(1) An API that supports compound documents, cross-application macro control, and common object registration. OLE defines protocols for in-place editing, drag-and-drop data transfers, structured storage, custom controls, and more. (2) A data-sharing scheme that allows dissimilar applications to create single complex documents cooperatively. The documents can consist of material that a single application could not have created on its own.

(OLE) A way to transfer and share information between applications.

a method of interprocess communication supported by Windows that involves a client/server architecture. OLE enables an object created by one application to be embedded in or linked to another application.

A tool used for joining documents in different applications. Changes in either document are reflected in the other document.

A feature supported by Windows 3.x that enables files or elements of files to be linked so that if information is updated in one file, then that information can be automatically updated wherever it appears.

A set of integration standards to transfer and share information among client applications. A protocol that enables creation of compound documents with embedded links to applications so that a user does not have to switch among applications in order to make revisions. OLE is based on the Component Object Model (COM) and allows for the development of reusable objects that are interoperable across multiple applications. The technology has been broadly used in business, where spreadsheets, word processors, financial packages, and other applications can share and link disparate information across client/server architectures.

Microsoft's object-based technology for sharing information and services across machine and process boundaries.

A distributed object system and protocol from Microsoft. OLE allows an editor to "farm out" part of a document to another editor and then re-import it. For example, using OLE, a desktop publishing system might send text to a word processor or a picture to a bitmap editor.

Technique for creating an object in one application (the server application), then incorporating it into a file from another application (the container application). Asymetrix Web 3D is a server application.

(OLE): Standards developed by Microsoft to simplify setting up dynamic links between documents, such that when one changes, the other changes automatically. OLE standards also allow a user to embed one document within another.

A program for data sharing that allows two non-compatible applications to work together when creating the document that is to be shared.

A method for sharing information among applications. Linking an object, such as a graphic, from one document to another inserts a reference to the object into the second document. Any changes you make in the object in the first document will also be made in the second document. Embedding an object inserts a copy of an object from one document into another document. Changes you make in the object in the first document will not be updated in the second unless the embedded object is explicitly updated. See also ActiveX.

A Microsoft specification for implementing object-oriented software developments. An improved form of DDE, it adopts a layered approach and allows a file or program to be embedded as an object in another file. OLE2 (the most recent version) and ODBC drivers altered without affecting core software software applications from different vendors to be accessed seamlessly. More and more organizations are adopting this set-up.

(OLE) A distributed object system and protocol from Microsoft. OLE allows an editor to "farm out" part of a document to another editor and then reimport it. For example, a desk-top publishing system might send some text to a word processor or a picture to a bitmap editor using OLE.

A standard for sharing data between applications. It has been around since Windows 3.1 and continues to improve. For example, if you cut a picture out...

Windows' feature that allows applications to share information, even from different contexts and applications. OLTP

A Windows feature that enables you to create work in one application and share that work with another application.

A Microsoft Windows standard mechanism for embedding one program within another. For example, an Excel spreadsheet can be pasted into a Visual Basic program. If a file is linked to an OLE control, the data stored in that file is displayed in the OLE control.

A standard method to link and embed objects created by one program to another program. Also, a type of field in Jet used to store complex objects created by other programs.

a method of communciating between Windows applications. Largely replaced by ActiveX under Windows 95. See Dynamic Data Exchange.

A Windows® function that links documents and allows updates to one document to affect the data contained in another.

Object Linking and Embedding refers to a strategy for inserting data into a compound document, along with a link to the application that created it.

A set of standards from Microsoft that specifies standards for object-oriented application development and compound documents. Compound document standards allow a user to create an object in one application and link or embed the object in a document created with another application.

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) is a distributed object system and protocol developed by Microsoft. The most commonly encountered part of OLE is called ActiveX.