METHOD FOR MANAGING GLOBALLY DISTRIBUTED SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

摘要

A method and apparatus are disclosed for managing software components in anetwork of computers such as a local area network or the Internet. Eachsoftware component includes a binary object and at least one interface to thebinary object. Suitable software components include OLE components. Thenetwork includes a registry file identifying currently registered componentsand their locations. The network also includes a component server computer onwhich unregistered components reside. A database associates software componentidentifiers with software component locators. Suitable databases includeNovell NetWare Directory Services databases and Internet search enginedatabases. Database objects or entries representing unregistered componentsare found by a search based on the class identifier of a desired component.Software components found by the search are selected, transferred as needed,and then registered, thereby making them available to clients.