Xojo Documentation Xojo Documentation

Class (inherits from Object)

Used to automate COM servers. Use the WordApplication, ExcelApplication, and PowerPointApplication classes to automate Microsoft Office applications. OLE is supported on the Windows platform only.

Events

EventTriggered

Properties

Handle

Methods

Invoke Value Invoke ValueArray TypeName ValueArray2D

Constructors

Constructor(ProgramID as String) Constructor(ProgramID as String, NewInstance as Boolean) Constructor(copy as OLEObject)

Notes

By default, OLEObject will make the property assignment by value. If it encounters an error it will try by reference if the property is an object. If the optional ByValue parameter is True, the property assignment is by value (i.e., a copy); otherwise the assignment is by reference (i.e., a pointer copy). In Visual Basic, an assignment by reference is done using the Set command, but since Xojo doesn't provide that feature, you will need to use the ByValue parameter when you know the assignment should be by reference.

Currency types are treated as String to preserve precision.

Since OLEObject uses Operator_Lookup, you can also use dot notation to access OLEProperties.

Sample Code

The following code automates Internet Explorer.

Var obj As OLEObject
Var v As Variant
Var params(1) As Variant

obj = New OLEObject("InternetExplorer.Application", True)
obj.Value("Visible") = True
params(1) = "http://www.wikipedia.org/"
v = obj.invoke("Navigate", params)

Exception err As OLEException
MessageBox(err.Message)

The OLEObject class supports setting indexed properties. For example the Word.Document.Compatibility property is an indexed property. Here is an example.

Var word As New OLEObject("Word.Application")
Var doc As OLEObject

word.Visible = True
doc = word.Documents.Add

Var params(1) As Variant
params(1) = Office.wdNoTabHangIndent

doc.Value("Compatibility", params) = True
// or
// doc.Compatibility(Office.wdNoTabHangIndent)=True

The following code creates a copy of the passed OLEObject using the copy constructor and opens a new Word document.

Var word As New OLEObject("word.Application")
Var wordCopy As OLEObject
wordCopy = New OLEObject(word)
wordCopy.Visible = True
wordCopy.Documents.Add

This code automates Microsoft Word.

Var obj As OLEObject
Var docs As OLEObject
Var doc As OLEObject
Var range As OLEObject
Var v As Variant

obj = New OLEObject("Word.Application", True)

// make it visible
obj.Value("Visible") = True

v = obj.Value("Documents")
If v.ObjectValue IsA OLEObject Then
docs = OLEObject(v.ObjectValue)
v = docs.Invoke("Add")
If v.ObjectValue IsA OLEObject Then
doc = OLEObject(v.ObjectValue)
v = doc.Invoke("Range")
If v.ObjectValue IsA OLEObject Then
range = OLEObject(v.ObjectValue)
range.Value("Text") = "This is a sentence."
End If
End If
End If

Exception err As OLEException
MessageBox(err.Message)

This code shows how to get the MoviePlayer CurrentPosition using both dot notation and function calls:

Var o As OLEObject = MoviePlayer1.MovieController
Var v As Variant = o.Value("Controls")
If v IsA OLEObject Then
Var pos As Double = OLEObject(v).Value("CurrentPosition")
End If

And with dot notation:

Try
Var pos As Double = MoviePlayer1.MovieController.Controls.CurrentPosition
Catch e As OLEException
MessageBox("OLE access error.")
End Try

See Also

ExcelApplication, Office, OLEContainer, OLEParameter, PowerPointApplication, WordApplication classes; OLEException error.