DOCUMENT:Q285396  13-JUN-2001  [foxpro]
TITLE   :HOWTO: Obtain Office Constants from .OLB Files with VFP
PRODUCT :Microsoft FoxPro
PROD/VER::6.0
OPER/SYS:
KEYWORDS:kbAutomation kbCOMt kbvfp600 kbGrpDSFox kbDSupport kbCodeSnippet

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 6.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

Automation of Microsoft Office products from Visual FoxPro (VFP) is a popular
undertaking for VFP developers. Most often, VFP developers approach this task by
converting macros from the product to be automated or by translating examples
written for Microsoft Visual Basic. Regardless of the approach, the VFP
developer must often convert Office constants to their literal values before
these constants can be used from VFP. Depending on the amount of code, this can
be a tedious undertaking.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The following sample code helps VFP developers translate Office constants. It
provides a method to extract the built-in constants from Office object library
(.olb) files, and then allows the developer to save them to a header (.h) file
for inclusion in a VFP project.

For example, a VFP developer writing a program to automate Microsoft Word can use
this code to extract all of the Word constants to a header file. The header file
can be included in the Word automation program using the #INCLUDE statement,
allowing the developer to use Word constants "as is" in the VFP code (for
example, the developer can use wdFindContinue instead of its literal value of
1).

To use this sample code, follow these steps:

1. Paste the code below in a new .prg file, and then save and run the program. A
   form with the title ".OLB Constants Extractor" appears.

2. Click the ellipsis (...) button to locate an .olb file in your Office folder,
   and then click Extract Constants. The form extracts all the constants from
   the .olb file you selected and writes them to the edit box.

3. You can then review the output or save the results to a header file for use
   in your code. To do this, click Save to .h.

Office constants are available from the following files:

+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Office 2000 Component     | File Containing Constants | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Word 2000       | MSWord9.olb               | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Excel 2000      | Excel9.olb                | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Access 2000     | MSAcc9.olb                | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 | MSPPT9.olb                | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Outlook 2000    | MSOutl9.olb               | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Graph 2000      | Graph9.olb                | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+
| Microsoft Binder 2000     | MSBdr9.olb                | 
+-------------------------------------------------------+

NOTE: This sample code uses objects that are included in the Tlbinf32.dll file.
This dynamic-link library (.dll) file ships with Microsoft Visual Studio 98
Service Pack 4. If this file is not present and properly registered on your
computer, the sample code below will fail.

   ****************START CODE****************
   PUBLIC oform1

   oform1=NEWOBJECT("form1")
   oform1.SHOW
   RETURN

   ****************FORM CODE****************
   DEFINE CLASS form1 AS FORM

   	HEIGHT = 445
   	WIDTH = 567
   	DOCREATE = .T.
   	AUTOCENTER = .T.
   	BORDERSTYLE = 1
   	CAPTION = ".OLB Constants Extractor"
   	MAXBUTTON = .F.
   	MINBUTTON = .F.
   	NAME = "Form1"

   	ADD OBJECT txtolbfile AS TEXTBOX WITH ;
   		HEIGHT = 27, ;
   		LEFT = 65, ;
   		READONLY = .T., ;
   		TABINDEX = 2, ;
   		TOP = 6, ;
   		WIDTH = 458, ;
   		NAME = "txtOLBFILE"

   	ADD OBJECT label1 AS LABEL WITH ;
   		AUTOSIZE = .T., ;
   		CAPTION = ".\<OLB File:", ;
   		HEIGHT = 17, ;
   		LEFT = 4, ;
   		TOP = 11, ;
   		WIDTH = 55, ;
   		TABINDEX = 1, ;
   		NAME = "Label1"

   	ADD OBJECT cmdsave AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
   		TOP = 411, ;
   		LEFT = 394, ;
   		HEIGHT = 27, ;
   		WIDTH = 84, ;
   		CAPTION = "\<Save to .h", ;
   		ENABLED = .F., ;
   		TABINDEX = 6, ;
   		NAME = "cmdSAVE"

   	ADD OBJECT cmdquit AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
   		TOP = 411, ;
   		LEFT = 480, ;
   		HEIGHT = 27, ;
   		WIDTH = 84, ;
   		CAPTION = "\<Quit", ;
   		TABINDEX = 7, ;
   		NAME = "cmdQUIT"

   	ADD OBJECT edtconstants AS EDITBOX WITH ;
   		HEIGHT = 347, ;
   		LEFT = 6, ;
   		READONLY = .T., ;
   		TABINDEX = 4, ;
   		TOP = 52, ;
   		WIDTH = 558, ;
   		NAME = "edtConstants"

   	ADD OBJECT cmdgetfile AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
   		TOP = 6, ;
   		LEFT = 533, ;
   		HEIGHT = 27, ;
   		WIDTH = 26, ;
   		CAPTION = "...", ;
   		TABINDEX = 3, ;
   		NAME = "cmdGETFILE"

   	ADD OBJECT cmdextract AS COMMANDBUTTON WITH ;
   		TOP = 411, ;
   		LEFT = 280, ;
   		HEIGHT = 27, ;
   		WIDTH = 110, ;
   		CAPTION = "\<Extract Constants", ;
   		ENABLED = .F., ;
   		TABINDEX = 5, ;
   		NAME = "cmdEXTRACT"

   	PROCEDURE cmdsave.CLICK
   		STRTOFILE(THISFORM.edtconstants.VALUE,PUTFILE([Header File], ;
   			JUSTSTEM(THISFORM.txtolbfile.VALUE) + [.h],[.h]))
   	ENDPROC

   	PROCEDURE cmdquit.CLICK
   		THISFORM.RELEASE
   	ENDPROC

   	PROCEDURE cmdgetfile.CLICK
   		LOCAL lcOLBFile

   		lcOLBFile = GETFILE([OLB],[OLB File],[Open])
   		IF EMPTY(lcOLBFile)
   			RETURN .F.
   		ENDIF
   		
   		IF UPPER(RIGHT(lcOLBFile,3)) # [OLB]
   			MESSAGEBOX([Invalid File],0,[])
   			RETURN .F.
   		ENDIF

   		THISFORM.txtolbfile.VALUE = lcOLBFile
   		THISFORM.cmdextract.ENABLED= .T.
   	ENDPROC

   	PROCEDURE cmdextract.CLICK
   		WAIT WINDOW [Processing...] NOCLEAR NOWAIT
   		LOCAL oTLB_INFO, oConstants, lcConstantsStr, Obj, member
   		#DEFINE CRLF CHR(13) + CHR(10)

   		oTLB_INFO = CREATEOBJECT([tli.typelibinfo])
   		oTLB_INFO.ContainingFile = (THISFORM.txtolbfile.VALUE)

   		oConstants = oTLB_INFO.Constants

   		lcConstantsStr = []
   		FOR EACH Obj IN oTLB_INFO.Constants
                           lcConstantsStr = lcConstantsStr + CRLF + "* " + Obj.Name + CRLF   
                           FOR EACH member IN Obj.Members
                               lcConstantsStr = lcConstantsStr + [#DEFINE ] + ;
                               member.NAME + [ ] + ;
                               TRANSFORM(member.VALUE) + CRLF
                           NEXT member
   		NEXT Obj

   		THISFORM.edtconstants.VALUE=lcConstantsStr
   		THISFORM.cmdsave.ENABLED= .T.
   		WAIT CLEAR
   		WAIT WINDOW [Complete!] TIMEOUT 2
   	ENDPROC

   ENDDEFINE
   ****************END CODE****************

REFERENCES
==========

For additional information on the Tlbinf32.dll file, click the article number
below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Q224331 FILE: Tlbinf32.exe : Help Files for Tlbinf32.dll

NOTE: Both the Tlbinf32.dll file and the HTML Help file are provided for your
reference only, and they are not supported by Microsoft.

For additional information on using the TypeLibInformation object, see the
following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Q172988 SAMPLE: CLSNMMBR.EXE Programmatically Retrieves the Members of a DLL
   Class

   Q239930 HOW TO: Obtain Built-In Constant Values for an Office Application

(c) Microsoft Corporation 2001, All Rights Reserved. Contributions by Trevor
Hancock, Microsoft Corporation.


Additional query words: #DEFINE

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbAutomation kbCOMt kbvfp600 kbGrpDSFox kbDSupport kbCodeSnippet 
Technology        : kbVFPsearch kbAudDeveloper kbVFP600
Version           : :6.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

=============================================================================

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 2001.