Hello,
I'm after help on how to use complex objects either as return values or passed as parameters to C# class methods exposed to unmanaged C++ as COM components
Here's why:
I'm working on a project where we have half a dozen unmanaged C++ applications that each directly access the same Microsoft SQL Server database. We want to be able to use MS-Sql/Oracle/MySql with minimum changes and we've decided to implement a business logic plus data layer exposed via WCF services to get the required flexibility.
This strategy hinges on being able to get the unmanaged C++ to interop with the WCF service. There are a number of ways to do this, but the strategy I want to follow is to create a C# assembly exposed as a COM component which will act as a bridge between C++ and the WCF layer. This C# assembly will be loaded into unmanaged C++ process as COM component.
The C# bridge assembly will contain a helper class which has a number of methods that describe the operations that were formerly expressed as direct sql or stored proc calls in the C++ code.
I have two problems to solve
1) For an INSERT, I need to pass an object representing the entity to be inserted. On the unmanaged C++ side, the I already know that one of the entities has about 40 properties which have to make it into SQL - I don't want a C# method with 40 parameters, I want to pass an object; I don't know how to marshal a C++ object via COM into C#, so I thought about defining a Stuct on the C# side and then make the Struct COM visible.
2) How to return the result of a "SELECT this, that, other, ... ". I've seen two examples. One returns a struct[] and another returns a single struct containing a string[] for each column field and an int count member describing the length of the other member arrays.
On the C# side, I think it will be a case of defining and exposing a number of request/response structs which will be used to pass data in/out. These structs will need to be decorated with attributes that cause their members not to "change position" as a result of optimization. And the struct members may need to be decorated with the attribute that hints to the marshaller how the member should be exposed in COM.
Then of course I'll have to work out how to instantiate and populate these structs as seen as COM objects from the unmanaged C++, then I'll have to pass them in method calls and process them as return values.
This is the most difficult part for me; I grok C++ and some MFC/ATL but COM under C++ is a whole extra level of complexity. Any recommended books, blogs, tutorials on the subject of parameter passing and return value processing as I've described would be very helpful indeed.