Components and Environment

IXFile is a software component for quick and easy file input/output. It supports common file activities like reading, writing and finding data of various types, resizing, positioning, locking and others. IXFile is data-oriented component, exposing methods in several versions for commonly used data types, as well as supporting ANSI and Unicode character sets to simplify development of Unicode applications. Threading support enables integration with multithreaded applications. IFXile is available as a COM component and C++ library to be used with Visual Studio 6.0 (or higher) programming tools, Active Server Pages and scripting languages. Its runtime code has minimal system requirements and small memory footprint; it can operate on any Intel X86 computer running Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 or XP. Applications based on IXFile, however, may have additional requirements depending on type of application, its runtime environment and programming tools used. IXFile is designed to work with 32-bit file pointers thus limiting size of the file to 2GB.

C++

C++ developers can use either static or dynamic IXFile library. Both versions offer exactly the same functionality; they contain staticaly linked multithreaded C-runtime code (CRT) and do not depend on any other libraries or files. C++ libraries are located in LIB directory of the installation which contains following files:
IFile.lib ----- static library
IFile.dll ----- dynamic link library
IFileImp.lib ----- import library for DLL

C++ project must also include appropriate header file that contains declaration of IXFile class, its methods and constants. Header files are located in INCLUDE directory of the installation which contains following files:
IFile.hpp ----- main header
IBuf.hpp ----- support
IData.hpp ----- support
IDefs.hpp ----- support
Please note that you have to include only IFile.hpp header; other supportive headers are included automatically.

BASIC

Visual Basic developers make use of IXFile functionality through COM interface. COM component is based on ATL 3.0 library linked statically along with multithreaded C-runtime code (CRT) to minimize dependency of other files. COM component is located in COM directory of the installation which contains following files:
IXFile.dll ----- COM component
IXFile.chm ----- Help (accessible with F1)
During installation COM component is registered from its own directory. It can be located, however, in another directory depending on your needs - the only requirement is correct registration (e.g. using regsvr32) of the component to be accessible by the COM subsystem. Developers should also remember to add IXFile type library (Project | References) to project in order to be visible in Visual Basic.

SCRIPTING

IXFile can be also used with scripting languages that are compatible with COM specification, like Visual Basic Script which is commonly used in HTML applications (Active Server Pages), JavaScript or other available through Windows Scripting Host. IXFile COM component must be correctly registered (e.g. using regsvr32) to be accessible by scripting engine and COM subsystem.

.NET

IXFile is currently not available as a native (managed code) .NET component. COM component can be used, however, by .NET developers through the Runtime Callable Wrapper (RCW) which is responsible for marshalling calls between .NET and COM. Please note that all IXFile methods that expects Variant arguments should be called with Object arguments instead to work properly. With this exception IXFile behaviour is identical as with Visual Basic - component must be correctly registered to be accessible by the RCW and type library must be added to project references.

REDISTRIBUTABLES

According to License Agreement some files can be distributed along with your application free of charge. Redistributable files are located in REDIST directory of the installation which contains following files:
IXFile.dll ----- COM component
IFile.dll ----- C++ dynamic link library
IXFile.inc ----- VB constants