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The DCOMDRAW, DCDSERVE, and DCDMARSH samples together form a distributed drawing application. Using Distributed COM (DCOM) technology, they allow users on different client machines in a network to interactively draw on a shared drawing. All DCOMDRAW clients see the same drawing and any client can take ownership of the pen to draw. The user of DCOMDRAW can use a mouse or tablet device to draw in the client window and can choose the color and width of the electronic ink. As clients draw, the application echoes the drawing activity from DCDSERVE to all connected clients using DCOM over the network. Although these samples do not build an optimized and complete application, the functionality is suggestive of the shared whiteboards offered by some workgroup applications.
In addition to providing a standard way to construct applications from re-usable software components, COM technology fosters a strong architectural separation between client and server. This separation has been the repeated pattern in previous samples of this series. For example, the STOSERVE server houses a COPaper COM object that is used by the STOCLIEN client. Although they are a client/server pair, the STOCLIEN and STOSERVE samples use an in-process server for the COPaper COM object. With the DCOMDRAW and DCDSERVE client/server samples the architectural separation between client and server is retained but the COPaper COM object is housed in an out-of-process server, DCDSERVE. COPaper implements a custom ISharePaper interface to permit multiple clients to use the COPaper object simultaneously. The application also requires a DCDMARSH server to provide standard marshaling for the custom interfaces used across process and machine boundaries.
Although DCOMDRAW, DCDSERVE, and DCDMARSH can work on the same machine across process boundaries, the main goal is to provide a distributed application that enables multiple DCOMDRAW clients on different machines to access a shared single drawing object housed in a DCDSERVE server running on a common server machine. A typical scenario would have numerous client machines hooked to an intranet consisting of a Windows NT network domain or peer-to-peer workgroup. DCOMDRAW can then run on any of these client machines. DCDSERVE is installed and runs on a common server machine in the domain. The user of the DCOMDRAW client can interactively choose the remote server machine to determine which DCDSERVE COM server to use for the shared drawing.
Like the STOSERVE sample, which provided the CLSID_DllPaper component, DCDSERVE provides the CLSID_SharePaper component. Using this component, DCDSERVE uses the SharePaper comonent to manage a shared, single COPaper COM object that models a sheet of white drawing paper. Interface methods on COPaper objects enable free-form drawing on the paper surface using "ink" of specified color and width. This functionality is outwardly similar to the "scribble" tutorial samples in many versions of the Microsoft Visual C++® product. The electronic drawing paper features of COPaper objects are available to clients through a custom ISharePaper interface. COPaper implements the ISharePaper interface. A clear architectural distinction is kept between client and server. No graphical user interface (GUI) is provided by COPaper. Instead, the COPaper object relies on the client for all GUI behavior. COPaper encapsulates only the server-based capture and storage of the drawn ink data.
The ink data that is drawn on the COPaper surface can be stored in and loaded from compound files. The ISharePaper::Save and ISharePaper::Load method implementations in COPaper use structured storage to store the current data of the shared drawing in a compound file kept with DCDSERVE on the machine acting as the common server.
The primary focus of this sample is how to construct a single, shared, and thread-safe COM object on the server side and how to take care of DCOM security in the networked context of multiple clients of that shared object. The sample covers both process and activation DCOM security. A simple shared drawing sample is used to study these issues in a Distributed COM client/server application.
COPaper is housed in an out-of-process server and is made publicly available as a custom COM component. Like all other servers in this tutorial series, DCDSERVE.EXE is a self-registering COM server. It makes the COPaper object type available to clients as the SharePaper component using a CLSID_SharePaper registration in the Registry.
As was the case in the previous STOSERVE server, the COPaper object in DCDSERVE supports connectable-object features. COPaper exposes the IConnectionPointContainer interface and implements an appropriate connection point. In this context, an outgoing custom IPaperSink interface is declared for use in sending notifications to the DCOMDRAW client. The use of COM connection-point technology in this sample is significant because it is used in a DCOM setting across machine boundaries. The connection points are used to echo highly interactive mouse-motion events across the network to DCOMDRAW clients that are connected to the same COPaper drawing. Despite the overhead of DCOM, RPC, and marshaling, the DCDSERVE and DCOMDRAW samples demonstrate that COM's connectable-object technology can play a role in DCOM-based applications.
The two ISharePaper and IPaperSink custom interfaces are declared in PAPINT.H, which is located in the common INC directory. PAPINT.H is automatically generated in the DCDMARSH sample. The GUIDs for the interfaces and objects are defined in PAPGUIDS.H located in that same directory.
The CThreaded facility in APPUTIL is used by DCDSERVE to achieve thread safety, as it was in the FRESERVE sample. COPaper objects are derived from the CThreaded class and inherit its OwnThis and UnOwnThis methods. These methods allow only one thread at a time to have access to the DCDSERVE server and to the shared single COPaper object managed by the server. Because the Single Threaded Apartment (STA) model is in effect for both DCDSERVE and DCOMDRAW, this thread safety is not actually needed for COPaper but is still appropriate for the DCDSERVE server housing.
Because client and server run in separate processes--usually on different machines--both DCDSERVE and DCOMDRAW rely on standard marshaling for the ISharePaper and IPaperSink custom interfaces. This support is provided by the DCDMARSH code sample, so you must also build (or otherwise register) DCDMARSH.DLL on both machines prior to building and running DCDSERVE and DCOMDRAW across machines.
To set up for the proper operation of a DCOMDRAW client on one machine to control the common DCDSERVE server on another, both machines must have DCOM (Distributed COM) installed. DCOM is included in Windows NT 4.0 or later and in Windows 98. For Windows 95 you must install the DCOM95 add on. The multiple machines must be connected in a properly configured network. For details on setting up a network, see your Windows NT product documentation or the Windows NT Resource Kit. For more details on machine and network setup for running with DCOM, see also the "Network and Setup Issues" section at the end of the REMCLIEN lesson. Note that the less restrictive security in Windows 95 and Windows 98 prevents the SCM under DCOM from automatically launching DCDSERVE on behalf of a remote DCOMDRAW client. You must manually pre-launch DCDSERVE on these operating systems if you are attempting a remote load of DCDSERVE from a DCOMDRAW running on another machine. The DCDSERVE and DCOMDRAW lessons assume that you install DCDSERVE.EXE on a machine running Windows NT Server or Workstation.
For functional descriptions and a tutorial code tour of DCDSERVE, see the Code Tour section in DCDSERVE.HTM. For details on setting up the programmatic usage of DCDSERVE, see the Usage section in DCDSERVE.HTM. To read DCDSERVE.HTM, run TUTORIAL.EXE in the main tutorial directory and click the DCDSERVE lesson in the table of lessons. You can do the same thing in the Windows Explorer by double-clicking the DCDSERVE.HTM file after locating the main tutorial directory. For more details on the DCOMDRAW client and how it works with DCDSERVE.DLL, see DCOMDRAW.HTM in the main tutorial directory. You must build DCDSERVE.DLL before building or running DCOMDRAW.
DCDSERVE's makefile automatically registers DCDSERVE's SharePaper COM component in the registry. This component must be registered before DCDSERVE is available to outside COM clients as a server for that component. To register the SharePaper component, the makefile uses the REGISTER.EXE utility built in the REGISTER sample. Therefore you must build the REGISTER sample before you can build or run DCDSERVE.
For details on setting up your system to build and test the code samples in this COM Tutorial series, see TUTORIAL.HTM. The supplied MAKEFILE is Microsoft NMAKE-compatible. To create a debug build, issue the NMAKE command in the Command Prompt window.
The DCDSERVE executable is meant to be used as an out-of-process COM server. Out-of-process servers like DCDSERVE are registered in the system registry, and DCDSERVE has built-in support for registering its components. It accepts the following command line switches to register and unregister:
-RegServer or /RegServer to register -UnregServer or /UnregServer to unregister
String matches on these switches are case-insensitive. DCDSERVE also recognizes the standard -Embedding or /Embedding switch, which directs it to run as an out-of-process server. This switch normally means that the server remains hidden when COM runs it on behalf of a client. As an out-of-process server, DCDSERVE is not designed to run as a stand-alone application with a visable GUI. If you attempt to run DCDSERVE as a stand-alone application with no command line switches, it will exit with an error.
The makefile that builds this sample automatically registers the server in the registry. You can manually initiate its self-registration by issuing the following command at the command prompt in the DCDSERVE directory:
nmake register
This assumes that you have a compilation environment set up. If not, you can also directly invoke the REGISTER.EXE command at the command prompt while in the DCDSERVE directory.
..\register\register.exe dcdserve.exe
These registration commands require a prior build of the REGISTER sample in this series, as well as a prior build of DCDSERVE.EXE.
The client sample and other related samples must be compiled before you can run the client. For more details on building the samples, see Building the Code Samples.
If you have already built the appropriate samples, DCOMDRAW.EXE is the client executable to run for this sample. Click here to run DCOMDRAW.EXE.
Depending on the security level of your browser you may see a dialog allowing you to either open the .EXE file or save it to disk. Select the "Open it" radio button and then click the OK button.
Files Description
DCDSERVE.TXT Short description of sample.
MAKEFILE The generic makefile for building the DCDSERVE.EXE
code sample of this tutorial lesson.
DCDSERVE.H The include file for the DCDSERVE application. Contains
class declarations, function prototypes, and resource
identifiers.
DCDSERVE.CPP The main implementation file for DCDSERVE.EXE. Has WinMain
and CMainWindow implementation, as well as the main menu
dispatching.
DCDSERVE.RC The resource definition file for the executable.
DCDSERVE.PAP A default paper drawing file for the application.
DCDSERVE.ICO The icon resource for the executable.
SERVER.H The include file for the server control C++ object. Also
used for DCDSERVE externs.
SERVER.CPP The implementation file for the server control object.
Manages object counts, server lifetime, and the creation
of class factories.
FACTORY.H The include file for the server's class factory COM objects.
FACTORY.CPP The implementation file for the server's class factories.
CONNECT.H The include file for the connection point enumerator,
connection point, and connection enumerator classes.
CONNECT.CPP The implementation file for the connection point enumerator,
connection point, and connection enumerator objects.
PAPER.H The include file for the COPaper COM object class.
PAPER.CPP The implementation file for the COPaper COM object class
and the connection points.
DCDSERVE uses many of the utility classes and services provided by APPUTIL. For more details on APPUTIL, study the APPUTIL library's source code in the sibling APPUTIL directory and APPUTIL.HTM in the main tutorial directory.
This sample is part of a graduated series of tutorial samples. This tour assumes that you have some exposure to those previous samples. It does not revisit basic interface implementation techniques, COM object construction, out-of-process server construction, class factory construction, and connectable object construction. For information on these topics, study the earlier tutorial samples.
The major topics covered in this code tour are:
The COPaper COM object is the single object type managed by the DCDSERVE out-of-process server. COPaper is constructed as an aggregatable COM object with a native implementation of the ISharePaper interface. COPaper exposes the ISharePaper interface to allow clients to perform a small set of drawing operations on a COPaper instance. The COPaper object encapsulates data that defines a single drawing surface that models a white sheet of paper. This lesson does not cover ISharePaper methods in detail here because they are very similar to methods in the IPaper and IDrawPage interfaces studied in the STOSERVE, STOCLIEN, PERDRAW, and PERCLIEN samples.
ISharePaper does have Load and Save methods clients can use to direct COPaper to save or load the current shared drawing to or from compound file storage. Much like the STOSERVE sample, the drawing consists of a dynamic array of "ink" data which COPaper manages. Unlike the STOCLIEN and STOSERVE samples which kept the compound file with the client, the compound file for the drawing in DCDSERVE and DCOMDRAW samples is kept with the server. This is because the drawing data is shared by clients on different machines on the network. The default compound file is DCDSERVE.PAP and it is located with DCDSERVE. If no default file is there then a new one of that name is created with a blank drawing in it.
A client uses the ISharePaper interface to deposit ink into DCDSERVE's current drawing. As a DCOMDRAW client sends these ink data points to COPaper, they are retained and sent to all connected clients using COM connectable-object technology. A custom IPaperSink interface is used to call back from COPaper to the client's event sinks. Although it is largely transparent, the calls to and from COPaper that underlie the drawing behavior rely on the DCOM infastructure to conduct interface calls between client and server across the network.
On the client side in DCOMDRAW a master/slave relationship is maintained. Slave clients do not have ownership of the drawing pen and are passively "listening" for new drawing data. They immediately display any new ink data they receive. A master client has ownership of the drawing pen and can drive the drawing process. As drawing occurs in the master client it is immediately displayed in that client as well as sent to the connected slave clients. The master client also currently owns the load and save operations. The first client that loads the remote DCDSERVE drawing becomes the master until it relinquishes that role by the Give Pen menu choice. Other instances of DCOMDRAW that connect to this drawing will become slave clients to that drawing's contents. If no master client currently owns the pen then ownership can be acquired by the Take Pen menu choice an any of the other slave clients. When a slave client takes the pen it becomes a master client.
The master/slave logic supported by COPaper in DCDSERVE helps preclude conflicting access to the shared drawing by multiple threads. However, all clients may also ask for drawing data during asynchronous re-painting. Such a re-paint might occur when a DCOMDRAW client window is topped after being covered. Thus, it is likely that while a master client is actively drawing to the surface, other clients could be asynchronously requesting ink data for their own re-paints of the current drawing. Because both the DCDSERVE server and the DCOMDRAW client use the Single Threaded Apartment (STA) model, this mutually exclusive access to COPaper is ensured by COM.
The STOSERVE server (in the earlier STOSERVE sample) houses a COPaper COM object very similar to the COPaper object housed in this DCDSERVE server. Although their C++ class names are the same, they are distinctly different COM objects because they are different COM components--an instance of one created using CLSID_DllPaper, an instance of the other using CLSID_SharePaper. When a STOCLIEN client requested a new COPaper object using CLSID_DllPaper, the STOSERVE server's class factory creates a separate new instance of COPaper. This is the behavior usually needed in COM-based applications. However, in distributed applications often multiple clients need to access the same instance of a shared COM object. DCDSERVE provides a server housing that supports this. When a client requests a new COPaper object using CLSID_SharePaper, DCDSERVE's class factory creates a new one if it does not yet exist. But after the first instance of COPaper exists, any subsequent create calls by clients return the existing COPaper. This is sometimes called a "singleton" COM component. Only one instance is ever created and that instance is shared by all clients.
This section describes one way to construct the class factory to manufacture a shared single COM object.
To determine if a COPaper object has been created, a pointer to the new object's principal IUnknown is kept in the CServer control object as member m_pCOPaper. Initialized to NULL in the CServer constructor, it is assigned after the first object instance is created. It is subsequently used in any new requests for object creation. A non-NULL value of this variable can be used as a flag to determine if an attempt to create a new COPaper object is the first. Here is the ObjectFirst method of CServer from DCDSERVE's SERVER.CPP:
BOOL CServer::ObjectFirst(void)
{
BOOL bFirst = TRUE;
if (OwnThis())
{
bFirst = (NULL == m_pCOPaper);
UnOwnThis();
}
return bFirst;
}
This method is called by the class factory to determine if this is the first object creation, and if it is, the method returns TRUE. Since the m_pCOPaper variable is in the global server housing it needs protection by an OwnThis/UnOwnThis pair.
When the first object is created, the ObjectSet method of CServer is called to set the m_pCOPaper IUnknown pointer variable to point the principal IUnknown of the new COPaper object. This assignment also tells the server and the class factory that the initial instance of COPaper now exists. Here is ObjectSet from SERVER.CPP:
HRESULT CServer::ObjectSet(IUnknown* pCob)
{
HRESULT hr = NOERROR;
if (OwnThis())
{
m_pCOPaper = pCob;
UnOwnThis();
}
return hr;
}
To create a COPaper object, a client typically calls CoCreateInstance or calls CoGetClassObject followed by a call to the CreateInstance method of the obtained class factory. In both cases the CreateInstance call requests an initial interface on the new COM object. This is done internally using a QueryInterface call on the object to return the desired interface. To support this on the shared single instance of COPaper, the ObjectQI method is implemented in CServer. Here is ObjectQI from SERVER.CPP:
HRESULT CServer::ObjectQI(REFIID riid, PPVOID ppv)
{
HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
if (OwnThis())
{
hr = m_pCOPaper->QueryInterface(riid, ppv);
UnOwnThis();
}
return hr;
}
The m_pCOPaper pointer to the single COPaper object is used to perform a call to COPaper's QueryInterface.
With this thread-safe support in the global CServer object, the class factory's CreateInstance method can now determine if it is doing the first create or a subsequent one. Here is CFPaper's CreateInstance method from DCDSERVE's FACTORY.CPP:
STDMETHODIMP CFPaper::CImpIClassFactory::CreateInstance(
IUnknown* pUnkOuter,
REFIID riid,
PPVOID ppv)
{
HRESULT hr = E_POINTER;
COPaper* pCob = NULL;
if (NULL != ppv)
{
// NULL the output pointer.
*ppv = NULL;
hr = E_FAIL;
// If the creation call is requesting aggregation (pUnkOuter != NULL),
// the COM rules state the IUnknown interface MUST also be concomitantly
// be requested. If it is not so requested (riid != IID_IUnknown) then
// an error must be returned indicating that no aggregate creation of
// the CFPaper COM Object can be performed.
if (NULL != pUnkOuter && riid != IID_IUnknown)
hr = CLASS_E_NOAGGREGATION;
else
{
if (m_pServer->ObjectFirst())
{
// Instantiate a COPaper COM Object.
pCob = new COPaper(pUnkOuter, m_pServer);
if (NULL != pCob)
{
// Create and initialize any subordinate objects.
hr = pCob->Init();
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
// We successfully created the new COM object so tell the
// server to increment its global server object count.
m_pServer->ObjectsUp();
// We QueryInterface this new COM Object not only to deposit the
// main interface pointer to the caller's pointer variable, but
// to also automatically bump the Reference Count on the new COM
// Object after handing out this reference to it.
hr = pCob->QueryInterface(riid, (PPVOID)ppv);
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
// Rig so that any subsequent creates get the same shared
// single object.
m_pServer->ObjectSet(pCob);
}
else
{
delete pCob;
m_pServer->ObjectsDown();
}
}
else
delete pCob;
}
else
hr = E_OUTOFMEMORY;
}
else
hr = m_pServer->ObjectQI(riid, ppv);
}
}
return hr;
}
The code calls CServer::ObjectFirst and if ObjectFirst returns TRUE then the single COPaper object is created and initialized. After successful creation, a pointer to the object is passed to CServer::ObjectSet to assign CServer's internal, protected m_pCOPaper pointer. This is a thread-safe call and after it returns, any subsequent calls to CServer::ObjectFirst will return FALSE. CServer's ObjectsUp method is called to increment the object count. This count will never exceed 1 reflecting the single COPaper object in existence. As seen many times in this sample series, server lifetime is linked to object lifetimes. There is simply only one living object. The COPaper object's lifetime is determined by reference counts. When the last client calls Release on the ISharePaper interface that it holds on COPaper, the object terminates. During this termination COPaper deletes itself and calls CServer's ObjectDown method to decrement the server object count from 1 to 0 causing the exit of the DCDSERVE server. This is the familiar logic governing server and object lifetime seen in earlier servers in the COM tutorial series. The only difference is that DCDSERVE's server object count never exceeds 1.
Note that this means that when new clients request the creation of COPaper, the object count is not increased even though CreateInstance completed successfully and the client was given the requested interface to an object. From the client's perspective, a new object was created. In a way the client is fooled into accepting an existing object as a new object.
As in previous samples, the QueryInterface method of the object's principal IUnknown is used to return the requested interface pointer to the calling client. When the above call to CServer::ObjectFirst returns FALSE, the single COPaper object already exists. In this case, all that is needed is a call to CServer::ObjectQI to return to the client the requested interface on the existing object.
COM-based client/server applications that run on the same machine usually run under the authority of a single currently-logged-on user. However, when the client and server run on different machines that are separated by a network, it is very likely that different users will be logged on to those machines. In fact, the machine where the COM server runs may not have any user logged on. To launch and access a server in a DCOM application, both client and server must fulfill certain security requirements.
There are various levels of security that can be established in both the client and the server. For example, on the server side, specific security can be established for the entire server process, for each object instance, or for each method call. There are also different techniques for establishing these levels of security. For example, named values in the registry entries for the server can determine who can access the server after it is launched. Or helper functions can be called at server run-time to establish security for the server process. There are often multiple techniques to achieve the same control over the security context.
The server's settings in the system registry can be used to determine security for the server. Such registry settings are valuable for legacy COM-based applications that have no built-in code to establish their security context at runtime. DCOM, however, does support coding this security within the server. This sample demonstrates only some of the many possibel ways to establish security in the server. The DCOMDRAW client must also participate with a compatible client security context. For coverage of how the client handles DCOM security, see the DCOMDRAW lesson.
For client calls to ISharePaper methods across the network to act upon COPaper, the call must be acting under an identity that is both authenticated and authorized to perform the action. Authentication is the recognition of the calling client (that is, the calling agent is recognized to be who it claims to be). Authorization is the confirmation that the calling client has permission to perform the action.
DCDSERVE uses a call to CoInitializeSecurity to establish a security context for the entire server process. Here is that call in a fragment from the WinMain function in DCDSERVE.CPP:
...
...
// If we were compiled for UNICODE and the platform seems OK with this
// then proceed. Else we error and exit the app.
if (UnicodeOk())
{
// Ensure that DCOM (Distributed COM) is installed.
if (DComOk())
{
// Call to initialize the COM Library. Use the SUCCEEDED macro
// to detect success. If fail then exit app with error message.
if (SUCCEEDED(CoInitialize(NULL)))
{
// Initialize for server security.
hr = CoInitializeSecurity(
NULL, //Points to security descriptor
-1, //Count of entries in asAuthSvc
NULL, //Array of names to register
NULL, //Reserved for future use
RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_NONE, //Default authentication level
// for proxies
RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE, //Default impersonation level
// for proxies
NULL, //Reserved; must be set to NULL
EOAC_NONE, //Additional client or
// server-side capabilities
NULL); //Reserved for future use
if (SUCCEEDED(hr))
{
// If we succeeded in initializing the COM Library we proceed to
// initialize the application. If we can't init the application
// then we signal shut down with an error message exit.
iRun = InitApplication(hInstance);
if (iRun)
{
...
Run the server
...
}
}
else
Error: Could not initialize security.
}
else
Error: Could not initialize COM.
}
else
Error: DCOM is not available.
}
else
Error: Platform can not accept Unicode.
...
...
This CoInitializeSecurity call is made after the CoInitialize call that initializes COM. Here is the prototype for CoInitializeSecurity with the parameters values passed in the above call:
HRESULT CoInitializeSecurity(
PSECURITY_DESCRIPTOR pSD,
// NULL: Points to security descriptor that can contain
// DACLs (Discretionary ACLs) that grant or deny access
// to specific users. The SACL in the SD must be NULL.
// If pSD is NULL then no ACL checking will be done.
// DCOM will abide by the AccessPermission value that
// exists for the server's AppID key in the registry.
DWORD cAuthSvc,
// -1: Count of entries in asAuthSvc. If 0, register no
// services. If -1, COM picks the number of authentication
// services.
SOLE_AUTHENTICATION_SERVICE* asAuthSvc,
// NULL: Array of authentication/authorization principal
// service names to register. NULL means that the default
// authentication/authorization principal for each proxy
// will be negotiated.
void* pReserved1,
// NULL: Reserved for future use; must be NULL.
DWORD dwAuthnLevel,
// RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_NONE: Default authentication level
// for proxies. RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_NONE means that no
// authentication is used in this process.
DWORD dwImpLevel,
// RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE: Default impersonation level
// for proxies. RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE means that the
// server can impersonate the client identity.
RPC_AUTH_IDENTITY_HANDLE pAuthInfo,
// NULL: Reserved for future use; must be NULL.
DWORD dwCapabilities,
// EOAC_NONE: Additional client or server-side capabilities.
// EOAC_NONE means no additional capabilities are used.
void* pReserved2);
// NULL: Reserved for future use; must be NULL.
The RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_NONE value for the dwAuthnLevel parameter and the RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE value for dwImpLevel parameter are the only significant values in DCDSERVE's use of this call. With these values, the CoInitializeSecurity call essentially opens the security door for clients of the DCDSERVE process.
With the above run-time process security in effect in DCDSERVE, the DCOMDRAW client can freely call the COPaper object in the server once DCDSERVE is running. But there are additional security issues involved with launching DCDSERVE in the first place. When the DCOMDRAW client calls to create the first remote COPaper, DCOM will check DCDSERVE's security attributes before launching it. If no such attributes are registered then a default set of attributes will be used. Two of these attributes are kept in the system registry. These are the DefaultLaunchPermission and DefaultAccessPermission named values of the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\OLE
These named values contain a binary ACL (Access Control List) specifying the system default set of users that have permission to launch or access objects. On a newly installed Windows NT system these default users include Administrators, SYSTEM, and INTERACTIVE user groups. You can view and change these default values using the DCOMCNFG.EXE utility that is included with Windows NT version 4 or later. These values are the default values that are used when no others are specifically set up by servers and clients. Because security can be set appropriately for individual servers and clients, changing the system default values is usually not recommended.
For a server like DCDSERVE, another registry key is used to store the security attributes for the server and its components. This is the AppID key for the server. Like CLSIDs, AppIDs are GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers). AppIDs provide a way to collect servers and components into one group each member of which has the same security attributes. When DCOM is presented with a CLSID to create a new object, it can consult the AppID stored in the registry on the CLSID to determine the security attributes for the server and its components. These attributes tell DCOM how the server can be activated, who can activate it, and who can later access it. This AppID information is new in this sample series. Before, when no AppID was present, the system's default security attributes were transparently used. Now, in DCDSERVE, an explicit AppID value is added to the registry to determine explicitly the necessary security attributes for the server. DCDSERVE's self-registration code registers an AppID for the server's CLSID_SharePaper component. Here is the DCDSERVE's RegisterServer method from DCDSERVE.CPP:
BOOL CMainWindow::RegisterServer(void)
{
BOOL bOk = TRUE;
TCHAR szID[GUID_SIZE+1];
TCHAR szCLSID[GUID_SIZE+32];
TCHAR szAPPID[GUID_SIZE+32];
TCHAR szModulePath[MAX_PATH];
TCHAR szExeName[MAX_PATH];
szID[0] = 0;
szCLSID[0] = 0;
szAPPID[0] = 0;
szModulePath[0] = 0;
szExeName[0] = 0;
// Obtain the path to this module's executable file for later use.
GetModuleFileName(
g_pServer->m_hInstServer,
szModulePath,
sizeof(szModulePath)/sizeof(TCHAR));
// Obtain the file name of this module's executable for later use.
// GetExeName is an APPUTIL convenience function.
GetExeName(
g_pServer->m_hInstServer,
szExeName);
/*---------------------------------------------------------------------
Create registry entries for the SharePaper Component.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*/
// Create some base key strings.
StringFromGUID2(CLSID_SharePaper, szID, GUID_SIZE);
lstrcpy(szCLSID, TEXT("CLSID\\"));
lstrcat(szCLSID, szID);
lstrcpy(szAPPID, TEXT("APPID\\"));
lstrcat(szAPPID, szID);
/*---------------------------------------------------------------------
Create ProgID keys.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*/
SetRegKeyValue(
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper.1"),
NULL,
TEXT("SharePaper Component - DCDSERVE Code Sample"));
SetRegKeyValue(
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper.1"),
TEXT("CLSID"),
szID);
/*---------------------------------------------------------------------
Create VersionIndependentProgID keys.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*/
SetRegKeyValue(
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper"),
NULL,
TEXT("SharePaper Component - DCDSERVE Code Sample"));
SetRegKeyValue(
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper"),
TEXT("CurVer"),
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper.1"));
SetRegKeyValue(
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper"),
TEXT("CLSID"),
szID);
/*---------------------------------------------------------------------
Create entries under CLSID.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*/
SetRegKeyValue(
szCLSID,
NULL,
TEXT("SharePaper Component - DCDSERVE Code Sample"));
SetRegKeyValue(
szCLSID,
TEXT("ProgID"),
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper.1"));
SetRegKeyValue(
szCLSID,
TEXT("VersionIndependentProgID"),
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper"));
SetRegKeyValue(
szCLSID,
TEXT("NotInsertable"),
NULL);
SetRegKeyValue(
szCLSID,
TEXT("LocalServer32"),
szModulePath);
AddRegNamedValue(
szCLSID,
NULL,
TEXT("AppID"),
szID);
/*---------------------------------------------------------------------
Create entries under APPID.
---------------------------------------------------------------------*/
SetRegKeyValue(
szAPPID,
NULL,
TEXT("CTS.SharePaper.1"));
SetRegKeyValue(
TEXT("AppID"),
szExeName,
NULL);
AddRegNamedValue(
TEXT("AppID"),
szExeName,
TEXT("AppID"),
szID);
return bOk;
}
Note that the keys created here are all under the main HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch of the registry. The HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes branch could alternately be used because it is functionally identical to the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT branch. As seen in previous server samples in this series, the usual ProgID, VersionIndependentProgID, and CLSID keys are stored in the registry. The AppID scheme that RegisterServer sets up is as follows. A named value, "AppID", is added to the CLSID key for the CTS.SharePaper component. The following is the location of that CLSID key:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{0002DA32-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
To this key the following named value (of string type, REG_SZ) is added:
Name Value
---- --------------------------------------
AppID {0002DA32-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Similar to the CLSID branch, the AppIDs are stored in an AppID branch in the registry. Thus, the following key is stored as the AppID entry for DCDSERVE and its CTS.SharePaper component.
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\{0002DA32-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
In this sample the CLSID GUID string is used as the AppID GUID string as well. This AppID key in the registry is where the named security values are assigned. For example, the following named values are assigned to this key in the DCDSERVE sample when DCDSERVE is installed on the server machine.
Name Value
---- -------------------------------------------------------
LaunchPermission ACL in binary form (type REG_BINARY).
AccessPermission ACL in binary form (type REG_BINARY).
RunAs User account of the form: Domain\User
When specified, this is the account under which the
DCDSERVE server and its SharePaper component are run.
A hidden password corresponding to this account is
also stored.
These security values are not assigned in the RegisterServer method above. These values could be assembled programatically using the Windows NT Win32 security functions and then assigned in the registry using functions like RegSetValueEx. RegisterServer could be expanded to perform this activity at self-registration time. However, in this lesson, the DCOMCNFG utility is used to manually "install" DCDSERVE's SharePaper component (see details in the "Installing DCDSERVE" section below). For more details on how to programmatically assign these security values see the DCOMPERM sample in the Platform SDK (currently located at \MSSDK\SAMPLES\WIN32\WINNT\SECURITY\DCOMPERM in the installed SDK).
To complete the registration of the AppID a module entry is also required. The following key is stored:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID\DCDSERVE.EXE
This key in turn is assigned the following named value (of type REG_SZ):
Name Value
---- --------------------------------------
AppID {0002DA32-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}
Given the module name, the server's AppID entry can be located in the registry. Likewise, given the CLSID for a component, the appropriate AppID entry can be located. Thus, there are several avenues in the registry back to the AppID entry containing the security attributes.
This lesson assumes that the DCDSERVE will be installed on a Windows NT (Server or Workstation) machine. This is the machine on the network that is intended to store the shared drawing. In this Distributed COM sample, the DCOMDRAW client can run on a variety of other machines (for example, running Windows 95, Windows NT Workstation, Windows NT Server, or Windows 98). One easy way to get started is to compile the complete sample set on the intended server machine and then copy the samples (with compiled executables) over the network to the client machines. On the client machines, the copies of the samples must have the servers registered on that machine as well. To do this run the REGALL.BAT file in the main tutorial directory. You can compile the entire sample set by running the LOGMALL.BAT batch file in the main tutorial directory. This batch file assumes that you have your development environment set up properly for Win32 and COM development. For more details, see Building the Code Samples.
Installing DCDSERVE on the intended server machine first requires that DCDSERVE be directed register itself. Compiling the sample or running REGALL.BAT will do this. After the registration, the DCOMCNFG utility is used to manually perform additional security configuration. Follow these steps to use DCOMCNFG to set the security for DCDSERVE:
At this point DCOMDRAW clients should be able to launch and access the SharePaper component in DCDSERVE. The security scheme above uses a dedicated DCOMDraw account on the server machine. If DCOMCNFG has been used to set the "Launching User" as the identity under which DCDSERVE is launched then DCOM would launch separate instances of DCDSERVE because the remote client logins are likely different within the network domain or workgroup. By launching and accessing the SharePaper component under the same identity, DCOM will use the same instance of DCDSERVE if it is already running. Of course, this is required if the same COPaper instance is to be shared by all DCOMDRAW clients.
Note that to run DCOMDRAW on a client machine to access the above installation of DCDSERVE on a server machine requires that DCDSERVE (and DCDMARSH) be registered on the client machine as well. This is because DCOMDRAW initially loads a COPaper drawing from the locally registered DCDSERVE on the client machine. See the DCOMDRAW lesson for more details.
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