Routines (alphabetical) > Object Classes > Miscellaneous Object Classes > IDLcomIDispatch

# IDLcomIDispatch

Superclasses | Subclasses | Creation | Methods | Version History

The IDLcomIDispatch object class creates an IDL object that encapsulates a COM object. IDL provides data type and other translation services, allowing IDL programs to access the COM object’s methods and properties using standard IDL syntax.

Note: See IDL Feature Support for a list of platforms that provide COM support.

Note: COM objects encapsulated by IDLcomIDispatch objects must implement an IDispatch interface.

Note: You should be aware that COM, like C, stores array data in row-major format. IDL stores array data in column-major format.

For detailed information on using the IDLcomIDispatch object, see Chapter 3, "Using COM Objects in IDL" (IDL Connectivity Bridges in the `help/pdf` directory of your IDL installation).

## Superclasses

None

## Subclasses

When a COM object is instantiated, IDL creates a dynamic subclass of the IDLcomIDispatch class. The dynamic subclass is used to provide a unique name for each component type, based on the COM class or program identifier.

See "IDLcomIDispatch Object Naming Scheme" (IDL Connectivity Bridges in the `help/pdf` directory of your IDL installation) for details.

## Creation

See IDLcomIDispatch::Init

## Properties

Objects of this class have the following properties. See IDLcomIDispatch Properties for details on individual properties.

- KEYWORD

In addition, objects of this class inherit the properties of all superclasses of this class.

## Methods

- IDLcomIDispatch::Init
- IDLcomIDispatch::GetProperty
- IDLcomIDispatch::SetProperty

In addition to these methods, you can call the underlying COM object’s methods directly.

Note: The IDL object system uses method names to identify and call object lifecycle methods (Init and Cleanup). If the COM object underlying an IDLcomIDispatch object implements Init or Cleanup methods, they will be overridden by IDL’s lifecycle methods — the COM object’s methods will be inaccessible from IDL. Similarly, IDL implements the GetProperty and SetProperty methods for the IDLcomIDispatch object, so any methods of the underlying COM object that use these names will be inaccessible from IDL.

## Version History

5.5 | Introduced