DSOM defines a DSOM Object Manager, which provides services needed by clients to create, find and use objects in the DSOM run-time environment.
The DSOM Object Manager is derived from an abstract, generic "object manager" class, called ObjectMgr. This abstract ObjectMgr class defines a basic set of methods that support object creation, location (with implicit activation), and destruction.
As an abstract class, ObjectMgr defines only an interface; there is no implementation associated with ObjectMgr. Consequently, an application should not create instances of the ObjectMgr class.
An abstract Object Manager class was defined under the expectation that applications will often need simultaneous access to objects implemented and controlled by a variety of object systems. Such object systems may include other ORBs (in addition to DSOM), persistent object managers, object-oriented databases, and so forth. It is likely that each object system will provide the same sort of basic services for object creation, location, and activation, but each using a different interface.
Thus, the ObjectMgr abstract class defines a simple and "universal" interface that can be mapped to any object system. The application would only have to understand a single, common ObjectMgr interface. Under this scheme, specific object managers are defined by subclassing the ObjectMgr class and overriding the ObjectMgr methods to map them into the object system-specific programming interfaces.
DSOM's Object Manager, SOMDObjectMgr, is defined as a specific class of ObjectMgr. It defines methods for:
These functions will be discussed in the remainder of this section.
Note: The OMG has standardized an "object lifecycle" service, which includes support for creating and destroying distributed objects. The DSOM Object Manager may be augmented in the future with an OMG-compliant lifecycle service.