Has anyone gotten a compiled Dll to work with VB, VBA or VBSCRIPT?

[Thomas Tierney]

I can not seem to create an object created in powerbasic in any of the above languages.

I am using this

#COMPILE DLL "TESTITEM.DLL
#DIM ALL
#COM NAME "IITEM"
#COM GUID GUID$("{1594918F-1131-488C-A11E-CFAFB4A17D31}")
#COM TLIB ON

$MyClassGuid = GUID$("{00000099-0000-0000-0000-000000000008}")
$MyIfaceGuid = GUID$("{00000099-0000-0000-0000-000000000009}")

CLASS MyClass $MyClassGuid AS COM
  INTERFACE MyInterface $MyIfaceGuid
    INHERIT dual
    METHOD Method1(parm AS LONG)
      'CALL abc(parm)
    END METHOD
  END INTERFACE
END CLASS

I compile this, once compiled I use regsvr32.exe to import (I checked the registry and nothing is there) and then try to use in vb/vba using the tlb and I can not create the object. OLEVW lists this as not creatable.

Any help would be appreciated.

[jcfuller]

You need to embed the tlb in the dll using PBTYP.EXE
Or use a resource script as in my example
James

[Thomas Tierney]

Thanks JC,

I used both of those methods and neither one worked.

No matter what I do this object is listed as notcreatable in OLEVIEW

[John Petty]

I am probably the worst OOP's or COM man on the board so please take this comment for what its worth. I understand PB only creates inprocess servers so are you placing PB server as you would a normal DLL preferably in the same folder as the program

[Steven Pringels 3]

I don't want to put a innuendo of some kind but I believe there is a
problem with the IDispatch.

I have a problem where passing an IDispatch to an ActiveX causes
a GPF. In VB this works perfectly

I need to do more testing and hope to put together some package for the support dept. during the week

Cheers

Steven

[Thomas Tierney]

Steven,

In general, have you gotten this to work in VB or VBScript? or was this vb.net?

Thanks

[Thomas Tierney]

I am probably the worst OOP's or COM man on the board so please take this comment for what its worth. I understand PB only creates inprocess servers so are you placing PB server as you would a normal DLL preferably in the same folder as the program

The location of the Dll should be irrelevent as the location, after calling dllregisterserver() via RegSvr32.exe, should be in the registry. Problem is that I dont even see it in the registry after importing the tlb and registering.

[Steven Pringels 3]

Thomas,

In VB 6 the passing of an object is not an powerbasic object. It's an object
that is created using the CreateObject statement in Visual Basic 6.

However, the ActiveX requires for that certain method that I use an IDispatch
now, the MFC equivalent speaks of a LPDISPATCH *lp which is a pointer to a dispatch. The COM browser specifies an IDispatch as a parameter for the method.

Like I said, before I come to my conclusion I have to do some more testing. Hopefully it's me who doing something fuzzy.

[jcfuller]

The location of the Dll should be irrelevent as the location, after calling dllregisterserver() via RegSvr32.exe, should be in the registry. Problem is that I dont even see it in the registry after importing the tlb and registering.

Have you tried opening the dll with PBrow or TLB_400??

James

[jcfuller]

The easiest method of embedding a typlib in your dll is with a resource file.

Contents of YourDll.Rc
1 TYPELIB "YourDll.Tlb"

Load and compile the rc file to a pbr and use in your source.

#RESOURCE "YourDll.Pbr"


James

[Edwin Knoppert]

I don't see why a typelib is required for actual execution.
Afaik it's only useful for combrowsers to extract the interface's definitions.

So if you have a valid interface description in the language using this dll, you should be ok.
If you don't, using the late bound option can be useful.
no need to describe the functions with that one.

Note that i tried this under .NET and that one complaints not having a constructor.
Even while the Create method was available.
Maybe some return value in the addref part is not ok, but what do i know..?
??

[Thomas Tierney]

Edwin,

Everything I see tells me that these objects are not creatable using CreateObject() from vbscript. If anyone has gotten this to work could you post the steps and a sample? I am not trying to do anything incredible.. just trying to call a method that pops up a message box.

Thanks

[jcfuller]

Got it using VB6:
James

sever code:

'=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
'SED_PBWIN
'=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
'
'Compile this first.
'******************************************************************************
'                            James C. Fuller
'                            August 8, 2008
'                         [email protected]
'******************************************************************************
#COMPILE DLL "JCFSERV.DLL
#DIM ALL
#COM NAME "JCFServer",1.0
#COM GUID GUID$("{C7214A4E-D4F7-456C-9F4A-994B56091E95}")
#COM TLIB ON
'This embeds the Typelib in the dll using José's SED
''''''''%   RC TEXT 1 TYPELIB "JCFSERV.tlb"
#RESOURCE "JCFSERV.PBR"

$cJcfServGuid = GUID$("{34D68488-BD5E-4F80-B060-84E373F4D112}")
$iJcfServGuid = GUID$("{E211F708-8350-4CBE-B3B3-C6BD70E25108}")


CLASS cJcfServ $cJcfServGuid AS COM
	INSTANCE L1 AS LONG
    INTERFACE iJcfServ $iJcfServGuid : INHERIT DUAL

        METHOD DoIt<101>() AS LONG
			?"I Am Here"+$CR + FORMAT$(L1)
        END METHOD
		METHOD GetString() AS STRING
			METHOD = UCODE$("James Fuller")
		END METHOD
		PROPERTY GET L1<102>() AS LONG
			PROPERTY = L1
		END PROPERTY
		PROPERTY SET L1<102>(BYVAL Param AS LONG)
			L1 = Param
		END PROPERTY
    END INTERFACE

END CLASS

'=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*

VB6 Form with a button and edit.Make sure you reference the server

Public oJcf As JCFServer.IJCFSERV
Private Sub Command1_Click()

        Dim L2 As Integer
        Dim S1 As String
        
        Set oJcf = CreateObject("CJCFSERV")
        oJcf.L1 = 7
        L2 = oJcf.DOIT()
        S1 = oJcf.GETSTRING
        Text1.Text = S1
End Sub

[Edwin Knoppert]

I did just install VB6.
The normal notation using New and such does not work:
I get a Run-time error '91'
Object not set.

Objectbrowser:
Class CLASS1
Member of PwrDev_COM_server

'New' is getting me:

---------------------------
Microsoft Visual Basic
---------------------------
Compile error:

Invalid use of New keyword
---------------------------
OK Help
---------------------------

Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim c As CLASS1
Set c = New CLASS1
MsgBox c.MyClassMethod(11)
End Sub

My call in the objectbrowser:
Function MyClassMethod(PARAM As Long) As String
Member of PwrDev_COM_server.CLASS1

[Thomas Tierney]

Thats where I am hung up too Edwin, the new keyword. I then fired up OLEVIEW and took a look at the object and that is where I found it to be "noncreatable". This is beginning to becom frustrating. Also, Edwin, can you verify whether or not the class information including GUIDS is located in the HKEY ROOT? On my machine, when registering, nothing shows up in the registry. I have searched all guids and class names and see nothing there.

Thanks

[jcfuller]

Edwin, Thomas
My last example doesn't work for you???

James

[Edwin Knoppert]

Odd is that i can't find 'Interface1' in VB6
In .NET it showed afaik.
(The .NET topic: http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...ad.php?t=38312 )

my PwrDev_COM_server pops up at :
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLASS1

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLASS1\CLSID > {8F6D0C85-EE8E-4678-BA22-C3E904BA05F0}
Which is the GUID of my class, not the dll.
--
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLASS1
and clsid.

Boring stuff, but the typelib is registered with 1.0
Maybe we mis a version?

[Edwin Knoppert]

Edwin, Thomas
My last example doesn't work for you???

James

Maybe it does but it will be late bound.
Just 'making it to work' is not always good.

[jcfuller]

I know nothing of vb but the last section of this page indicates that the code I posted is in fact early binding???

http://kandkconsulting.tripod.com/VB/Tutorials/vb_binding_tutorial.htm

James

[David Warner]

Hi James,

is the resource file necessary in order to get your example to work?

I tried compiling without the resource, and registered the dll successfully.

When I attempted to reference the .tlb in the Access module I received the following error...

Microsoft Visual Basic
Error in loading DLL
[OK] [Help]

On pressing help...

Error in loading DLL (Error 48)
   
A dynamic link library (DLL) is a library specified in the Lib clause of a Declare statement. This error has the following causes and solutions: 

The file isn't DLL-executable. 
If the file is a source-text file, it must be compiled and linked to DLL executable form. 

The file isn't a Microsoft Windows DLL. 
Obtain the Microsoft Windows DLL equivalent of the file. 

The file is an early Microsoft Windows DLL that is incompatible with Microsoft Windows protect mode. 
Obtain an updated version of the DLL. 

The DLL references another DLL that isn't present. 
Obtain the referenced DLL and make it available to the other DLL. 

The DLL or one of the referenced DLLs isn't in a directory specified by your path. 
Move the DLL to a referenced directory or place its current directory on the path.

David