OLE Transactions Model

The OLE Transactions standard supports conventional, flat transactions. A transaction may be initiated by a client on a Windows 95 or a Windows NT system. Only the transaction initiator may commit the transaction, and may abort the transaction at any time by calling Abort (provided it has not previously called Commit.)

The client who initiates a transaction may propagate the transaction to one or more resource managers. These resource managers may reside on a single Windows NT system, or they may be distributed across a network of Windows NT systems. A resource manager may propagate the transaction to other resource managers, and any participating resource manager may abort that transaction.

Microsoft intends to extend the OLE Transactions model by:

• Supporting transactions that can retain locks and cursors across transaction boundaries.
• Enabling an application component invoked as part of a larger transaction to abort and undo its work without causing the entire transaction to abort.
• Supporting distributed two-phase commit on non-Microsoft platforms.
• Supporting heuristic commit or abort of in-doubt transactions. (Currently, the system administrator must resolve in-doubt transactions using the MS DTC administrative interface.)