SunSoft Inc’s other mission is to bind Microsoft Corp’s desktop developers into its object world by enabling Visual Basic programmers to use Corba objects running on Solaris NEO servers in their applications transparently as if they were Object Linking & Embedding automation servers. It especially wants to attract personal computer developers that aren’t going to use Java or Corba. At next week’s Object World show, SunSoft will unveil a tool that converts Object Management Group Interface Definition Language code into its Object Linking & Embedding equivalent based on the Object Management Group’s Object Linking & Embedding-to-Corba specification. SunSoft says it will enable Visual Basic developers to see, access and use Corba objects as if they were Visual Basic code. The tool creates services for the Corba object in Visual Basic and the developer uses it like an Object Linking & Embedding automation server. SunSoft claims it will also relieve back-end Solaris managers from Visual Basic integration concerns. The tool works only with the Solaris NEO object request broker though SunSoft admits it could break the tool out and offer it as a plug-in to other object brokers. It says it hasn’t settled on a name for it yet, but it w ill be bundled with a future NEO release. The IIOP Internet Inter-ORB Protocol-enabled NEO object broker is now in beta test. The tool, which uses an Object Linking & Embedding automation server proxy and real-time mapping service on the client, is not targeted at personal computer-based object broker developers who might use Iona Technologies Ltd’s Orbix object broker..
