using external datatypes

[sr.p...@gmail.com]

I am trying to use TAO with QT. It would be quite helpful to be able
to use QT datatypes and structures built from these datatypes in
CORBA. Otherwise, there will be constant back and forth conversions
between the CORBA and QT based types.

In RPC, there is an alternative to "user_marshal" or "represent_as" to
allow types unknown to MIDL to be used in the interface
specification. Is there an equivalent concept in CORBA?
Alternatively, what is the best approach to use datatypes defined in
external libraries with CORBA?

Maybe I am looking using the wrong keywords, etc. Assistance would be
appreciated.

[Douglas C. Schmidt]

Hi,

>I am trying to use TAO with QT.

Great! BTW, please send all questions related to TAO to the TAO
mailing list or ACE+TAO newsgroup, rather than to comp.object.corba
since you're more likely to get help that way. See

http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/TAO-mail.html

for more info on how to access these resources.

In addition, to ensure that we have proper version/platform/compiler
information, please make sure you fill out the appropriate problem
report form (PRF), which is in

$ACE_ROOT/PROBLEM-REPORT-FORM
$TAO_ROOT/PROBLEM-REPORT-FORM

or in

$ACE_ROOT/BUG-REPORT-FORM
$TAO_ROOT/BUG-REPORT-FORM

in older versions of ACE+TAO. Make sure to include this information
when asking any questions about ACE+TAO since otherwise we have to
"guess" what version/platform/compiler/options you've using, which is
very error-prone and slows down our responsiveness.

> It would be quite helpful to be able to use QT datatypes and
> structures built from these datatypes in CORBA. Otherwise, there
> will be constant back and forth conversions between the CORBA and QT
> based types.
>
> In RPC, there is an alternative to "user_marshal" or "represent_as"
> to allow types unknown to MIDL to be used in the interface
> specification. Is there an equivalent concept in CORBA?

No, not really.

> Alternatively, what is the best approach to use datatypes defined in
> external libraries with CORBA?

Depending on which QT datatype you're trying to use you may just need
to write a bunch of inline adapter functions. This isn't hard to do,
it's just a bit tedious.

Take care,

Doug
--
Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt Professor and Associate Chair
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science TEL: (615) 343-8197
Vanderbilt University WEB: www.dre.vanderbilt.edu/~schmidt
Nashville, TN 37203 NET: d.sc...@vanderbilt.edu

[Douglas C. Schmidt]

Hi,

>I am trying to use TAO with QT.

Great! BTW, please send all questions related to TAO to the TAO

mailing list or ACE+TAO newsgroup, rather than to comp.object.corba
since you're more likely to get help that way. See

http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/TAO-mail.html

for more info on how to access these resources.

In addition, to ensure that we have proper version/platform/compiler
information, please make sure you fill out the appropriate problem
report form (PRF), which is in

$ACE_ROOT/PROBLEM-REPORT-FORM
$TAO_ROOT/PROBLEM-REPORT-FORM

or in

$ACE_ROOT/BUG-REPORT-FORM
$TAO_ROOT/BUG-REPORT-FORM

in older versions of ACE+TAO. Make sure to include this information
when asking any questions about ACE+TAO since otherwise we have to
"guess" what version/platform/compiler/options you've using, which is
very error-prone and slows down our responsiveness.

> It would be quite helpful to be able to use QT datatypes and

> structures built from these datatypes in CORBA. Otherwise, there
> will be constant back and forth conversions between the CORBA and QT
> based types.
>
> In RPC, there is an alternative to "user_marshal" or "represent_as"
> to allow types unknown to MIDL to be used in the interface
> specification. Is there an equivalent concept in CORBA?

No, not really.

> Alternatively, what is the best approach to use datatypes defined in
> external libraries with CORBA?

Depending on which QT datatype you're trying to use you may just need