Let's try to define the different functionalities that a compound document provides. Instead of switching between applications, you manipulate parts of a document. Different types of data in a compound document are contained in different types of 'components'. As defined in the first section of the chapter a 'component' is a smart object that is independent of any applications and can by shipped anywhere and put into a container to co-exist with other components. As we will see, the functionality provided by the compound documents is not enough.
Some more support is needed from the underlying framework.
The framework provides - an organized environment for running a collection of components and protocols for interaction between them. In this section we will look at three existing compound document technologies viz. OpenDoc, Object Linking and Embedding, and Java Beans. It is not possible to explain all of them in detail in such short space, but I will try to give an intuitive idea about each. OpenDoc provides all the facilities and capabilities provided by a compound document framework as mentioned previously.