a method of inserting information from one computer application into another. For example, a drawing created in CorelDRAW! can be inserted into a Microsoft Word document. The OLE object may be embedded, in which case it is merely a static copy of the original drawing, or linked, in which case it will reflect any changes made to the original drawing. In either case, double-clicking on the drawing in Word calls up a CorelDRAW! window, with all its menus and toolbars, for editing the drawing within Word. OLE superseded an older feature of Windows called dynamic data exchange (DDE).
(in MicrosoftWindows 3.1 and later versions) a method of combining information that is processed by different application programs, such as inserting a drawing or a portion of a spreadsheet into a word processing document. The main document is called the client and the document or application that supplies the embedded material is the server. OLE supersedes an older feature ofWindows called dynamic data exchange (DDE).
OLE can be done in either of two ways. An embedded object becomes part of the document that it is inserted into. For example, if you embed a drawing into a word processing document, the whole thing becomes one file, and to edit it, you use theword processor, which will call up the drawing program when you double-click on the drawing to edit it.A linked object has a life of its own; it remains a separate file and can be edited separately. When you edit it, the information that is linked from it into other documents is automatically updated. Thus, you can use a word processor to create a report that has links to a spreadsheet, and when you update the information in the spreadsheet, the corresponding information in the report will be updated automatically. Embedding and linking correspond to "cold links" and "hot links" in Windows 3.0 DDE.
