Ole32COM

Ole32COM is a commonly used shorthand for the COM and OLE runtime facilities provided by Windows through the system library ole32.dll. It encompasses the core infrastructure that enables COM objects to be created, managed, and invoked across process and apartment boundaries, as well as the basic OLE technologies for embedding and linking objects.

Key responsibilities include initialization of the COM library in a thread, object activation via class factories, and lifetime management of COM objects through reference counting. It also handles the registry-based activation of registered classes, and marshaling data and interfaces when objects communicate across process or machine boundaries.

Ole32COM supports marshaling via proxies and stubs, supports apartment models (single-threaded and multi-threaded), and provides interfaces such as IUnknown and IDispatch that underpin COM and Automation. It integrates with other Windows components such as OLE Automation (OLEAUT32.DLL) and DCOM for distributed activation, and with the MIDL-generated proxy/stub code for custom interfaces.

Distribution and updating of Ole32COM are tied to Windows system updates. Because many applications rely on its services, compatibility and security are maintained through versioned DLL releases rather than separate applications.

See also: COM, OLE, OLE32.DLL, DCOM, MIDL, IUnknown, IDispatch.