IMoniker::BindToStorage method (objidl.h)

Article
10/13/2021

Binds to the storage for the specified object. Unlike the IMoniker::BindToObject method, this method does not activate the object identified by the moniker.

Syntax

HRESULT BindToStorage(
  [in]  IBindCtx *pbc,
  [in]  IMoniker *pmkToLeft,
  [in]  REFIID   riid,
  [out] void     **ppvObj
);

Parameters

[in] pbc

A pointer to the IBindCtx interface on the bind context object, which is used in this binding operation. The bind context caches objects bound during the binding process, contains parameters that apply to all operations using the bind context, and provides the means by which the moniker implementation should retrieve information about its environment.

[in] pmkToLeft

If the moniker is part of a composite moniker, pointer to the moniker to the left of this moniker. This parameter is primarily used by moniker implementers to enable cooperation between the various components of a composite moniker. Moniker clients should use NULL.

[in] riid

A reference to the identifier of the storage interface requested, whose pointer will be returned in ppvObj. Storage interfaces commonly requested include IStorage, IStream, and ILockBytes.

[out] ppvObj

The address of pointer variable that receives the interface pointer requested in riid. Upon successful return, *ppvObj contains the requested interface pointer to the storage of the object the moniker identifies. When successful, the implementation must call AddRef on the storage. It is the caller's responsibility to call Release. If an error occurs, *ppvObj should be NULL.

Return value

This method can return the standard return values E_UNEXPECTED, as well as the following values.

Return code	Description
S_OK	The binding operation was successful.
MK_E_NOSTORAGE	The object identified by this moniker does not have its own storage.
MK_E_EXCEEDEDDEADLINE	The binding operation could not be completed within the time limit specified by the bind context's BIND_OPTS structure.
MK_E_CONNECTMANUALLY	The operation was unable to connect to the storage, possibly because a network device could not be connected to. For more information, see IMoniker::BindToObject.
MK_E_INTERMEDIATEINTERFACENOTSUPPORTED	An intermediate object was found but it did not support an interface required to complete the binding operation. For example, an item moniker returns this value if its container does not support the IOleItemContainer interface.
STG_E_ACCESSDENIED	Unable to access the storage object.

This method can also return the errors associated with the IOleItemContainer::GetObject method.

Remarks

There is an important difference between the BindToObject and BindToStorage methods. If, for example, you have a moniker that identifies a spreadsheet object, calling BindToObject provides access to the spreadsheet object itself, while calling BindToStorage provides access to the storage object in which the spreadsheet resides.

Notes to Callers

Although none of the COM moniker classes call this method in their binding operations, it might be appropriate to call it in the implementation of a new moniker class. You could call this method in an implementation of BindToObject that requires information from the object identified by the pmkToLeft parameter and can get it from the persistent storage of the object without activation. For example, if your monikers are used to identify objects that can be activated without activating their containers, you may find this method useful.

A client that can read the storage of the object its moniker identifies could also call this method.

Notes to Implementers

Your implementation should locate the persistent storage for the object identified by the current moniker and return the desired interface pointer. Some types of monikers represent pseudo-objects, which are objects that do not have their own persistent storage. Such objects comprise some portion of the internal state of its container, for example, a range of cells in a spreadsheet. If your moniker class identifies this type of object, your implementation of BindToStorage should return the error MK_E_NOSTORAGE.

If the bind context's BIND_OPTS structure specifies the BINDFLAGS_JUSTTESTEXISTENCE flag, your implementation has the option of returning NULL in ppvObj (although you can also ignore the flag and perform the complete binding operation).

Implementation-specific Notes

Implementation	Notes
Anti-moniker	This method returns E_NOTIMPL.
Class moniker	This method forwards to the class moniker's BindToObject.
File moniker	This method opens the file specified by the path represented by the moniker and returns an IStorage pointer to that file. The method supports binding to the IStorage interface only; if IStream or ILockBytes is requested in riid, the method returns E_UNSPEC, and if other interfaces are requested, this method returns E_NOINTERFACE. Unless pmkToLeft is a class moniker, pmkToLeft should be NULL, as in the implementation of IMoniker::BindToObject.
Generic composite moniker	This method recursively calls BindToStorage on the rightmost component of the composite, passing the rest of the composite as the pmkToLeft parameter for that call.
Item moniker	If pmkToLeft is NULL, this method returns E_INVALIDARG. Otherwise, the method calls IMoniker::BindToObject on the pmkToLeft parameter, requesting an IOleItemContainer interface pointer. The method then calls IOleItemContainer::GetObjectStorage for the requested interface.
OBJREF moniker	This method obtains a marshaled pointer to the requested interface on the storage that contains the running object. Because the OBJREF moniker represents a running object, no activation takes place. If the represented object is no longer running, BindToStorage fails with E_UNEXPECTED.
Pointer moniker	This method queries the wrapped pointer for the requested interface.
URL moniker	The system implementation of URL monikers supports BindToStorage for stream objects on all URLs and for storage objects in the case where the designated resource is a compound file. Because the URL moniker supports asynchronous binding, the actual return value of its BindToStorage may vary depending on the object parameters established in the bind context. However, the semantics of the bind operation are identical regardless of synchronous or asynchronous usage, as follows: The URL moniker pulls further information for the bind operation from the bind context. For example, the moniker can obtain pointers to the IBindStatusCallback and IEnumFORMATETC interfaces that are registered in the bind context. Further information can include additional bind options specified on the bind context through IBindCtx::SetBindOptions, such as the dwTickCountDeadline parameter or the grfFlags value of BIND_MAYBOTHERUSER. The moniker then queries the client by calling IBindStatusCallback::GetBindInfo and initiates the bind operation with the transport and passes the resulting IBinding to the client by calling IBindStatusCallback::OnStartBinding. If the caller requested an asynchronous IStream or IStorage by specifying the BINDF_ASYNCSTORAGE flag in the BINDINFO structure retrieved from the IBindStatusCallback::GetBindInfo, method the URL moniker returns the object as soon as possible. Calls to these IStorage or IStream objects that reference data not yet available return E_PENDING. If the caller does not specify asynchronous IStream or IStorage as described above, the URL moniker will still return an object through the IBindStatusCallback::OnDataAvailable method as soon as possible. However, calls to these objects that reference data not yet available will block until the data becomes available. For some applications, this will require the least modification of their existing I/O code yet may still result in improved performance depending on their access patterns.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	objidl.h