OLE structured storage library replacement for Plasmatech

[TonyB 3]

Our apps have used the Plasmatech OLE structured storage library https://plasmatech.com/storage.htm for many many year and it still works but doesn't appear to have been updated since 2011. To remove a dependency on what looks like abandonware (though the website is still live) I'm looking for a replacement, so far in vain. Any ideas?

[Alexander Elagin 143]

I think that not much has changed in the structured storage implementation in the last two decades. If the library you are using works (and you have the sources) it will work until MS drops the OLE storage (or CFB, as they call it now) support. Anyway, it is all based on a simple set of COM interfaces (IStorage) and it would be easy to use them directly or write a simple wrapper if needed.

Documentation for IStorage compound file implementation

[David Heffernan 2353]

I remember working with the ExpressSpreadsheet xls code which is based on BIFF records and COM structured storage. The developers had implemented a lot of code to handle the structured storage side of it all, and whilst it mostly worked, there were a couple of obscure bugs which were flushed out by writing huge files. After spending some time debugging it all, we threw away all of the third party code that implemented structured storage and replaced it with the system provided COM objects.

 

So I guess what I am saying is that the approach outlined by @Alexander Elagin above seems likely to be good advice to me.

[TonyB 3]

Thanks for the feedback. It's not that UPT doesn't work, just that a business query related to using software that doesn't appear to be actively maintained.

[David Heffernan 2353]

Well in the case of structured storage, it's an old legacy technology that won't change. So does it matter that your library isn't actively maintained?