Automated development system for developing applications that interface with both distributed component object model (DCOM) and enterprise server environments

An apparatus for the automated development of a set of functions which allow an application residing within a Distributed Component Object Module (DCOM) environment to access an associated service located on an enterprise On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) system having:

• at least one view file residing on said enterprise OLTP system which defines how parameters will be provided to and received from said OLTP system;
• a file transfer mechanism to move said view file from said OLTP system to said DCOM environment;
• an automated development utility which will operate on said view file to produce at least one output source file used in the creation of DCOM Client/Server applications;
• and
• wherein said automated development utility will query a user about a type of client that will be using said source files, thereby allowing said output source files to be specifically tailored to receive requests from the type of client specified by the user.

In a data processing system having a Distributed Component Object Module (DCOM) environment connected to an enterprise On-line Transaction Processing (OLTP) system, a method for the interactive, simplified creation of functions needed to access OLTP services from a DCOM Client application, comprising the steps of:

• creating a service on said OLTP system, including the creation of service input and output view files;
• transferring said service input and output files from said OLTP system to said DCOM environment such that said service input and output view files can be accessed by a function builder utility;
• reading said service input and output view files and extracting interface information from said service input and output view files via said function builder utility;
• generating a set of source files that are compatible with said DCOM environment via said function builder utility;
• building a DCOM client application within the DCOM environment which includes standard calls to said source files generated by said function builder utility;
• and
• compiling a set of IDL source files generated by said function builder utility with a Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MIDL) compiler, such that a set of MIDL output files is created.