WSH and Automation Objects Documentation

scripto · Oct 24, 2003

WSH works with COM objects that have an Automation interface.

How can I find what Objects are available, what kind of Interface they have (i.e. which are Automation objects), what their properties and methods are and how to drive them.

Can applications e.g. Adobe Acrobat can be "driven" from a VbScript

Mark57 · Oct 24, 2003

Check out

http://vbaccelerator.com/home/VB/Utilities/ActiveX_Documenter/article.asp.

This solves at least part of the problem, but knowing which files to open that have automamtion interfaces is still hit and miss for me.

Mark

sentmemail · Oct 30, 2003

scripto ,
have you found your answer?

scripto · Oct 30, 2003

The reply from Mark57 is useful but only for VB and ActiveX objects. VBsctipt cannot access ActiveX objects only Automation objects (as far as I know). Any more info will be very much appreciated.

sentmemail · Oct 31, 2003

i agree with you.
maybe someone can post a list of objects available for vbscript?

ggriffit · Oct 31, 2003

VBScript server side and client side does have access to some ActiveX controls

http://www.greggriffiths.org/webdev/both/excel/

is a sample I wrote a while ago on linking to Excel via ASP and Clientside VBScript, the content and the links at the end may be of some help to you.

dilettante · Oct 31, 2003

VBScript can instantiate and manipulate all kinds of ActiveX objects. The limitation is usually related to data types, which the interface must be able to coerce to/from Variants.

I'm not clear about what you want to accomplish. Unless you have an Adobe's Acrobat product that exposes the necessary interfaces the answer is a qualified "no." I say qualified, because you might locate some 3rd party product that can handle Acrobat documents that does expose the necessary interfaces.

dilettante · Oct 31, 2003

Here's a link on the topic:

Acrobat and ActiveX controls

http://www.codecuts.com/mainpage.asp?WebPageID=96

From initial impressions I'd say it isn't VBScript that's broken, the problem is Adobe's products.

dilettante · Oct 31, 2003

Interesting...

Things aren't as bad as some might make them out to be. It looks like Acrobat Reader offers a regular old ActiveX control as part of the standard installation. Maybe what you are running into is the fact that an ActiveX control requires a container and neither WSH nor ASP offers such a thing. As a result they are limited to simpler (or more complex) ActiveX objects that either do not require or provide their own "canvas."

Example:

pdffer.htm

Code:

<HTML>
  <HEAD>
    <META NAME=&quot;GENERATOR&quot; Content=&quot;Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0&quot;>
    <TITLE>VBScript PDF Demo</TITLE>
    <SCRIPT language=VBScript>
      Sub btnLoad_onclick()
        DPdf1.LoadFile &quot;ENUtxt.pdf&quot;
      End Sub
    </SCRIPT>
  </HEAD>
  <BODY>
    <DIV align=center>
      <INPUT type=button id=btnLoad value=&quot;Load PDF&quot;>
      <BR>
      <OBJECT id=DPdf1 style=&quot;LEFT: 0px; WIDTH: 600px; TOP: 0px; HEIGHT: 500px&quot; 
        classid=clsid:CA8A9780-280D-11CF-A24D-444553540000>
        <PARAM NAME=&quot;_Version&quot; VALUE=&quot;327680&quot;>
      </OBJECT>
    </DIV>
  </BODY>
</HTML>

This works perfectly well and is perfectly scriptable.

I'd suggest that if you want a desktop script you abandon WSH if you can and consider using IE as your script container. The best way of doing this is probably to write your script as an HTA which offers numerous advantages (but of course a few disadvantages of its own).

But maybe your question was a general one, and the "control vs. object" issue is the crux of the matter.

dilettante · Oct 31, 2003

By now I've rambled all over the place, so I suppose one last post can't make matters worse.

Perhaps what you are looking for is an object browser like the ones built into the VS6 tools? This makes it easy to at least determine what methods and properties various ActiveX objects and controls expose, the parameters they accept, and so on.

Another tool I like is ActiveX Documenter at:

http://www.vbaccelerator.com/codelib/actvxdoc/article.htm

But this requires at least a VB5 (or VB6? I have both here) installation because of its dependence upon VB IDE components. The main thing I use it for is creating the "skeleton" of the documentation for my own ActiveX projects.

To go much beyond that of course you need to consult the vendor or developer's documentation for the software you are curious about.

sentmemail · Nov 1, 2003

which COM objects is used for Internet Explorer ?

Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

WSH and Automation Objects Documentation

scripto

Technical User

Mark57

Programmer

sentmemail

MIS

scripto

Technical User

sentmemail

MIS

ggriffit

Programmer

dilettante

MIS

dilettante

MIS

dilettante

MIS

dilettante

MIS

sentmemail

MIS

Similar threads

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor