An object is any data that can be presented in a compound document and manipulated by a user. Anything from a single cell in a spreadsheet to an entire document can be an object. When an object is incorporated into a document, it maintains an association with the application that produced it. That association can be a link, or the object can be embedded in the file.
If the object is linked, the document provides only minimal storage for the data to which the object is linked, and the object can be updated automatically whenever the data in the original application changes. For example, if a range of spreadsheet cells were linked to information in a text file, the data would be stored in some other file and only a link to the data would be saved with the text file.
If an object is embedded, all the data associated with it is saved as part of the file in which it is embedded. If a range of spreadsheet cells were embedded in a text file, the data in the cells would be saved with the text file, including any necessary formulas; the name of the server for the spreadsheet cells would be saved along with this data. The user could select this embedded object while working with the text file, and the spreadsheet application would be started automatically for editing those cells. The presentation and the behavior of the data is the same for a linked and an embedded object.
A package is a type of OLE object that encapsulates another object, a file, or a command line inside a graphic representation (such as an icon or bitmap). When the user double-clicks the graphic object, the OLE libraries activate the object inside the package. The package itself is always an embedded object, not a link. The contents of a package can be an embedded object, a link, or even a file dropped from Windows File Manager.
Packages are useful for presenting compact token views of large files or OLE
objects. An application could also use a package as it would use a hyperlink—
that is, to connect information in different documents.
Windows version 3.1 includes the application Microsoft Windows Object Packager (PACKAGER.EXE). With Packager, a user can associate a file or data selection with an icon or graphic.
The types of actions a user can perform on an object are called verbs. Two typical verbs for an object are Play and Edit.
The nature of an object determines its behavior when a user works with it. The most typical use for some objects, such as voice annotations and animated scripts, is to play them. For example, a user could play an animated script by double-clicking it. In this case, Play is the primary verb for the object.
For other objects, the most typical use is to edit them. In the case of text produced by a word processor, for example, the primary verb could be Edit.
The client application typically specifies the primary verb when the user double-clicks an object. However, the server application determines the meaning of that verb. A user can invoke an object's subsidiary verbs by using the Class Name Object command or the Links dialog box. For more information about these topics, see Section 6.2.7, “Client User Interface.”
The action taken when a user double-clicks a package is that of the primary verb of the object inside the package. The secondary verb for a packaged object is Edit Package; when the user chooses this verb, Packager starts. The user can use Packager to gain access to the secondary verb for the object inside the package.
Many objects support only one verb—for example, an object created by a text editor might support only Edit. If an object supports only one verb, that verb is used no matter what the client application specifies.
For more information about verbs, see Section 6.2.6, “Registration.”