Publishing COM/ActiveX interface using SOAP - what's the best solution?

Question

We have a COM api (Windows DLL file) that other systems want to access using SOAP. What would be the best choice for SOAP-enabling this?

Interesting parameters are:

• License costs
• Ease of setup and maintenance
• Ease of configuration/development if needed
• Compatibility
• Security, security updates etc.

All suggestions are welcome, please provide some facts about why you think the solution is good.

Answer 1

I'd come with .NET and WCF. It is easy to develop thin .NET wrapper for COM objects and WCF gives you SOAP. You can choose between IIS or self-hosting.

• License cost: you need Visual Studio and Windows Server licenses (for IIS hosting option). .NET and WCF runtimes are free.
• Ease of setup and maintenance: not sure what should be here
• Ease of configuration/development: WCF is very easy to use in development
• Compatibility: WCF adheres to SOAP and WS-* extensions
• Security: IIS 7 is secure platform

Exposing COM Components to the .NET Framework: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/z6tx9dw3%28VS.71%29.aspx

About WCF: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa663324.aspx

WCF in more details (using SOAP): msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms731082.aspx

PS: Sorry, it doesn't allow me to post several hyperlinks