ActiveX Access

[Ralf Davi]

Hi.
I'm trying to access a simple vb component thru ActiveX. It is just a simple test of connect to a VB Component, but I can't get it right.

This is the Visual Basic Code...
Public Function StrConcat(str1 As String, str2 As String) As Variant StrConcat = (str1) & (str2)
End Function

....and this is the VLisp Code:
(vl-load-com)

(defun vbStrCat (string1 string2 / $acad vbstrcls out)
(setq $acad (vlax-get-acad-object))
(setq vbstrcls
(vla-GetInterfaceObject $acad "vbStringClass.vbStrings")) (setq out (vlax-invoke-method vbstrcls "StrConcat" string1 string2)) out (vlax-release-object vbstrcls) (vlax-release-object $acad)
)

So, when i load and call it from Autocad command line (vbStrCat "test1" "teste2"), it gives me this text: "#<variant 8 >".

Does anybody knows where is the error and how to fix it ?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Ralf Davi]

I tried this and i got a blank string.

Command: (vbStrCat "s" "r")
""
I got this "". Have any idea ?

 

[Mark Propst]

trying to duplicate what you've got
i've never tried to use vb from lisp so what did you name your class module in this example I saved a class with your function as vbStringClass.cls in my vb dir do I need to have the class in a dvb or vbp?
or can I access it directly?

"vbStringClass.vbStrings"

in your class I changed your function to:

Public Function StrConcat(str1 As String, str2 As String) As String StrConcat = str1 & str2 End Function

I don't understand why pass a variant also dropped the parens around str1 and str2 but cant' test until I figure how to refer to in lisp

 

[Ralf Davi]

You need to compile it. Make a DLL. If you are using VB 6.0, just open the class and point the File menu and then click "Make vbStringClass.dll...". click "ok" and thats it. It automatically register the dll in Windows and afterwards u can use.

My goal using this VB ActiveX is to connect to a Microsoft Access database (and maybe a SQL-Server after). I just know how to do this using VB, so I tried this.
Do you know a simplier way ?

I'm very newbie in Lisp programming...

Thanks a lot.

 

[Mark Propst]

if I open vbStringClass.cls in vb6 and go file - make dll I get make Project1.exe? if I start a new project as activex dll and import the string class I get an error when I try to compile no creatable something or other should this function be in a class module or a std module? does the project name dictate the dll name? apparently it does or am I doing something else wrong?

did my change to your function help or not?
thanks

 

[Mark Propst]

generally I thought one wanted to avoid variants if possible, are you saying that the other types will not pass across the dll-lisp boundary? I rewrote his function As String and got a numeric result, maybe that's why?
also I thought this line

StrConcat = (str1) & (str2) should be
StrConcat = str1 & str2

is that not correct?

 

[NateB]

I tried the same sample, and it didn't work for me either. When I would check the variant value, I would also get an empty string. I've only been using the Acad/ActiveX features for a few weeks, and haven't had very much luck with it. I've tried creating a couple of different projects while learning to interface between applications. One problem I found was with the following sample:

The VB6 code is:

Public Function vbMessageBox(TxtStr As String, dlgType As Integer, TitleStr As String) As Variant &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;vbMsgBox = MsgBox(TxtStr, dlgType, TitleStr)
End Function

The interfacing LISP code is:

(defun MessageBox ( msgStr dlgType msgTitle / acadObj vbIOCls retVal ) &nbsp;&nbsp;(setq acadObj (vlax-get-acad-object) vbIOCls (vla-GetInterfaceObject acadObj "vbIOInterface.vbMsg") retVal (vlax-Invoke-Method vbIOCls "vbMessageBox" msgStr dlgType msgTitle) &nbsp;&nbsp &nbsp;&nbsp;(vlax-Release-Object vbIOCls) &nbsp;&nbsp;(vlax-Release-Object acadObj)

retVal
)

When I enter the following code:
(MessageBox "Test MessageBox" 0 "Message Title")
an empty message box is displayed, and an empty variant is returned. If I use the (vlax-Invoke), instead of (vlax-Invoke-Method) the text is displayed properly in the messagebox, but it returns nil. This should return 1 (the value of the vbOK constant). I've tried using several different datatypes, for the input/output values of the Function, but nothing seems to get the expected results. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I've tried it in both Acad 2002 and Acad 2004, with the same outcome. I'm hoping for better result using VB.NET. Don't know!

 

[Mark Propst]

Yeah, it seems like there's a problem passing values from vb to the calling lisp I was able to pass a byref arg from lisp (quoted symbol) to vb and have it set inside the dll, and afterwards the lisp variable did have the correct value (a string) but now I'm trying to modify the file and I get " ; error: ActiveX Server returned the error: unknown name: Hello even though the sub or function is in there and I re-made the dll who knows:? not sure I need this enough to waste much more time on it, though it seems like it could be handy if you could call a vb form from lisp. then, may as well just use vb, why mix it with lisp?

I tried the same sample, and it didn't work for me either. When I would check the variant value, I would also get an empty string. I've only been using the Acad/ActiveX features for a few weeks, and haven't had very much luck with it. I've tried creating a couple of different projects while learning to interface between applications. One problem I found was with the following sample:
The VB6 code is:
Public Function vbMessageBox(TxtStr As String, dlgType As Integer, TitleStr As String) As Variant vbMsgBox = MsgBox(TxtStr, dlgType, TitleStr) End Function The interfacing LISP code is:
(defun MessageBox ( msgStr dlgType msgTitle / acadObj vbIOCls retVal ) (setq acadObj (vlax-get-acad-object) vbIOCls (vla-GetInterfaceObject acadObj "vbIOInterface.vbMsg") retVal (vlax-Invoke-Method vbIOCls "vbMessageBox" msgStr dlgType msgTitle) ) (vlax-Release-Object vbIOCls) (vlax-Release-Object acadObj) retVal ) When I enter the following code:
(MessageBox "Test MessageBox" 0 "Message Title")
an empty message box is displayed, and an empty variant is returned. If I use the (vlax-Invoke), instead of (vlax-Invoke-Method) the text is displayed properly in the messagebox, but it returns nil. This should return 1 (the value of the vbOK constant). I've tried using several different datatypes, for the input/output values of the Function, but nothing seems to get the expected results. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I've tried it in both Acad 2002 and Acad 2004, with the same outcome. I'm hoping for better result using VB.NET. Don't know!

 

[Jorge Jimenez]

This should work fine:

(setq ACD(vlax-get-acad-object))
(setq SRV (vlax-invoke ACD "getinterfaceobject" "vbStringClass.vbStrings")) (setq RET (vlax-invoke SRV "StrConcat" string1 string2))

and your DLL function:

Public Function StrConcat(str1 As Variant, str2 As Variant) As Variant StrConcat = str1 & str2 End Function

If this doesn't work for you then there must be a problem with the way you created your class.

 

[Ralf Davi]

I've tried and it doesn't worked either, but thanks anyway.

Have any other idea ? Please send me...

Thank you : )

Ralf Davi.

 

[Jorge Jimenez]

This should work fine:

(setq ACD(vlax-get-acad-object))
(setq SRV (vlax-invoke ACD "getinterfaceobject" "vbStringClass.vbStrings")) (setq RET (vlax-invoke SRV "StrConcat" string1 string2))

and your DLL function:

Public Function StrConcat(str1 As Variant, str2 As Variant) As Variant StrConcat = str1 & str2 End Function

If this doesn't work for you then there must be a problem with the way you created your class.