MOA Developer's Guide
MOA Interfaces | MOA Methods | MOA Types and Misc API

Director Xtra Development Kit: MOA Developer's Guide

MOA Glossary


Class: A unit of implementation of one or more MOA interfaces, corresponding to a class in other object models. The class defines implementations for each method in its interfaces, and provides ways to create and destroy the objects that provide those implementations. In addition, the class defines a private data structure--instance variables--accessible only within method implementations.

Interface: A unit of interaction specified as a set of function prototypes or methods. An interface is designed to provide a template through which a provider and a user of the interface can interact. An interface defines the names, argument types, and return types for all its methods. It is identified by an interface identifier, a 128 place integer that uniquely represents the interface in code.

Instance variable: A member of a private data structure belonging to an object. The instance variables for a particular class of objects are accessible only within the method implementations for the interfaces of the class.

Method: function prototype that specifies the name, calling sequence, argument types, and return types for a specific procedure of an interface. The functions prototyped within an interface are referred to as its methods. The methods represent the actual name binding of the function call: this name binding is independent of the actual name used by a class for the method implementation.

Method implementation: a function that represents the implementation of a specific method. A class definition specifies a name binding from each method defined in an interface to the corresponding method implementation in the class. In most cases, method implementations are given a name consisting of the class name, and underbar, and the method name; for example MyClass_MyMethod

MoaID: A 128 place integer type used to identify interfaces and classes defined in MOA. Each interface and each class is assigned its own unique MoaID when it is defined. These identifiers are used within a program to identify and interact with a particular interface or class. The MoaID for an interface is referred to as its IID, or Interface Identifier. The MoaID for a class is referred to as its CLSID, or Class Identifier.

Object: A unit of behavior, providing a specific set of interfaces implemented by a class. Within its method implementations, the object has access to the private data of its instance variables. Externally, the only "visible" aspect of an object is its collection of behaviors: the methods defined by its interfaces.


Copyright © 1995-2007 Adobe Macromedia Software LLC, Inc.