MIDL and ODL
The Microsoft Interface Definition Language (MIDL) now includes the complete Object Definition Language (ODL) syntax. This allows you to use the 32-bit MIDL compiler to generate a type library and optional header files for a COM application.
Note
When the documentation refers to an ODL file, it is referring to a file that Mktyplib.exe can parse. When it refers to an IDL file, it is referring to a file that the MIDL compiler can parse. This is strictly a naming convention. The MIDL compiler will parse an input file regardless of its file name extension.
The topics in this section discuss using the MIDL compiler and IDL files containing both IDL and ODL statements to generate type libraries:
- Generating a Type Library With MIDL
- Additional Files Required To Generate a Type Library
- Differences Between MIDL and MkTypLib
- ODL Language Features in MIDL
- Generating a Proxy DLL and a Type Library From a Single IDL File