On Thu, 26 Sep 2019 at 05:18, teso...@gmail.com <teso...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Do you have any use case in mind to start working on? > I can suggest something I did in the past (it's the idea behind PlantUML Gizmo). With Roassal, we can generate visualizations (PNG?) that go into a Word document. The source (which is a kind of DSL to produce an image, like PlantUML) can be in a playground. The problem is when you insert the image into word, you can't re-do it unless you have the source, which is in some Pharo image or Git repository... it's nicer to be able to keep the source inside your documentation (Word). So, a use-case would be to automate (with COM) the insertion of the visualization (a morph in the form of a GIF or PNG?) into the currently-open Word document. The Roassal source (DSL, from the playground) would be attached to the image as ALT_TEXT. That way, you could recover the source into Pharo later if/when you want to modify it after it's in your Word document. There would be a complementary function to recover the "selected" image/source from word back into Pharo. This is a rough description I know. I have made a plugin for Word (VSTO, VB.net) that does this using PlantUML.com and it works quite well. But you could easily imagine Pharo/Roassal as the DSL + image generator (it's a little more complex). Maybe not the most interesting use case, but it's something to test out the COM library. The source of the method to replace/insert an image in VB.NET I wrote is here [1] (the context is VSTO, so it's surely different in COM, but it might be useful to someone). Cris [1]: https://github.com/fuhrmanator/plantuml-word-add-in-vsto/blob/6f917e94779a1c6a20a93dff4f2f09943f5caa1f/PlantUML%20add-in/PlantUML%20editor.vb#L16 > > Thanks, > Pablo > > On Wed, Sep 25, 2019 at 10:29 PM eftomi <tomaz.t...@ef.uni-lj.si> wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > I finally got some time to check Pablo's PharoCOM package closely. At > first > > I had problems with simple things, like making Word visible with > > properyNamed:put: (it's frustrating when you see the app on the processes > > list but you cannot control it :-)) but then I found the reason - it was > a > > tiny detail in Win32VariantBool>>#write:to:, and then - voila! > > > > Here's an example of opening Word for Windows, adding a blank document, > > typing some text and getting this text back to Pharo: > > > > Ole32Lib uniqueInstance initLibrary. > > wrd := COMDispatchInstance createInstanceByName: 'Word.Application'. > > wrd propertyNamed: 'Visible' put: true. > > > > docs := wrd propertyNamed: 'Documents'. > > docs dispatch: 'Add'. > > > > sel := wrd propertyNamed: 'Selection'. > > sel dispatch: 'TypeText' withArguments: {'Hello from Pharo!'}. > > > > sel dispatch: 'WholeStory' . > > Transcript show: (sel propertyNamed: 'Text'); cr. > > > > Another example is with Active Data Objects to get DB access: > > > > conn := COMDispatchInstance createInstanceByName: 'ADODB.Connection' . > > conn dispatch: 'Open' withArguments: { 'DSN=this; Uid=that; > Pwd=theOther;' } > > . > > conn propertyNamed: 'State' . --> true! > > rst := (COMDispatchInstance createInstanceByName: 'ADODB.Recordset') . > > rst dispatch: 'Open' withArguments: { 'SomeTableName' . conn . 3 . 1 }. > > > > The last line raises an exception because not all of the data types that > > functions are reporting are implemented yet, as Pablo mentioned in his > post. > > > > The package is really nicely prepared. The most impressive is it's > > reflective capability. My "proof of concept" work with DispHelper library > > that I mentioned in another forum topic was successful (I can get to the > SQL > > Server :-)), however it's a dead-end regarding the reflection. > > > > I'm very interested in COM implementation since I found Pharo to be very > > useful as a tool, and since I work in "windowed" environment the COM > > interaction is crucial to me. I decided to spent my free evenings > working on > > the project finalization. I'm not sure of how long will it take though > :-) > > Pablo, I hope that I can count on your help regarding the questions about > > the overall architecture that you set. > > > > Is anybody else interested in this? Maybe we can join our efforts. > > > > Best wishes, > > Tomaz > > > > > > > > -- > > Sent from: http://forum.world.st/Pharo-Smalltalk-Users-f1310670.html > > > > > -- > Pablo Tesone. > teso...@gmail.com > > -- Christopher Fuhrman, P.Eng., PhD *Professeur au Département de génie logiciel et des technologies de l'informationÉTS (École de technologie supérieure)* http://profs.etsmtl.ca/cfuhrman +1 514 396 8638 *L'ÉTS est une constituante de l'Université du Québec*
