Designing Component-Based Applications

To build and deploy an application using the techniques described in this book, you will need to install the following products:

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Workstation or Server. You can use Workstation for testing your applications, but you should use Server for deploying applications in the enterprise.

• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack (located on the companion CD), which includes Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 3, Microsoft Transaction Server 2.0, Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0, Microsoft Message Queue Server, Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01, and an evaluation license for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5.

• Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 or Oracle database. These are the two databases supported by Microsoft Transaction Server 2.0 at press time; check the Microsoft COM Web site, http://www.microsoft.com/com/, for information about support for other databases. You can use the evaluation copy of SQL Server in the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack for development and test purposes.

• A developer tool that supports the creation of COM objects. Many of the techniques described in this book are described in terms of Microsoft's developer tools; equivalent techniques are possible using other vendors' tools.

To use the distributed debugging and deployment techniques, you will, of course, need to have at least one client machine connected to your Windows NT machine. This machine can be a Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT machine.

If you want to explore interoperability with COM components or resources running on non-Windows platforms, you will need additional software and machines. Microsoft products that directly support interoperability with other platforms or resources include information about the specific products you will need in the product documentation. You can find information about other Microsoft interoperability initiatives, including Microsoft-supported implementations of COM, at http://www.microsoft.com/com/comResource.asp.