ArcObjects Library Reference (System)

ComponentCategoryManager CoClass

Component Category Manager Object.

Product Availability

Available with ArcGIS Engine, ArcGIS Desktop, and ArcGIS Server.

Description

The ComponentCategoryManager object provides a mechanism to programmatically add or remove new components to or from a particular category and create new component categories.

See the Component Categories topic for more details on the ComponentCatgeoryManager.

Supported Platforms

Windows, Solaris, Linux

Interfaces

Interfaces	Description
IComponentCategoryInfo	Provides access to members that work with the component category manager.
IComponentCategoryManager	Provides access to members that work with the component category manager.

Remarks

Component categories are used by client applications to efficiently find all components of a particular type that are installed on the system. For example, ArcMap only supports commands that implement the ICommand interface. A component category, ESRI Mx Commands, is used to find all the command components that can be used inside ArcMap.

If component categories were not used, the application would have to instantiate each COM component and interrogate it to see if it supported the required functionality, which is not a practical approach. Component categories support the extensibility of COM by allowing the developer of the client application to create and work with classes that belong to a particular category. If, at a later date, a new class is added to the category, the client application need not be changed to take advantage of the new class; it will automatically pick up the new class the next time the category is read.