Interface Definition Language (IDL)
The interface to a class of objects contains the information that a caller
must know to use an object. Specifically, it contains the names of its attributes
and the signatures of its methods. In the CORBA programming model, the Object
Management Group (OMG) Interface Definition Language (IDL) is the formal language
used to define object interfaces independent of the programming language used
to implement those methods.
This is an overview of the relationship between IDL and application development
languages. Object providers use IDL to define the interfaces to their objects.
The IDL can be directly defined by the object provider or can be produced
transparently to the user in application development tools. Code emitters
and generators produce the following elements:
- A usage binding that provides a native, client language rendering of the
IDL (for example, as a C++ class or Java interface). The usage binding also
is used to generate a client stub object that, through delegation, maps the
interface onto the server object providing the implementation.
- An implementation template that provides a native, server language class
template into which method behavior can be inserted (for example, by editing
the file and adding source code). The implementation of a class of objects
(that is, the procedures that implement operations and the variables used
to store an object's state) is written in the implementor's preferred programming
language (for example, C++ or Java).
- Implementation objects such as skeletons and stubs also can be emitted
and compiled if the client and server are in different processes or in different
languages. These implementation objects provide the functions needed to make
interlanguage calls and remote method execution.
The IDL compiler takes an IDL file as input and produces the usage binding
files that make it convenient to implement and use objects that support the
defined interface within a particular programming language.
For an enterprise bean, you can create the IDL files from the bean's interface
and home classes.

CORBA programming reference
IDL name scoping
IDL interface declarations
Multiple IDL interfaces
IDL include directives
IDL pragma directives
idlc command (IDL compiler)
IDL-to-Java compiler
Conventions used in documenting IDL syntax
IDL lexical rules
IDL reserved words
Syntax for comments in IDL code
Searchable topic ID:
ccor_idl
Last updated: Jun 21, 2007 8:07:48 PM CDT
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