yes, I'm writing it in a file as a string. When I debug it, I see that the BSTR has the correct value, too... For now I workarounded it, making the client open the file directly on the server and getting the string itself, but it's not elegant...

ok, no matter. The final decision will be taken by the customer, and it will be based on how SOON they want the project :laugh: In the worst case (custom marshaling) I think I will buy a book and, why not, consider to give a shot in some serious forum, like this...:-D Thanks for all. Enjoy Morenz P.S. Pardon me, but in your footnote (or signature) you have a typo: you should have "It's supposed to be hard" instead of "It's suppose to be hard":laugh:

hi, thank you for the reply! (un)fortunately, it was my fault, because I have currently 2 versions of this project (the MFC and the Service ones), that are slightly different, and I used the wrong type library... Thanks again!

I got it. I was using malloc instead of CoTaskMemAlloc (and free instead of CoTaskMemFree) Now I'll change all of my statements (some hundreds!!!) and will try. Thanks a lot for now!!!

First of all, thanx a lot for your reply. I did it work, it was none of the precedent thoughts or ideas we had. It was simply that the cElements record of SAFEARAYBOUND structure had a too big value. I tried with 1000, and it's too big again. It likes 10 ;). Now, if that's the problem, I'm back again at the starting point. I need to pass an array that could be max 1024 rows x 1024 cols, x 4 bytes (almost 4 megabytes). How can I do? Putting it into a file, sending the file and reading it back again serially is not a good trick, because if it's true that time is not a prerequisite, it's true, too, that I cannot make it last a minute to analyze a 1024 x 1024 raster image! Should I serialize it into strings and send 'em in some chunks? How can I do? When will these annoying problems stop, so I can start making a decent debug? :mad: Thanks again Morenz

As soon as I got a Win2k machine, I noticed that i couldn't register ONE out of my FOUR classes. I went in my source code, and I noticed that when I tried to modify project for custom marshaling, I commented out the COM_INTERFACE_ENTRY(IDispatch) for two interfaces, and the third I modified it into COM_INTERFACE_ENTRY (IUnknown). The ONLY class that was right, was the only one that could not be registered. Fixing it, on a 2k machine registers and starts regurlary. Now, it's to try on a XP machine... but I think it will work.... Yesterday was a bad day, you know, I made so many bad things.... Today is a good day, many problems getting away... ;)

Because my structs contain, in some cases, arrays, that have to be defined as SAFEARRAYS. In any case, I implemented this way... I will debug the application when I will resolve my new problems (It's since a month that, when I manage to resolve a strange problem, there comes in another problem, even stranger, if possible! :sigh:) If you're curious, look above.... :) Thanks again, Morenz

Yeah, I know what you meant, it was 7.00 here, too! ;) I read this only now, and tomorrow I will give it a shot. I 'll make you know. For now, many thanks.

Yep, it was me, in part :laugh: The other part goes to National Instruments, which header file I had to modify by 80%, commenting out redefinitions (they referred 'em as "forward delarations"... in fact in an MFC app worked well, but MIDL compiler was not so happy... Now I'm trying to obtain from NI a "simpler" way to make an ATL server with their types without destroying their headers.... :laugh: Bye Morenz

OK, I tried to follow your tip and went into trouble again (i'm not SO experienced:laugh:). Most of my server Interface's methods use the BSTR type. I tried to change it, but now I need to know how to declare the _bstr_t type in my IDL file. I tried using both import and include (with and without #) WTYPES.H (where _bstr_t is defined) and it seemed not to work (preprocessor error). How to declare it? Another STRAAAAANGE thing is that it fails calling methods that has three int parameters... I know that native C types do not need to be marsaled, am I right? i.e.: theApp.m_pIHello->SetLocation (2,1,0) seems to fail, where function prototype in server side is STDMETHODTYPE CHardwareAsset::SetLocation (int Master, int slot, int SubAssy) I put a statement to log on a file somw phrases just to know where the program goes and what it does, but when I call the method above, the server creates the object, but does NOT log the SetLocation Fu8nction (the logFile statement is the first, just before variable declaration!) Very strange, isn't it? Or it's me that need to return to school and study a lot? :laugh: Thanks again...