<s>
In	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
applications	O
programming	O
,	O
OLE	B-Application
Automation	I-Application
(	O
later	O
renamed	O
to	O
simply	O
Automation	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
inter-process	B-Operating_System
communication	I-Operating_System
mechanism	O
created	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
Component	B-Application
Object	I-Application
Model	I-Application
(	O
COM	O
)	O
that	O
was	O
intended	O
for	O
use	O
by	O
scripting	B-Language
languages	I-Language
originally	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
but	O
now	O
is	O
used	O
by	O
several	O
languages	O
on	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
automation	O
objects	O
are	O
required	O
to	O
implement	O
the	O
IDispatch	B-Application
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
supersedes	O
Dynamic	B-Operating_System
Data	I-Operating_System
Exchange	I-Operating_System
(	O
DDE	O
)	O
,	O
an	O
older	O
mechanism	O
for	O
applications	O
to	O
control	O
one	O
another	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
with	O
DDE	O
,	O
in	O
OLE	B-Application
Automation	I-Application
the	O
automation	O
controller	O
is	O
the	O
"	O
client	O
"	O
and	O
the	O
application	O
exporting	O
the	O
automation	O
objects	O
is	O
the	O
"	O
server	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Contrary	O
to	O
its	O
name	O
,	O
automation	O
objects	O
do	O
not	O
necessarily	O
use	O
Microsoft	O
OLE	B-Operating_System
,	O
although	O
some	O
Automation	O
objects	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
in	O
OLE	B-Operating_System
environments	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
confusion	O
has	O
its	O
roots	O
in	O
Microsoft	O
's	O
earlier	O
definition	O
of	O
OLE	B-Operating_System
,	O
which	O
was	O
previously	O
more	O
or	O
less	O
a	O
synonym	O
of	O
COM	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automation-compatible	O
COM	B-Application
servers	I-Application
can	O
,	O
however	O
,	O
rely	O
on	O
the	O
in-built	O
OLE	B-Operating_System
marshalling	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automation	O
was	O
designed	O
with	O
the	O
ease	O
of	O
scripting	O
in	O
mind	O
,	O
so	O
controllers	O
often	O
provide	O
languages	O
such	O
as	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
for	I-Language
Applications	I-Language
to	O
end	O
users	O
,	O
allowing	O
them	O
to	O
control	O
automation	O
objects	O
via	O
scripts	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automation	O
objects	O
are	O
often	O
written	O
in	O
conventional	O
languages	O
such	O
as	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
where	O
C++	B-Language
attributes	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
simplify	O
development	O
,	O
Languages	O
such	O
as	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
and	O
Borland	B-Language
Delphi	I-Language
also	O
provides	O
a	O
convenient	O
syntax	O
for	O
Automation	O
which	O
hides	O
the	O
complexity	O
of	O
the	O
underlying	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interfaces	O
are	O
described	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Interface	I-Application
Definition	I-Application
Language	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Type	O
libraries	O
can	O
be	O
viewed	O
using	O
various	O
tools	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Microsoft	O
OLE/COM	O
Object	O
Viewer	O
(	O
oleview.exe	O
,	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Platform	I-Application
SDK	I-Application
)	O
or	O
the	O
Object	O
Browser	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
(	O
up	O
to	O
version	O
6	O
)	O
and	O
Visual	O
Studio	O
.NET	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Type	O
libraries	O
are	O
used	O
to	O
generate	O
Proxy	O
pattern/stub	O
code	O
for	O
interoperating	O
between	O
COM	O
and	O
other	O
platforms	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
Microsoft	O
.NET	O
and	O
Java	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
instance	O
,	O
the	O
.NET	B-Application
Framework	I-Application
SDK	I-Application
includes	O
tools	O
that	O
can	O
generate	O
a	O
proxy	O
.NET	O
DLL	O
to	O
access	O
Automation	O
objects	O
using	O
both	O
early	O
binding	O
(	O
with	O
information	O
about	O
interfaces	O
extracted	O
from	O
a	O
type	O
library	O
)	O
and	O
late	O
binding	O
(	O
via	O
IDispatch	B-Application
,	O
mapped	O
to	O
the	O
.NET	O
Reflection	O
API	O
)	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
built-in	O
.NET-to-COM	O
bridge	O
called	O
COM	B-Device
Interop	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
Java	B-Language
lacks	O
built-in	O
COM	O
support	O
,	O
toolsets	O
like	O
JACOB	O
and	O
jSegue	O
can	O
generate	O
proxy	O
source	O
code	O
(	O
consisting	O
of	O
two	O
parts	O
,	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
Java	B-Language
classes	O
and	O
a	O
C++	B-Language
source	O
for	O
a	O
Java	B-Language
Native	I-Language
Interface	I-Language
DLL	O
)	O
from	O
type	O
libraries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
Java	B-Language
based	O
j-Interop	O
library	O
which	O
enables	O
interoperability	O
with	O
COM	O
components	O
without	O
JNI	B-Language
,	O
using	O
DCOM	O
wire	O
protocol	O
(	O
MSRPC	O
)	O
and	O
works	O
on	O
non-Windows	O
platforms	O
also	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
has	O
publicly	O
documented	O
the	O
object	O
model	O
of	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
applications	O
in	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Office	I-Application
,	O
and	O
some	O
other	O
software	O
developers	O
have	O
also	O
documented	O
the	O
object	O
models	O
of	O
their	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Object	O
models	O
are	O
presented	O
to	O
automation	O
controllers	O
as	O
type	O
libraries	O
,	O
with	O
their	O
interfaces	O
described	O
in	O
ODL	B-Library
.	O
</s>
