Microsoft COM is prevalent throughout Windows operating systems--95, 98, NT. To build applications which interface with Windows systems, therefore, programmers must understand and learn to use COM. This book will lay the groundwork for understanding COM, and focus on how to develop applications in Delphi which interact efficiently with Windows systems. The book will include coverage of DCOM, Microsoft's distributed architecture which is based on COM. It will also cover the latest developments in Delphi 5, currently due out in September 1999.This book will teach COM programming to Delphi 4 and 5 programmers. After providing an understanding of the COM framework, it offers a practical exploration of COM to enable Delphi developers to program component-based applications. Typical real-world scenarios, such as Windows Shell programming, automating Microsoft Agent, and creating and using ActiveX controls, will be explored. Discussion of each topic will be illustrated with detailed examples.