First of all, a newer version of importtl and typelib is commited in fpc trunk. Some other bug-fixes where submitted in
http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=21077.

The PSafeArray warning is only for dispinterface. Most typelibs have both interface and dispinterface definitions for the same interface. Dispinterface is using late binding and can use only automatable types. Using the interface definitions, you have all the advantages of early binding and you can use PSafeArray directly.

The warning doesn't mean it isn't working. It only means that you have a "generic" olevariant without any "sub-type" information. The warning is there to give you what is exactly expected in the olevariant. You can simply assign a VarArray created with VarArrayCreate to the olevariant.

In freepascal, to use PSafeArray you use the function VarArrayAsPSafeArray. Despite the name, this returns a PVarArray which you can cast to PSafeArray (structures are the same).

Ludo

Just because I noticed this mail:
I tried today to convert the Windows Image Acquisiton Automation Library (Windows\system32\wiaaut.dll) on a Windows 7 32-Bit system (using FPC 2.7.1 from yesterday evening). The resulting unit was not compileable as it contains at least two errors. I have attached the unit for you to check.

Regards,
Sven
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Ludo Brands wrote

First of all, a newer version of importtl and typelib is commited in fpc trunk. Some other bug-fixes where submitted in http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=21077.

(Note that importtl was merged to 2.6.1 (fixes_2_6) yesterday, including the currency automatable fix. This now should be tested)

2012/1/23 Sven Barth :

I tried today to convert the Windows Image Acquisiton Automation Library (Windows\system32\wiaaut.dll) on a Windows 7 32-Bit system (using FPC 2.7.1 from yesterday evening). The resulting unit was not compileable as it contains at least two errors. I have attached the unit for you to check.

Is there a tutorial somewhere saying what to do to import a COM Automation object with this new tool? And in general what to do with the result later...

thanks,

These 2 problems have the same cause and are fixed in the patch in http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=21077 :

-disambiguate method name for INVOKE_PROPERTYPUT and INVOKE_PROPERTYPUTREF on same property (ado\msado25.tlb)

Using the latest fixes results in no errors for this typelib (I don't have win7 32bit but used the dll in the wiaautsdk).

Ludo

Is there a tutorial somewhere saying what to do to import a COM Automation object with this new tool?

Not yet. Importtl creates a pascal unit that declares all interface exported by a COM typelib (dll, exe, tlb or olb). The resulting unit is like a library binding but consists of interface declarations instead of function declarations.

I've also finished a lazarus package that integrates the tool into lazarus. It includes an ActiveXContainer (TWinControl descendant) that allows for visual activex components. The package also creates new ActiveX component packages directly from the typelib. The latest patch in http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=21077 contains the last bits needed in importtl and typelib to support this. Once that is commited I'll submit the lazarus package to the lazarus issue tracker. Documentation will follow.

And in general what to do with the result later...

That is the same as asking "what can you do with a library". The answer is: "depends on the object". Most of the COM objects have documentation to describe what the interfaces do.

Ludo

Ludo Brands wrote

Once that is commited I'll submit the lazarus package to the lazarus issue tracker. Documentation will follow.

Hurry up then :-)

Hurry up then :-)

http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=21138, with a few lines HowTo ;)

Ludo

I started documenting COM (although I don't know much on the subject, so contributions are really welcome):

http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Windows_Programming_Tips#COM_Programming

And I compiled and "released" importtl. So that people using older FPC versions can download it and use it.

http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Windows_Programming_Tips#COM_Programming

And I compiled and "released" importtl. So that people using older FPC

versions can download it and use it.

Quite busy now but as soon I have more time, I'll update the docs.

Ludo