13.4. Logical Object Layout

The objects are split into the generic part (essentially the fields for Main) and a private part. This is necessary because some objects can be created with CoCreateInstance, then Initialized later. Only at initialization time do we know which class to use. Each class except Main declares a Part structure and adds that to its Impl.

For example, the DIBTexture DirectDrawSurface implementation looks like this:

        struct DIBTexture_DirectDrawSurfaceImpl_Part
        {
                union DIBTexture_data data; /*declared in the real header*/
        };

        typedef struct
        {
                struct DIB_DirectDrawSurfaceImpl_Part dib;
                struct DIBTexture_DirectDrawSurfaceImpl_Part dibtexture;
        } DIBTexture_DirectDrawSurfaceImpl;
      

So the DIBTexture surface class is derived from the DIB surface class and it adds one piece of data, a union.

Main does not have a Part structure. Its fields are stored in IDirectDrawImpl/IDirectDrawSurfaceImpl.

To access private data, one says

        DIBTexture_DirectDrawSurfaceImpl* priv = This->private;
        do_something_with(priv->dibtexture.data);