The orb library provides a set of C++ classes that capitalize on the Orbix opaque mechnaism and the Tools.h++ virtual stream mechanism to eliminate custom marshalling and unmarshalling of C++ objects.
The orb library uses the Orbix opaque mechanism; objects are passed by value across a CORBA interface as Orbix opaque types, allowing easy streaming of objects. Since both Rogue Wave and user-defined objects can be passed, you can take your existing classes and, with a single line of C++ code, use them as opaque types, provided that the insertion and extraction operations are available.
The orb library extends the virtual streams technology in Rogue Wave's Tools.h++, which lets you use streaming operators without knowing anything about the final output medium. For example, the output medium could be a disk, memory area, or even a network. This technology in the orb library lets you transparently send C++ objects across an ORB.
If you have already built objects that use the Tools.h++ virtual streams persistence technology, or inherit from RWCollectable and implement the saveGuts and restoreGuts operations, you can seamlessly pass them across a CORBA interface using the orb library. Legacy C++ objects can take advantage of the orb library by simply making them virtual streams aware.
The orb library provides support for all Tools.h++ classes that implement the shift operators for virtual streams. It also provides support for most of the RWCollectable classes.
Chapter 27 lists the supported classes and explains how to use the orb library.
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