Chapter 13. Hello, ATL Server: A Modern C++ Web Platform

Throughout the previous 12 chapters, we've focused on ATL as a framework for building both COM components and user interfaces (via ATL's windowing classes and ActiveX control support). Now we look at ATL as a modern platform for building web applications. That framework is a set of classes known collectively as ATL Server.

Although most of the discussion thus far has involved ATL's COM support, ATL Server actually has very little to do with COM. Because its purpose is to handle Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests, the crux of ATL Server is built around Microsoft's Internet Service API (ISAPI). The library just happens to use COM inside. We start by briefly reviewing Microsoft's web platform. Then, we examine how ATL Server leverages that platform to provide a viable means of creating web applications and web services. There's much more to ATL Server than can be covered in this book, so we just hit the high points in this chapter.