Base Module to Analyze a COM/ActiveX Library

[stefan_schnell]

In my last blog posts here, here and here I showed different scenarios of COM development integration - all with ABAP in Eclipse. To increase the integration I developed a library which delivers the complete interfaces of all methods and properties of a COM library. The library calls TypeLibInf.dll.

 

TypeLibInf library offers three ways of information to the interface information of a COM library:

1. Via StdCall interface
   Function DLL_TypeLibInf (TypeLibName As String Ptr) Export As Long
   TypeLibName = Path and name of the type library
   Delivers the address to a string with the interface information


2. Via Java interface
   Delivers a string with the interface information


3. Via COM interface
   Delivers a string with the interface information

 

You can use it via Java e.g. like this:

// Begin----------------------------------------------------------------



  public class TypeLib

  {



    public native String Inf(String s);



    static

    {

      System.loadLibrary("TypeLibInf");

    }



    public static void main(String[] args)

    {

      TypeLib TL = new TypeLib();

      try

      {

        String Interface = TL.Inf("C:\\Windows\\System32\\wshom.ocx");

        System.out.println(Interface);

      }

      catch (Exception e)

      {

        System.out.println(e);

      }

    }



  }



// End------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also you can use it via COM e.g. like this:

'-Begin-----------------------------------------------------------------



  Set TypeLibInf = CreateObject("COM_TYPELIBINF")

  If IsObject(TypeLibInf) Then

    Interface = TypeLibInf.COM_TYPELIBINF("C:\Dummy\COMBeep.dll")

    MsgBox Interface

    Set TypeLibInf = Nothing

  End If



'-End-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Also I developed as example a tiny program which uses the StdCall interface of the library. It shows all methods and properties of a COM/ActiveX library in a tree, below their interfaces. With a double click on the method or property the program generates an associated ABAP code. Also you can see the interface definition with all arguments and their types.

 



 

I hope in this way it is much more easier to developing ABAP programs with COM/ActiveX connection.

I integrate the Java interface for a future development, to integrate the same functionality as view for ABAP in Eclipse.

 

Here a snippet to use TypeLibInf in ABAP:

"-Begin-----------------------------------------------------------------

  Program zTypeLib.



  "-Type-Pools----------------------------------------------------------

    Type-Pools OLE2.



  "-Variables-----------------------------------------------------------

    Data TypeLibInf Type OLE2_OBJECT.

    Data Interface Type String Value ''.

    Data TabInterface Type Table Of String.

    Data strTemp Type String Value ''.



  "-Main----------------------------------------------------------------

    Create Object TypeLibInf 'COM_TYPELIBINF'.

    If sy-subrc = 0 And TypeLibInf-HANDLE <> 0 And

      TypeLibInf-TYPE = 'OLE2'.



      Call Method Of TypeLibInf 'COM_TYPELIBINF' = Interface

        Exporting

          #1 = 'C:\Windows\System32\wshom.ocx'.                  "32-bit

         "#1 = 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\wshom.ocx'.                  "64-bit



      Split Interface At ';' Into Table TabInterface.

      Loop At TabInterface Into strTemp.

        Write: / strTemp.

      EndLoop.



      Free Object TypeLibInf.

    EndIf.



"-End-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Here a snippet to use TypeLibInf in Python:

#-Begin-----------------------------------------------------------------



#-Packages--------------------------------------------------------------

from ctypes import *



#-Main------------------------------------------------------------------

TypeLibDLL = "C:\\Projects\\TypeLibInf\\TypeLibInf.dll"

TypeLib = windll.LoadLibrary(TypeLibDLL)



TypeLib.DLL_TypeLibInf.argtypes = [c_char_p]

TypeLib.DLL_TypeLibInf.restype = c_char_p



Lib = create_string_buffer(b"C:\\Windows\\System32\\wshom.ocx")   #32bit

#Lib = create_string_buffer(b"C:\\Windows\\SysWOW64\\wshom.ocx")  #64bit

Interface = TypeLib.DLL_TypeLibInf(Lib)



Interface = str(Interface)

lstInterface = Interface.split(";")

for i in range(len(lstInterface)):

  print(lstInterface[i])



del TypeLib



#-End-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Here a snippet to use TypeLibInf with PowerShell:

#-Begin-----------------------------------------------------------------



  #-Sub Main------------------------------------------------------------

  Function Main() {



    $TypeLib = New-Object -ComObject "COM_TYPELIBINF";

    If ($TypeLib -isnot [__ComObject]) {

      Exit;

    }



    $Files = Get-ChildItem -Path "C:\Dummy\" -Include @("*.dll","*.ocx") -Recurse;

    ForEach ($File In $Files) {

      $Interface = $TypeLib.COM_TYPELIBINF($File.Fullname);

      $Interface = $Interface.Replace(";", "`r`n");

      $NewName = $File.Fullname + ".int";

      $Interface | Out-File $NewName;

    }



  }



  #-Main----------------------------------------------------------------

  Main;



#-End-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

You can download the library and the program with the examples here.

 

2014/08/28 - Tiny update of the program, small bug fixing in ABAP code generation (Thanks to Holger) and the most variable types are now identified in ABAP code generation.

2014/08/25 - Tiny update of the program, now instantiation of OLE object in ABAP code generation with subrc request.

2014/09/08 - Tiny update of the program, small bug fixing in ABAP code generation and some advances to the program itself.