Managing GUIDs for Automation

Globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) appear in many places in a typical Automation application. GUID errors can cause persistent bugs. To help avoid GUID problems, this appendix lists all of the places that GUIDs appear in a typical Automation application, describes common characteristics of GUID bugs, and offers some GUID management techniques.

GUIDs are the same as UUIDs (universally unique identifiers). A class identifier (CLSID) is a UUID/GUID that refers to a class.

In this section

Topic	Description
GUIDs and the System Registry	The system registry is a central repository that contains information about objects.
GUID Locations in Automation	Describes where GUIDs for Automation are located.
Troubleshooting GUID Errors in Automation	Describes how to troubleshooting GUID errors in Automation.
GUID Management for Automation	Describes how to manage GUIDs for automation.