Q285396: HOWTO: Obtain Office Constants from .OLB Files with VFP
Article: Q285396
Product(s): Microsoft FoxPro
Version(s): 6.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbAutomation kbCOMt kbvfp600 kbGrpDSFox kbDSupport kbCodeSnippet
Last Modified: 13-JUN-2001
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 6.0
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SUMMARY
=======
Automation of Microsoft Office products from Visual FoxPro (VFP) is a popular
undertaking for VFP developers. Most often, VFP developers approach this task by
converting macros from the product to be automated or by translating examples
written for Microsoft Visual Basic. Regardless of the approach, the VFP
developer must often convert Office constants to their literal values before
these constants can be used from VFP. Depending on the amount of code, this can
be a tedious undertaking.
MORE INFORMATION
================
The following sample code helps VFP developers translate Office constants. It
provides a method to extract the built-in constants from Office object library
(.olb) files, and then allows the developer to save them to a header (.h) file
for inclusion in a VFP project.
For example, a VFP developer writing a program to automate Microsoft Word can use
this code to extract all of the Word constants to a header file. The header file
can be included in the Word automation program using the #INCLUDE statement,
allowing the developer to use Word constants "as is" in the VFP code (for
example, the developer can use wdFindContinue instead of its literal value of
1).
To use this sample code, follow these steps:
1. Paste the code below in a new .prg file, and then save and run the program. A
form with the title ".OLB Constants Extractor" appears.
2. Click the ellipsis (...) button to locate an .olb file in your Office folder,
and then click Extract Constants. The form extracts all the constants from
the .olb file you selected and writes them to the edit box.
3. You can then review the output or save the results to a header file for use
in your code. To do this, click Save to .h.
Office constants are available from the following files:
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Office 2000 Component | File Containing Constants |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Word 2000 | MSWord9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Excel 2000 | Excel9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Access 2000 | MSAcc9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 | MSPPT9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Outlook 2000 | MSOutl9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Graph 2000 | Graph9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Binder 2000 | MSBdr9.olb |
+-------------------------------------------------------+
NOTE: This sample code uses objects that are included in the Tlbinf32.dll file.
This dynamic-link library (.dll) file ships with Microsoft Visual Studio 98
Service Pack 4. If this file is not present and properly registered on your
computer, the sample code below will fail.
****************START CODE****************
PUBLIC oform1
oform1=NEWOBJECT("form1")
oform1.SHOW
RETURN
****************FORM CODE****************
DEFINE CLASS form1 AS FORM
HEIGHT = 445
WIDTH = 567
DOCREATE = .T.
AUTOCENTER = .T.
BORDERSTYLE = 1
CAPTION = ".OLB Constants Extractor"
MAXBUTTON = .F.
MINBUTTON = .F.
NAME = "Form1"
ADD OBJECT txtolbfile AS TEXTBOX WITH ;
HEIGHT = 27, ;
LEFT = 65, ;
READONLY = .T., ;
TABINDEX = 2, ;
TOP = 6, ;
WIDTH = 458, ;
NAME = "txtOLBFILE"
ADD OBJECT label1 AS LABEL WITH ;
AUTOSIZE = .T., ;
CAPTION = ".\<OLB File:", ;
HEIGHT = 17, ;
LEFT = 4, ;
TOP = 11, ;
WIDTH = 55, ;
TABINDEX = 1, ;
NAME = "Label1"
ADD OBJECT cmdsave AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
TOP = 411, ;
LEFT = 394, ;
HEIGHT = 27, ;
WIDTH = 84, ;
CAPTION = "\<Save to .h", ;
ENABLED = .F., ;
TABINDEX = 6, ;
NAME = "cmdSAVE"
ADD OBJECT cmdquit AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
TOP = 411, ;
LEFT = 480, ;
HEIGHT = 27, ;
WIDTH = 84, ;
CAPTION = "\<Quit", ;
TABINDEX = 7, ;
NAME = "cmdQUIT"
ADD OBJECT edtconstants AS EDITBOX WITH ;
HEIGHT = 347, ;
LEFT = 6, ;
READONLY = .T., ;
TABINDEX = 4, ;
TOP = 52, ;
WIDTH = 558, ;
NAME = "edtConstants"
ADD OBJECT cmdgetfile AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
TOP = 6, ;
LEFT = 533, ;
HEIGHT = 27, ;
WIDTH = 26, ;
CAPTION = "...", ;
TABINDEX = 3, ;
NAME = "cmdGETFILE"
ADD OBJECT cmdextract AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
TOP = 411, ;
LEFT = 280, ;
HEIGHT = 27, ;
WIDTH = 110, ;
CAPTION = "\<Extract Constants", ;
ENABLED = .F., ;
TABINDEX = 5, ;
NAME = "cmdEXTRACT"
PROCEDURE cmdsave.CLICK
STRTOFILE(THISFORM.edtconstants.VALUE,PUTFILE([Header File], ;
JUSTSTEM(THISFORM.txtolbfile.VALUE) + [.h],[.h]))
ENDPROC
PROCEDURE cmdquit.CLICK
THISFORM.RELEASE
ENDPROC
PROCEDURE cmdgetfile.CLICK
LOCAL lcOLBFile
lcOLBFile = GETFILE([OLB],[OLB File],[Open])
IF EMPTY(lcOLBFile)
RETURN .F.
ENDIF
IF UPPER(RIGHT(lcOLBFile,3)) # [OLB]
MESSAGEBOX([Invalid File],0,[])
RETURN .F.
ENDIF
THISFORM.txtolbfile.VALUE = lcOLBFile
THISFORM.cmdextract.ENABLED= .T.
ENDPROC
PROCEDURE cmdextract.CLICK
WAIT WINDOW [Processing...] NOCLEAR NOWAIT
LOCAL oTLB_INFO, oConstants, lcConstantsStr, Obj, member
#DEFINE CRLF CHR(13) + CHR(10)
oTLB_INFO = CREATEOBJECT([tli.typelibinfo])
oTLB_INFO.ContainingFile = (THISFORM.txtolbfile.VALUE)
oConstants = oTLB_INFO.Constants
lcConstantsStr = []
FOR EACH Obj IN oTLB_INFO.Constants
lcConstantsStr = lcConstantsStr + CRLF + "* " + Obj.Name + CRLF
FOR EACH member IN Obj.Members
lcConstantsStr = lcConstantsStr + [#DEFINE ] + ;
member.NAME + [ ] + ;
TRANSFORM(member.VALUE) + CRLF
NEXT member
NEXT Obj
THISFORM.edtconstants.VALUE=lcConstantsStr
THISFORM.cmdsave.ENABLED= .T.
WAIT CLEAR
WAIT WINDOW [Complete!] TIMEOUT 2
ENDPROC
ENDDEFINE
****************END CODE****************
REFERENCES
==========
For additional information on the Tlbinf32.dll file, click the article number
below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q224331 FILE: Tlbinf32.exe : Help Files for Tlbinf32.dll
NOTE: Both the Tlbinf32.dll file and the HTML Help file are provided for your
reference only, and they are not supported by Microsoft.
For additional information on using the TypeLibInformation object, see the
following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q172988 SAMPLE: CLSNMMBR.EXE Programmatically Retrieves the Members of a DLL
Class
Q239930 HOW TO: Obtain Built-In Constant Values for an Office Application
(c) Microsoft Corporation 2001, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Trevor
Hancock, Microsoft Corporation.
Additional query words: #DEFINE
======================================================================
Keywords : kbAutomation kbCOMt kbvfp600 kbGrpDSFox kbDSupport kbCodeSnippet
Technology : kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbVFP600
Version : :6.0
Issue type : kbhowto
=============================================================================
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