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Questions tagged [idl]

IDL, short for Interface Description Language, is a language used to describe a software component's public interface in a programming-language-independent manner. (Not to be confused with the [idl-programming-language] tag, which is for a language used for scientific and medical image analysis)

As described on Wikipedia:

An interface description language or interface definition language (IDL), is a specification language used to describe a software component's application programming interface (API). IDLs describe an interface in a language-independent way, enabling communication between software components that do not share one language. For example, between those written in C++ and those written in Java.

IDLs are commonly used in remote procedure call software. In these cases the machines at either end of the link may be using different operating systems and computer languages. IDLs offer a bridge between the two different systems.

Software systems based on IDLs include Sun's ONC RPC, The Open Group's Distributed Computing Environment, IBM's System Object Model, the Object Management Group's CORBA (which implements OMG IDL, an IDL based on DCE/RPC), Mozilla's XPCOM, Facebook's Thrift and WSDL for Web services.

Web specifications use a special form of IDL called WebIDL: https://heycam.github.io/webidl/

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How to get Imported type libraries from an OCX or TLB file?

I was convinced that there is no way to find COM dependencies of an ActiveX but to my surprise OLEVIEW shows some comments Like: // TLib : // TLib : OLE Automation : {00020430-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} importlib("stdole2.tlb"); // TLib :…
Mehran
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How to declare IN, OPTIONAL parameter along with OUT, RETVAL parameter in IDL

I have an existing Interface API, which has an OUT, RETVAL parameter like below HRESULT Test([out, retval] VARIANT_BOOL *pVal); I was asked to add an optional IN parameter, hence I tried the below, since RETVAL parameter by rule should be the last…
Titus
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Issues Using Midl to create a .tlb from .idl "expecting a type specification"

I have been having a prolonged encounter with the beast known as COM Interop... I am currently trying to generate a .tlb from a .idl file generated by the OLE/COM Object Viewer. However when trying to run Midl.exe to compile it I get an…
Jambobond
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In COM IDL how to reference enum from COM dependency?

I am creating an in-process COM server using ATL. Among the types that this COM server will expose is an enum. The values of this enum need to be defined using values from another COM server that this COM server depends on. I've tried pretty much…
Neutrino
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What's a good means to send lots of data across platforms?

We have the need to send data between very different software components (from embedded devices to Web services). For various reasons (the fact that we got Mosquitto to compile on the most problematic platform not being the least of them), we…
sbi
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How to import IDL into Delphi?

How do i import an Interface Definition Language (idl) file into Delphi; converting the types and interfaces to a pascal file? I've tried: File, Open: it just shows the text of the .idl text file Project, Add to project: It just (acts like) it adds…
Ian Boyd
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How to let idlj compile idl files in ant

I've no idea how to compile my idl files with the sun-idl compiler (idlj) with the help of ant? Does anyone have an idea?
tuergeist
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Compilable IDLs that serialize to JSON

I've used Protobuf before, and I was looking into Thrift, but I was wondering what the options were for IDLs that compile to (at least) C#, JS, Objective C and Java, but also serialize/deserialize JSON in all of those languages. Thrift mostly does…
Stella Clemens
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Struct inheritance in MIDL

I am trying to inherit from and extend a structure defined in MIDL. I used the same syntax as for interface inheritance i.e typedef struct stDBIBinVarDataEx { float x; } MYSTRUCT ; struct struct2 : MYSTRUCT { float y; }; but the compiler…
sreyas
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ctags generator for CORBA IDL?

I work in a multi-language environment and use Vim + ctags for navigating the code. However we also use CORBA and exuberant ctags does not parse IDL files. Does anyone know of a ctags compatible tags generator for IDL?
Dave Kirby
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Options for wrapping a C++ library for Haskell (and other languages)

This question is about design / is fairly open-ended. I'd like to use OpenCV, a large C++ library, from Haskell. The closest solution at the moment is probably Arjun Comar's attempt to adapt the Python / Java binding generator. See here, here, and…
emchristiansen
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Shared common definitions across C/C++ (unmanaged) and managed C# code

I have a set of struct definitions that are used by both C# managed components and unmanaged C/C++ components. Right now, the identical struct definitions exist separately in C/C++ and C# code - causing duplication and related chaos. What's the best…
Amit
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Tutorial for Browser plug-in development using IDL approach.

i am new in IDL approach. i need some good tutorial to understand this. please can anyone share name of good books or some link. thanks in adv :)
Ashish
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Eclipse plugin for IDL

Is there an Eclipse plugin for syntax coloring (and potentially other features related to) IDL? The specific IDL that I'm working with is Mozilla's XPIDL, so ideally I would like a plugin specifically for that, but if that doesn't exist, a more…
HighCommander4
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How to declare/use forward reference to struct in CORBA IDL?

I have the following CORBA IDL 3.2, which attempts to declare a mutually recursive structure: module SE { interface SE { typedef unsigned short MenuItemID; // a small integer representing a unique menu item enum MenuSubaction {…
Ira Baxter
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