Making self documenting COM components part 2

[WesWesthaver]

Back in February I started a thread on "creating self documenting COM components." When it became clear that it wasn't possible to do the things I wanted to do in PowerBasic natively, I let the thread die.

http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pbforums/showthread.php?t=39809

However, I'm still interested in making my COM objects self documenting and I'd be grateful to anyone who can offer some guidance. If I understand correctly, adding TypeDefs and HelpStrings to a PowerBasic generated COM object is possible if you know how to construct your own *.IDL file and compile it into the resulting .TLB file.

Are there any tools available that can be used to create/edit .IDL files and compile them into .TLB's?

I'm still very happy with PowerBasic's ability to create COM objects. I just want to take it a step further.

-Wes

[Dominic Mitchell]

Study the Microsoft Interface Definition Language(MIDL) and use any text editor.
Some links to start you off.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa367091(VS.85).aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/msj/0898/idl/idl.aspx

The files you need are on the Platform SDK CD.

The following code demonstrates how to invoke the MIDL compiler.

 
FUNCTION Compile() AS LONG

  LOCAL     szCmdLine   AS ASCIIZ * 4096
  LOCAL     szTargetDir AS ASCIIZ * %MAX_PATH
  LOCAL     szCL        AS ASCIIZ * %MAX_PATH
  LOCAL     szIncl      AS ASCIIZ * %MAX_PATH
  LOCAL     tsa         AS SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES
  LOCAL     tpi         AS PROCESS_INFORMATION
  LOCAL     tsi         AS STARTUPINFO
  LOCAL     lRet        AS LONG

  GetShortPathName "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Bin\Win64\cl.exe", szCL, %MAX_PATH
  GetShortPathName "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\include\", szIncl, %MAX_PATH

  ' Build the command for invoking the Windows resource compiler
  ' ------------------------------------------------------------
  szCmdLine = $DQ + "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Bin\midl.exe" + $DQ + _
              " /nologo /env win32 /cpp_cmd " + szCL + _
              " /I" + szIncl + _
              " /tlb F:\Support\BHO\BHO.tlb" + _
              " F:\Support\BHO\BHO.idl"

  szTargetDir = "F:\Support\BHO\"

  WriteLogFileHeader "F:\Support\InvokeMidl\log.txt", VARPTR(szCmdLine), LEN(szCmdLine)

  ' Create the pipe for communicating with the console process
  tsa.nLength        = SIZEOF(tsa)
  tsa.bInheritHandle = %TRUE

  IF ISTRUE CreatePipe(BYVAL VARPTR(ghReadPipe), BYVAL VARPTR(ghWritePipe), BYVAL VARPTR(tsa), 256 * 1024) THEN
    tsi.cb              = SIZEOF(tsi)
    tsi.lpReserved      = %NULL
    tsi.lpDesktop       = %NULL
    tsi.lpTitle         = %NULL
    tsi.dwX             = 0
    tsi.dwY             = 0
    tsi.dwXSize         = 0
    tsi.dwYSize         = 0
    tsi.dwXCountChars   = 0
    tsi.dwYCountChars   = 0
    tsi.dwFillAttribute = 0
    tsi.dwFlags         = %STARTF_USESTDHANDLES OR %STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW OR %STARTF_FORCEONFEEDBACK
    tsi.wShowWindow     = %SW_HIDE
    tsi.cbReserved2     = 0
    tsi.lpReserved2     = %NULL
    tsi.hStdInput       = 0
    tsi.hStdOutput      = ghWritePipe
    tsi.hStdError       = ghWritePipe

    lRet = CreateProcess(BYVAL %NULL, BYVAL VARPTR(szCmdLine), BYVAL %NULL, BYVAL %NULL, %TRUE, _
                         %CREATE_SUSPENDED OR %NORMAL_PRIORITY_CLASS OR %CREATE_SEPARATE_WOW_VDM, BYVAL %NULL, _
                         BYVAL VARPTR(szTargetDir), BYVAL VARPTR(tsi), BYVAL VARPTR(tpi))

    ' The child process gets a copy of this handle
    CloseHandle ghWritePipe

    IF ISFALSE lRet THEN
      CloseHandle ghReadPipe
      EXIT FUNCTION
    END IF

    ResumeThread tpi.hThread
    ' Close the thread handle as soon as it is no longer needed
    CloseHandle tpi.hThread

    WaitForSingleObject tpi.hProcess, %INFINITE

    IF ghReadPipe THEN
      GetConsoleOutputVPB "F:\Support\InvokeMidl\log.txt"
      CloseHandle ghReadPipe
    END IF

    CloseHandle tpi.hProcess
  END IF

END FUNCTION