How to: Instantiate WRL Components Directly

The latest version of this topic can be found at How to: Instantiate WRL Components Directly.

Learn how to use the Windows Runtime C++ Template Library (WRL) Microsoft::WRL::Make and Microsoft::WRL::Details::MakeAndInitialize functions to instantiate a component from the module that defines it.

By instantiating components directly, you can reduce overhead when you don't need class factories or other mechanisms. You can instantiate a component directly in both Windows 8.x Store apps and in desktop apps.

To learn how to use WRL to create a basic Windows Runtime component and instantiate it from an external Windows 8.x Store app, see Walkthrough: Creating a Basic Windows Runtime Component. To learn how to use WRL to create a classic COM component and instantiate it from an external desktop app, see How to: Create a Classic COM Component.

This document shows two examples. The first example uses the Make function to instantiate a component. The second example uses the MakeAndInitialize function to instantiate a component that can fail during construction. (Because COM typically uses HRESULT values, instead of exceptions, to indicate errors, a COM type typically does not throw from its constructor. MakeAndInitialize enables a component to validate its construction arguments through the RuntimeClassInitialize method.) Both examples define a basic logger interface and implement that interface by defining a class that writes messages to the console.

To create and instantiate a basic logger component

1. In Visual Studio, create a Win32 Console Application project. Name the project, for example, WRLLogger.

2. Add a Midl File (.idl) file to the project, name the file ILogger.idl, and then add this code:

   import "ocidl.idl";
   
   // Prints text to the console.
   [uuid(AFDB9683-F18A-4B85-90D1-B6158DAFA46C)]
   interface ILogger : IUnknown
   {
       HRESULT Log([in] LPCWSTR text);
   }
   

3. Use the following code to replace the contents of WRLLogger.cpp.

   #include "stdafx.h"
   #include <wrl\implements.h>
   #include <comutil.h>
   
   #include "ILogger_h.h"
   
   using namespace Microsoft::WRL;
   
   // Writes logging messages to the console.
   class CConsoleWriter : public RuntimeClass<RuntimeClassFlags<ClassicCom>, ILogger>
   {
   public:
       STDMETHODIMP Log(_In_ PCWSTR text)
       {
           wprintf_s(L"%s\n", text);
           return S_OK;
       }
   
   private:
       // Make destroyable only through Release.
       ~CConsoleWriter()
       {
       }
   };
   
   int wmain()
   {
       ComPtr<CConsoleWriter> writer = Make<CConsoleWriter>();
       HRESULT hr = writer->Log(L"Logger ready.");
       return hr;
   }
   
   /* Output:
   Logger ready.
   */
   

To handle construction failure for the basic logger component

1. Use the following code to replace the definition of the CConsoleWriter class. This version holds a private string member variable and overrides the RuntimeClass::RuntimeClassInitialize method. RuntimeClassInitialize fails if the call to SHStrDup fails.

   // Writes logging messages to the console.
   class CConsoleWriter : public RuntimeClass<RuntimeClassFlags<ClassicCom>, ILogger>
   {
   public:
       // Initializes the CConsoleWriter object.
       // Failure here causes your object to fail construction with the HRESULT you choose.
       HRESULT RuntimeClassInitialize(_In_ PCWSTR category)
       {
           return SHStrDup(category, &m_category);
       }
   
       STDMETHODIMP Log(_In_ PCWSTR text)
       {
           wprintf_s(L"%s: %s\n", m_category, text);
           return S_OK;
       }
   
   private:
       PWSTR m_category;
   
       // Make destroyable only through Release.
       ~CConsoleWriter()
       {
           CoTaskMemFree(m_category);
       }
   };
   

2. Use the following code to replace the definition of wmain. This version uses MakeAndInitialize to instantiate the CConsoleWriter object and checks the HRESULT result.

   int wmain()
   {
       ComPtr<CConsoleWriter> writer;
       HRESULT hr = MakeAndInitialize<CConsoleWriter>(&writer, L"INFO");
       if (FAILED(hr))
       {
           wprintf_s(L"Object creation failed. Result = 0x%x", hr);
           return hr;
       }
       hr = writer->Log(L"Logger ready.");
       return hr;
   }
   
   /* Output:
   INFO: Logger ready.
   */
   

See Also

Windows Runtime C++ Template Library (WRL)
Microsoft::WRL::Make
Microsoft::WRL::Details::MakeAndInitialize