page's data stream as a wide character string. The persistent properties are stored in the same stream. Here is the TEXTPROPS structure from TEXTPAGE.H.

 
  // Properties of the TextPage.
  typedef struct _TEXTPROPS
  {
    ULONG ulVersion;
    ULONG ulMaxLength;
    ULONG ulLength;
    WCHAR wszTitle[PAGE_TITLE_SIZE];
  } TEXTPROPS;
 

The ulVersion member holds a version number for the text page. This allows the first member to be checked to determine possible variations in treatment based on the text page version.

The ulMaxLength member holds the maximum length that the text page can grow.

The ulLength member holds the current length of the page text.

The wszTitle member is for future evolution of the application and are not used by PERTEXT or PERCLIEN.

In the division of labor between client and server, COTextPage does not create the compound file that is used to store text page data. To both Save and Load the persistent data the client uses the Save and Load methods of the IPersistStreamInit interface, passing an IStream interface pointer for a stream located in an existing compound file. COTextPage then uses the IStream interface to read and write data in the compound file.

The following code is the declaration of the COTextPage COM object from TEXTPAGE.H:

 
  class COTextPage : public IUnknown
  {
    public:
      // Main COM Object Constructor & Destructor.
      COTextPage(IUnknown* pUnkOuter, CServer* pServer);
      ~COTextPage(void);

      // A general public method for initializing this newly created
      // object. Creates any subordinate arrays, structures, or objects.
      // Not exposed as part of an interface. Used by Class Factory.
      HRESULT Init(void);

      // Main COM Object IUnknown interface. Non-delegating.
      STDMETHODIMP         QueryInterface(REFIID, PPVOID);
      STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) AddRef(void);
      STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) Release(void);

    private:
      // We declare nested class interface implementations here.

      // Standard Connectable Object features.
      class CImpIConnectionPointContainer : public IConnectionPointContainer
      {
        public:
          // Interface Implementation Constructor & Destructor.
          CImpIConnectionPointContainer(COTextPage* pCO, IUnknown* pUnkOuter);
          ~CImpIConnectionPointContainer(void);

          // IUnknown methods.
          STDMETHODIMP         QueryInterface(REFIID, PPVOID);
          STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) AddRef(void);
          STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) Release(void);

          // IConnectionPointContainer methods.
          STDMETHODIMP         FindConnectionPoint(REFIID, IConnectionPoint**);
          STDMETHODIMP         EnumConnectionPoints(IEnumConnectionPoints**);

        private:
          // Data private to this interface implementation.
          COTextPage*   m_pCO;          // Parent Object back pointer.
          IUnknown*     m_pUnkOuter;    // Outer unknown for Delegation.
      };

      // Standard Object Persistence (in Streams) features.
      class CImpIPersistStreamInit : public IPersistStreamInit
      {
        public:
          // Interface Implementation Constructor & Destructor.
          CImpIPersistStreamInit(COTextPage* pCO, IUnknown* pUnkOuter);
          ~CImpIPersistStreamInit(void);

          // IUnknown methods.
          STDMETHODIMP         QueryInterface(REFIID, PPVOID);
          STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) AddRef(void);
          STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) Release(void);

          // IPersistStreamInit methods.
          STDMETHODIMP         GetClassID(CLSID* pClassID);
          STDMETHODIMP         IsDirty(void);
          STDMETHODIMP         Load(IStream* pIStream);
          STDMETHODIMP         Save(IStream* pIStream, BOOL bClearDirty);
          STDMETHODIMP         GetSizeMax(ULARGE_INTEGER* pcbSize);
          STDMETHODIMP         InitNew(void);

        private:
          // Data private to this interface implementation.
          COTextPage*   m_pCO;          // Parent Object back pointer.
          IUnknown*     m_pUnkOuter;    // Outer unknown for Delegation.
      };

      // Custom Text Entry/Edit page features.
      class CImpITextPage : public ITextPage
      {
        public:
          // Interface Implementation Constructor & Destructor.
          CImpITextPage(COTextPage* pCO, IUnknown* pUnkOuter);
          ~CImpITextPage(void);

          // IUnknown methods.
          STDMETHODIMP         QueryInterface(REFIID, PPVOID);
          STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) AddRef(void);
          STDMETHODIMP_(ULONG) Release(void);

          // ITextPage methods.
          STDMETHODIMP         GetLength(INT* piLength);
          STDMETHODIMP         GetText(WCHAR* pwszText);
          STDMETHODIMP         PutText(WCHAR* pwszText, INT iLength);
          STDMETHODIMP         Clear(BOOL bSaveNeeded);

        private:
          // Data private to this interface implementation of ITextPage.
          COTextPage*   m_pCO;          // Parent Object back pointer.
          IUnknown*     m_pUnkOuter;    // Outer unknown for Delegation.
      };

      // Make the otherwise private and nested interface implementations
      // friends to instantiations of this COTextPage COM object class.
      friend CImpIConnectionPointContainer;
      friend CImpIPersistStreamInit;
      friend CImpITextPage;

      // Private Methods of COTextPage COM objects.

      // Method to clear the COTextPage's current page text and reset
      // the page properties appropriately.
      HRESULT Clear(BOOL bSaveNeeded);

      // Method of main connectable COTextPage COM object to broadcast
      // event notifications to all connected listening sinks.
      HRESULT NotifySinks(TEXTPAGE_EVENT TextPageEvent);

      // Private Data of COTextPage COM objects.

      // Nested IConnectionPointContainer implementation instantiation.
      CImpIConnectionPointContainer m_ImpIConnectionPointContainer;

      // Nested IPersistStreamInit implementation instantiation.
      CImpIPersistStreamInit m_ImpIPersistStreamInit;

      // Nested ITextPage implementation instantiation. This ITextPage
      // interface is instantiated as a native interface of COTextPage.
      CImpITextPage     m_ImpITextPage;

      // Main Object reference count.
      ULONG             m_cRefs;

      // Outer unknown (aggregation & delegation).
      IUnknown*         m_pUnkOuter;

      // Pointer to this component server's control object.
      CServer*          m_pServer;

      // The array of connection points for this connectable COM object.
      IConnectionPoint* m_aConnectionPoints[MAX_CONNECTION_POINTS];

      // The following private data and methods constitute the working
      // heart of COTextPage as an actual application object.
      TEXTPROPS         m_TextProps;    // For saving properties in stream.
      CLSID             m_ClassID;      // CLSID of this COM Object.
      WCHAR*            m_pwszPageText; // The text to edit.
      BOOL              m_bInitNew;     // TRUE=>obj newly initialized in RAM.
      BOOL              m_bDirty;       // RAM no match file--save needed.
  };
 

COTextPage has nested implementations of the IUnknown, IConnectionPointContainer, IPersistStreamInit, and ITextPage interfaces. The techniques of these interface implementations follow the pattern used in earlier samples. The COMOBJ sample, for example, implemented IUnknown and the CONSERVE sample implemented IConnectionPointContainer. This samples introduces the ITextPage custom interface, but its implementation is very similar to the custom interface implementations in many previous samples.

The m_TextProps member is a TEXTPROPS structure that holds properties of the text page. See above for a summary of the TEXTPROPS structure. The m_ClassID stores the CLSID of the COTextPage component for later use within the method implementations of COTextPage. The m_bInitNew member is indicates whether the object was newly initialized by the IPersistStreamInit::InitNew method. The m_bDirty member is used internally to determine when the RAM-resident text data has changed relative to the last time it was loaded from or saved to persistent storage.

COTextPage keeps the text data in a RAM-resident string the pointer to which is kept in the m_pwszPageText variable. The string is initially allocated during either IPersistStreamInit::Load or IPersistStreamInit::InitNew after COTextPage is created. The following paragraphs discuss IPersistStreamInit methods in more detail.

The following IPersistStreamInit methods are declared:

 
    STDMETHODIMP         GetClassID(CLSID* pClassID);
    STDMETHODIMP         IsDirty(void);
    STDMETHODIMP         Load(IStream* pIStream);
    STDMETHODIMP         Save(IStream* pIStream, BOOL bClearDirty);
    STDMETHODIMP         GetSizeMax(ULARGE_INTEGER* pcbSize);
    STDMETHODIMP         InitNew(void);
 

Examining these methods in detail shows how the implementation of the standard IPersistStreamInit interface provides persistence for the text and property data in COTextPage. If you have not used streams (IStream) or storages (IStorage) in structured storage compound files, see the STOSERVE and STOCLIEN samples for coverage of this topic.

Clients call the GetClassID method to obtain the component CLSID of COTextPage. This method is actually inherited from the IPersist interface from which IPersistStreamInit is derived. The following code is the implementation of GetClassID from TEXTPAGE.CPP:

 
  STDMETHODIMP COTextPage::CImpIPersistStreamInit::GetClassID(
                 CLSID* pClassID)
  {
    HRESULT hr = E_POINTER;

    if (NULL != pClassID)
    {
      // Use overloaded '=' operator to copy the Class ID to caller.
      *pClassID = m_pCO->m_ClassID;
      hr = NOERROR;
    }

    return hr;
  }
 

This simple method uses the overloaded '=' operator to copy COTextPage's main copy of the CLSID to the client's address space using the specified pClassID pointer. The convenient overloading of the '=' operator is provided in the COM and OLE header files that are included at the front of TEXTPAGE.CPP. The COTextPage constructor initially assigned the m_ClassID value to the value CLSID_TextPage, which is defined in the PAGEGUID.H file located in the common INC directory. PAGEGUID.H contains other GUIDs--such as interface IIDs--that are used in the PERTEXT, PERTEXT, PERDRAW, and PERCLIEN samples.

Clients call the IsDirty method to determine if changes have been made to this COTextPage's persistent data since it was last loaded, initialized, or saved. The following code is the implementation of IsDirty from TEXTPAGE.CPP:

 
  STDMETHODIMP COTextPage::CImpIPersistStreamInit::IsDirty(
                 void)
  {
    HRESULT hr;

    hr = m_pCO->m_bDirty ? S_OK : S_FALSE;

    return hr;
  }
 

This method simply returns the current "dirty" status of the RAM-resident data in terms of the standard HRESULT return codes of S_OK or S_FALSE. S_OK means the data needs saving; S_FALSE means the data matches its counterpart in persistent storage.

The Load method implementation should not store a copy of the passed pIStream pointer within COTextPage. The stack copy of the passed stream interface pointer should be used only within this method call. The following code is the implementation of Load from TEXTPAGE.CPP:

 
  STDMETHODIMP COTextPage::CImpIPersistStreamInit::Load(
                 IStream* pIStream)
  {
    HRESULT hr = E_POINTER;
    ULONG ulToRead, ulReadIn;
    TEXTPROPS NewProps;
    WCHAR* pwszPageText;

    if (NULL != pIStream)
    {
      if (!m_pCO->m_bInitNew)
      {
        // We have the TextPage data stream. First read the TextPage
        // Properties.
        ulToRead = sizeof(TEXTPROPS);
        hr = pIStream->Read(
                         &NewProps,
                         ulToRead,
                         &ulReadIn);
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && ulToRead != ulReadIn)
          hr = E_FAIL;
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
          // Deal with the different versions.
          switch (NewProps.ulVersion)
          {
            case TEXTPAGE_VERSION10:
              if (NewProps.ulMaxLength <= TEXTPAGE_V10_MAX)
              {
                // Allocate an page text array big enough for the largest
                // text page.
                pwszPageText = new WCHAR[(ULONG) NewProps.ulMaxLength];
                if (NULL != pwszPageText)
                {
                  m_pCO->m_pwszPageText = pwszPageText;
                  // First zero the page text area.
                  memset(
                    pwszPageText,
                    0,
                    NewProps.ulMaxLength * sizeof(WCHAR));
                  ulToRead = NewProps.ulLength * sizeof(WCHAR);
                  if (ulToRead >= 0 && ulToRead < (ULONG)NewProps.ulMaxLength)
                  {
                    // Now read in the complete text page.
                    hr = pIStream->Read(
                           pwszPageText,
                           ulToRead,
                           &ulReadIn);
                    if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && ulToRead != ulReadIn)
                      hr = E_FAIL;
                    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
                    {
                      // Copy the new properties into current properties.
                      memcpy(
                        &m_pCO->m_TextProps,
                        &NewProps,
                        sizeof(TEXTPROPS));

                      // We are loaded and clean (ie, COTextPage data
                      // matches file data). Clear dirty flag.
                      m_pCO->m_bDirty = FALSE;
                    }
                  }
                  else
                    hr = E_FAIL;
                }
                else
                  hr = E_OUTOFMEMORY;
              }
              break;
            default:
              hr = E_FAIL;  // Bad version.
              break;
          }
        }
      }
      else
        hr = E_UNEXPECTED;
    }

    // Notify all other connected clients that TextPage is now loaded.
    // If we didn't load then clear to a safe, empty text page.
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
      m_pCO->NotifySinks(TEXTPAGE_EVENT_LOADED);
    else
      m_pCO->Clear(TRUE);

    return hr;
  }
 

The Load method is called instead of the InitNew method when the COTextPage COM object already has a persistent state stored in a stream. A complete copy of that state data (a group of object properties followed by the text data) is read from the stream into newly allocated, RAM-resident space for the data. Load first reads a copy of the TEXTPROPS properties structure into a temporary NewProps structure. If Load returns successfully, these properties are copied to COTextPage::m_TextProps. This is done to allow reverting to the current COTextPage data if Load fails.

After the m_TextProps are read, the ulVersion property is used in a switch statement which allows for different load behavior or data formats based on the version of the data that was stored. Because the version number is the first thing in stream's data for the object, it can be separately read to determine how to subsequently read and deal with the data that follows. The ulMaxLength property is used to allocate a new string character array in RAM that is big enough for the largest text page permitted. The string is allocated as an array of wide characters (WCHAR) to accomodate Unicode strings. After the string is allocated, the text data is read into that string from the stream. At this point COTextPage has been loaded from persistent storage, and because this has caused the in-RAM data to match the file data, the m_bDirty flag is set to FALSE. This means that a save is currently not needed to achieve such a match.

If the load is successful, a call to the internal NotifySinks method notifies all connected clients that the load was completed. This notification makes use of COTextPage's connectable object features, and usually triggers an appropriate display of the newly loaded data. If the load was unsuccessful, a call to the internal Clear method clears the text page to a safe, empty page.

Clients call the Save method to command COTextPage to save its persistent data from RAM to a specified stream in a compound file starting at the current seek-pointer offset. As with the Load method, the client passes an IStream pointer Save. On exit from this method the seek pointer is assumed to be at the end of the data saved. As was discussed above for the Load method, the rules governing the seek pointer in the Load and Save methods allow a series of contiguous persistent objects to be saved into the same stream.

The Save method, like Load, should not store a copy of the passed pIStream pointer within COTextPage. The stack copy of the passed stream interface pointer should be used only within this method call. The following code is the implementation of Save from TEXTPAGE.CPP:

 
  STDMETHODIMP COTextPage::CImpIPersistStreamInit::Save(
                 IStream* pIStream,
                 BOOL bClearDirty)
  {
    HRESULT hr = E_POINTER;
    ULONG ulToWrite, ulWritten;

    if (NULL != pIStream)
    {
      // Got a stream. Now write data into it.

      // First write TEXTPROPS structure.
      ulToWrite = sizeof(TEXTPROPS);
      hr = pIStream->Write(&m_pCO->m_TextProps, ulToWrite, &ulWritten);
      if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && ulToWrite != ulWritten)
        hr = STG_E_CANTSAVE;
      if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
      {
        // Now write the complete page text data.
        ulToWrite = m_pCO->m_TextProps.ulLength * sizeof(WCHAR);
        hr = pIStream->Write(m_pCO->m_pwszPageText, ulToWrite, &ulWritten);
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr) && ulToWrite != ulWritten)
          hr = STG_E_CANTSAVE;
        if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
        {
          // Clear this COM object's dirty flag if instructed.
          if (bClearDirty)
            m_pCO->m_bDirty = FALSE;
        }
      }
    }

    // Notify all other connected clients that TextPage is now saved.
    if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
      m_pCO->NotifySinks(TEXTPAGE_EVENT_SAVED);

    return hr;
  }
 

The Save method is essentially the reverse of the Load method. The content of COTextPage's m_TextProps structure is written into the specified stream at the stream's current seek offset. This structure is essentially a properties header at the front of the state data. If the TEXTPROPS data is saved successfully, the current text string data (located in RAM at m_pwszPageText) is written to the stream. The seek pointer is left pointing just past the end of the saved text. In either of these data writes to the stream, if the amount of data actually written does not equal the amount attempted, the Save method fails and returns STG_E_CANTSAVE.

A bClearDirty parameter determines if this method should clear COTextPage's m_bDirty flag. If bClearDirty is TRUE then COTextPage::m_bDirty is set to FALSE (that is, cleared). Usually, with a Save call the RAM-resident data and its corresponding image stored in the stream will match. However, there may be cases when you want to save to a stream without clearing COTextPage's dirty flag. This might occur if the client is saving a copy of the data state to a stream that is different than the current unsaved stream. If COTextPage is not saved to the original unsaved stream, the state of m_bDirty will need to be preserved across the operation. A value of FALSE for the bClearDirty parameter accomplishes this preservation.

If the save is successful, a call to the internal NotifySinks method notifies all connected clients that the save was completed.

Clients call the GetSizeMax method to obtain the maximum size of the object state data that can be saved when the Save method is next called. The following code is the implementation of GetSizeMax from TEXTPAGE.CPP:

 
  STDMETHODIMP COTextPage::CImpIPersistStreamInit::GetSizeMax(
                 ULARGE_INTEGER* pcbSize)
  {
    HRESULT hr = E_POINTER;
    ULONG ulMax = m_pCO->m_TextProps.ulMaxLength;

    if (NULL != pcbSize)
    {
      ULISet32(*pcbSize, sizeof(TEXTPROPS) + (ulMax * sizeof(WCHAR)));
      hr = NOERROR;
    }

    return hr;
  }
 

The caller passes the address of a ULARGE_INTEGER variable that the GetSizeMax method assigns. The ULISet32 macro (defined in OBJBASE.H) performs the assignment of the caller's ULARGE_INTEGER variable. Clients can use this assigned variable to set the size of a stream using IStream::SetSize. This may be necessary if the client is saving multiple objects in the same stream. If it is known in advance within COTextPage, GetSizeMax should return the maximum potential size that a future Save would consume in the stream.

Clients call the InitNew method to instruct COTextPage to initialize its object state data in RAM for the first time. InitNew is called instead of Load when the newly created object instance must be initialized with new data rather than with persistent data previously saved in a stream. The following is the implementation of InitNew from TEXTPAGE.CPP:

 
  STDMETHODIMP COTextPage::CImpIPersistStreamInit::InitNew(
                 void)
  {
    HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
    WCHAR* pwszPageText;

    if (!m_pCO->m_bInitNew)
    {
      // There is no previous persistent data for this COTextPage object.
      // Create and init a new persistence data for an empty text page.

      // Allocate an page text array big enough for the largest text page.
      // This maximum is hard-coded here for this Version 1.0 of Text Pages.
      pwszPageText = new WCHAR[(LONG) TEXTPAGE_V10_MAX];
      if (NULL != pwszPageText)
      {
        m_pCO->m_pwszPageText = pwszPageText;
        // Use the private Clear method to clear the new text array and to
        // set the Page Properties structure appropriately. Also sets dirty.
        hr = m_pCO->Clear(TRUE);
        m_pCO->m_bInitNew = TRUE;
      }
      else
        hr = E_OUTOFMEMORY;
    }
    else
      hr = E_UNEXPECTED;

    return hr;
  }
 

You must call either InitNew or Load (but not both) to command COTextPage to assign its state data. COTextPage's m_bInitNew flag is used to enforce this rule. If you call InitNew when m_bInitNew is TRUE then the method will fail and return the E_UNEXPECTED error. The Load method uses the same logic to return the E_UNEXPECTED error if m_bInitNew is TRUE. When COTextPage is created it assigns m_bInitNew to FALSE in the constructor. During InitNew, if initialization is successful, it sets m_bInitNew to TRUE. By doing this, any subsequent calls to Load (or to InitNew again) fail by returning E_UNEXPECTED.

If InitNew successfully creates a new text string array for COTextPage, COTextPage's internal Clear method is used to fill the string array with zeroes, initialize appropriate constants to the members of m_TextProps, and initialize the m_bDirty flag. The dirty flag is assigned to TRUE because a later save to file is needed for this persistent COTextPage object.

COTextPage exposes the IConnectionPointContainer interface so clients can connect to COTextPage and receive notifications of certain events that occur in COTextPage. By exposing this interface, COTextPage is seen by clients as a connectable object. A client can call QueryInterface for this interface and use it to obtain the object's connection points.

The client implements what is called a sink in the form of a sink object with a sink interface. The sink interface receives outgoing event notification calls from COTextPage after the sink is properly connected by the client to a COTextPage instance. The client makes the connection by using a connection point object that is managed by COTextPage. (For more detailed information on the client participation in this scheme, see the PERCLIEN sample.) There can be numerous connection points on a single connectable COM object, but in the PERTEXT sample, COTextPage has only one connection point to handle text page events.

Any number of clients can connect to a single connection point. The CONNPOINT_TEXTPAGESINK connection point in COTextPage maintains a group of connections that can grow dynamically at run time. The full implementation of COTextPage's connectable object support is coded in files CONNECT.H and CONNECT.CPP and will not be covered here. The construction is very similar to that in the CONSERVE code sample.

The PERCLIEN client implements appropriate sink objects for the connection points it expects to find in COTextPage. From the context of COTextPage, the sink object that PERCLIEN implements exposes the ITextPageSink interface. This is the outgoing interface used by COTextPage to notify PERCLIEN of various events in COTextPage. Here is a summary of the methods in ITextPageSink from IPAGES.H in the common INC directory.

 
  Loaded
    The TextPage was loaded from a persistent stream.

  Saved
    The TextPage was saved to a persistent stream.

  Put
    New text content was put into the TextPage object.

  Cleared
    The entire TextPage was cleared.
 

These methods are largely self-explanatory. The Loaded, Put, and Cleared methods implemented in the client sink will typically trigger a redisplay of the text page. Although the sink must implement all these methods in some fashion, many are implemented as stubs and are not used in the PERTEXT and PERCLIEN samples.

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