What is ManagedAggregator.dll?

[David Thielen]

In the new shim as listed at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb508939.aspx it says it also
builds a file ManagedAggregator.dll that also needs to be installed.

1) What does this do/what is it for?

2) We need to install just 2 files, ManagedAggregator.dll &
OurShim.dll - correct? (Plus of course our actual AddIn.)

thanks - dave

david@[email protected]
Windward Reports -- http://www.WindwardReports.com
me -- http://dave.thielen.com

Cubicle Wars - http://www.windwardreports.com/film.htm

 

[Colbert Zhou [MSFT]]

Hello Dave,

1) In the new COM Shim, the shim does not only load our managed extension
Addin dll, but also creates an instance of the managed aggregator component
in our application domain. That managed aggregator is implemented in the
ManagedAggregator.dll. The managed aggregator component aggregates the
unmanaged shim with the add-in, with the unmanaged shim as the outer object
and the add-in as the inner object.

When an outer component aggregates an interface of an inner component, it
does not reimplement the interface-it merely passes the inner component's
interface pointer directly to the caller. The advantage of this mode is
that the shim does not need to specify exactly which interfaces are
supported; it simply passes all queries to the add-in which is handed out
from the managed aggregator. This allows the shim to support an open-ended
number of interfaces, not just the eight new ones defined in the 2007
Office system, but also arbitrary interfaces implemented by Excel
Automation add-ins, and any new interfaces defined in the future.

You can get some images to show you how the new COM Shim works in the
following MSDN article,
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb508939.aspx

2) Yes, you are right! We need the Shim.dll and ManagedAggregator.dll, as
well as our Addin output.

Nice day!

Best regards,
Colbert Zhou (colbertz @online.microsoft.com, remove 'online.')
Microsoft Online Community Support

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