Re: Calling COM functions using IDispatch->Invoke(...

From:
Alex <alsim123@hotmail.com>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.mfc
Date:
Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:32:15 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID:
<1c018cce-8bcb-4a4f-a206-087734e5f876@a23g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>
Thanks Sven and Alf

I just didn't put all the code, but I'm calling

delete [] dispparams.rgvarg;
As well as
pIDispatch->Release();

Unfotunatelly assigning of named params to NULL
dispparams.rgdispidNamedArgs = NULL;
didn't help

EXCEPINFO parameter says:
"Failed to initialize SomeCOM library"

Alf,
I tried to implement your class,
But it also fails, could you please check out what I'm doing wrong:

SomeCOMObject pComObj; //of course I've changed in the constructor
                                           //PROG ID

alfs::DispatchParams dp( 2 );

DISPPARAMS* pDispParam = dp.ptr();

pDispParam->cArgs = 2;
pDispParam->cNamedArgs = 0;

DISPID dispidNamed = DISPATCH_METHOD;
pDispParam->rgdispidNamedArgs = &dispidNamed;
//or
pDispParam->rgdispidNamedArgs = NULL
//as Sven suggested

pDispParam->rgvarg = new VARIANTARG[ 2 ];

pDispParam->rgvarg[ 0 ].vt = VT_ERROR;
pDispParam->rgvarg[ 0 ].lVal = DISP_E_PARAMNOTFOUND;

pDispParam->rgvarg[ 1 ].vt = VT_BSTR;
pDispParam->rgvarg[ 1 ].bstrVal = SysAllocString( L"C:\\Program Files\
\... " );

pComObj.call( L"Start", dp );

//here comes an exception
//if I keep breaking I'm getting in
//string.cpp
MRTIMP2 void __cdecl _String_base::_Xlen()
    { // report a length_error
    _THROW_NCEE(length_error, "string too long");
    }

I've debugged your code, in invokeAs(..),
right before calling Invoke(=85) line
DISPID const dispId = dispIdOf( name );
return valid value, but Invoke doesn't work

Maybe indeed I have to do something extra to initialize this COM
library. The only thing I've done - imported corresponding tlb.exe.

Thanks to both of you,
Alex

On Apr 22, 11:47 am, "Alf P. Steinbach" <al...@start.no> wrote:

* Alex:

I've got to call some COM server functions. It appears, that the on=

ly

way I can do it =96 using IDispatch. After I've imported type libra=

ry I

can see the prototypes for some functions. For example:
HRESULT Start( _bstr_t Path, const _variant_t & Param );

Here is my code:

HRESULT hr=1;
IDispatch *pIDispatch = NULL;
CLSID clsid;
CLSIDFromProgID(L" SomeCOM.SomeInterface ", &clsid);

hr = CoInitialize(NULL);

if( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
(
      hr = CoCreateInstance( clsid,
                    NULL, CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER,
                    IID_IDispatch,
                    (void**)&pIDispatch
                  );

if( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
{
    DISPID dispid;
    OLECHAR FAR* szMemberName = L"Start";

   hr = pIDispatch->GetIDsOfNames(IID_NULL, &szMemberName, 1,

LOCALE_SYSTEM_DEFAULT, &dispid);

  if( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
  {
     VARIANT varResult;
     DISPID dispidNamed = DISPATCH_METHOD;
     EXCEPINFO excep;
     UINT uArgErr;

     DISPPARAMS dispparams;
     dispparams.cNamedArgs = 0;
     dispparams.cArgs = 2;
     dispparams.rgdispidNamedArgs = &dispidNamed;

     dispparams.rgvarg = new VARIANTARG[2];

     dispparams.rgvarg[0].vt = VT_ERROR;
     dispparams.rgvarg[0].lVal = DISP_E_PARAMNOTFOUND;

     dispparams.rgvarg[1].vt = VT_BSTR;
     dispparams.rgvarg[1].bstrVal = SysAllocString(L=94SomePath=

=94);

     hr = pIDispatch->Invoke( dispid, IID_NULL,
                            LOCALE_SYSTEM_DE=

FAULT,

                    DISPATCH_METHOD,
                    &dispparams,
                    &varResult,
                    &excep,
                    &uArgErr
                 );

     if( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
     {
         //invoke succeeded
         ..........
     }
     else
     {
         //invoke failed

         // I'm getting in here =

             ..

     }
  }

}

And I'm always getting invoke failed.
GetLatestError() returns 0.

If I'm using Alf's P. Steinbach code, which he very kindly supplied =

in

my previous post, for some wrapper class for IDispatch, calling of
this method also fails, but I'm able to get some strange error,
something like =93=85String is too long=85=94

So is possible to tell me what I'm doing wrong? Am I setting
"dispparams" incorrectly?


Don't know. Looks OK, including the backwards indexing. But then, it=

 isn't

always necessary to know what the problem is in order to fix it! :-)

By the way in VB it works just fine as

Dim oI As Object
oI = CreateObject("SomeCOM.SomeInterface")
oI. Start(=93SomePath=94)

But I'm using STL library for handling of the data, so I really would
like to be able to call this COM functions directly from my C++
application.


Happily I hadn't yet thrown away the code I posted last time (it's an
all-purpose VC project I use for examples in e.g. Usenet postings), and wi=

th a

little added functionality -- destructor and an "addParam" function =

in

DispatchParameters class, I think it deals with your current problem.

Before blindly using this, though, see the comment in ~DispatchParameters.=

Sorry about the linebreaks if they're broken in the Usenet posting.

<code file="OleAutomationObject.hpp">
#ifndef OLE_AUTOMATION_OBJECT
#define OLE_AUTOMATION_OBJECT

#include "wrapper/windows_h.h"
#include <ole2.h> // IDispatch
#include <comdef.h> // _com_ptr_t, _variant_t, _=

bstr_t

#include <vector>

#include <stdexcept>
#include <string>

namespace alfs
{
     namespace detail
     {
         // Exception helper, should really be in a file of its =

own:

         bool throwX( char const s[] ) { throw std::runtime_erro=

r( s ); }

         std::string narrow( wchar_t const wide[] )
         {
             std::string result( 2*wcslen(wide), '\0' );
             size_t const n = wcstombs( &result[0], wide, =

result.size() );

             (n != size_t(-1)) || throwX( "alfs::narrow: f=

ailed" );

             result.resize( n );
             return result;
         }

         bool throwHRX( char const s[], HRESULT hr )
         {
             throw std::runtime_error( s + narrow( _com_erro=

r( hr

).ErrorMessage() ) );
         }

         _COM_SMARTPTR_TYPEDEF( IDispatch, __uuidof(IDispatch) )=

; // IDispatchPtr

     } // namespace detail

     class DispatchParams
     {
     private:
         std::vector<VARIANTARG> myArgValues;
         std::vector<DISPID> myNamedArgIds;
         DISPPARAMS myParams;

         DispatchParams( DispatchParams const& ); =

     // No such.

         DispatchParams& operator=( DispatchParams const& ); /=

/ No such.

     public:
         static VARIANTARG defaultParam()
         {
             VARIANTARG v = {};

             v.vt = VT_ERROR;
             v.scode = DISP_E_PARAMNOTFOUND;
             return v;
         }

         DispatchParams( int nParameters )
             : myArgValues( nParameters == 0? 1 : nParam=

eters, defaultParam() )

             , myNamedArgIds( 1 )
         {
             myParams.rgvarg = &my=

ArgValues[0];

             myParams.rgdispidNamedArgs = &myNamedArgId=

s[0];

             myParams.cArgs = n=

Parameters;

             myParams.cNamedArgs = 0;
         }

         ~DispatchParams()
         {
             // Not really sure if this should be done or is=

 callee's

responsibility,
             // and I'm too lazy to check that just for a Us=

enet posting!

Anyway, it
             // seems to work.
             for( size_t i = 0; i < myArgValues.size();=

  ++i )

             {
                 ::VariantClear( &myArgValues[i] );
             }
         }

         void setParam( size_t i, std::wstring const& s )
         {
             _variant_t v( s.c_str() );
             myArgValues.at( (myArgValues.size() - 1) - i ) =

= v.Detach();

         }

         DISPPARAMS* ptr() { return &myParams; }
     };

     class OleAutomationObject
     {
     private:
         detail::IDispatchPtr myDispatch;

         enum CallTypeEnum
         {
             methodCall = DISPATCH_METHOD,
             propertyGet = DISPATCH_PROPERTYGET,
             propertyPut = DISPATCH_PROPERTYPUT,
             propertyPutRef = DISPATCH_PROPERTYPUTREF
         };

         _variant_t invokeAs(
             CallTypeEnum callType,
             wchar_t const name[],
             DispatchParams& params
             ) const
         {
             using namespace detail;
             EXCEPINFO exceptionInfo =

 = {};

             _variant_t returnValue;
             unsigned erronousArgIndex =

 = 0;

             DISPID const dispId = dispIdOf( name );
             HRESULT const hr = myDispatch->Invoke(
                 dispId,
                 IID_NULL, // reserv=

ed

                 0, /=

/ locale id

                 static_cast<WORD>( callType ),
                 params.ptr(),
                 &returnValue, // VARIANT FA=

R* pVarResult

                 &exceptionInfo, // EXCEPINFO FA=

R* pExcepInfo

                 &erronousArgIndex
                 );
             (SUCCEEDED( hr )) || throwHRX( "OleAutomationOb=

ject: Invoke: ", hr );

             return returnValue;
         }

     public:
         OleAutomationObject( wchar_t const progId[], DWORD serv=

erType =

CLSCTX_ALL )
             : myDispatch( progId, 0, serverType )
         {
             using namespace detail;
             (myDispatch != 0) || throwX( "OleAutomationOb=

ject::<init> failed" );

         }

         DISPID dispIdOf( wchar_t const name[] ) const
         {
             using namespace detail;
             DISPID dispId = 0;

             HRESULT const hr = myDispatch->GetIDsOfNames(=

                 IID_NULL, // reserv=

ed

                 const_cast<wchar_t**>( &name ),
                 1, /=

/ count of names

                 0, /=

/ locale id

                 &dispId
                 );
             (SUCCEEDED( hr )) ||
                 throwHRX( "OleAutomationObject::dispIdO=

f: GetIDsOfNames: ", hr );

             return dispId;
         }

         _variant_t call( wchar_t const methodName[], DispatchPa=

rams& params )

         {
             return invokeAs( methodCall, methodName, params=

 );

         }

         _variant_t call( wchar_t const methodName[], int nArgs =

)

         {
             DispatchParams params( nArgs );
             return call( methodName, params );
         }

         _variant_t get( wchar_t const propertyName[] ) const
         {
             // E.g. WordApp.Name requires non-zero arg poin=

ters. Silly.

             DispatchParams params( 0 );
             return invokeAs( propertyGet, propertyName, par=

ams );

         }

         _bstr_t getAsBString( wchar_t const propertyName[] ) co=

nst

         {
             return get( propertyName );
         }

         std::wstring getAsStdString( wchar_t const propertyName=

[] ) const

         {
             return getAsBString( propertyName ).operator wc=

har_t const*();

         }
     };

}

#endif
</code>

<code file="main.cpp">
#include <cassert>
#include <iostream>
#include <ostream>
#include <stdexcept>
#include <string>

#include "OleAutomationObject.hpp"

bool throwX( char const s[] ) { throw std::runtime_error( s ); }

class WshShell: public alfs::OleAutomationObject
{
private:
     void quit()
     {
         try
         {
             call( L"Quit", 3 ); // 3 defaulted argu=

ments.

         }
         catch( std::exception const& )
         {
             assert( "Word application object failed to quit=

" && 0 );

             std::abort();
         }
     }

public:
     WshShell(): alfs::OleAutomationObject( L"WScript.Shell" ) {}

     long run( std::wstring const& path )
     {
         alfs::DispatchParams params( 3 );

         params.setParam( 0, path );
         return call( L"Run", params );
     }

};

struct ComUsage
{
     ComUsage()
     {
...

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