Webforms ole with ms word

Question

hi there,
having problems with webforms code that in 6i client server would launch ms word (no problem there) and show a templates dialog box.
errors thrown from webforms are:
WUO-714: Unable to get the last OLE Error details;
Exception
null
WUO-705: Unable to invoke Method: Show; Exception
com.jacob.com.ComFailException:
VariantChangeType failed
the code is as follows (no idea what argument '79' represents):
Procedure Open_Word_Dialog IS
app client_OLE2.OBJ_TYPE;
     dialogs client_OLE2.OBJ_TYPE;
     dialog client_OLE2.OBJ_TYPE;
     doc client_OLE2.OBJ_TYPE;
arglist      client_OLE2.LIST_TYPE;
     l_type_num client_OLE2.OBJ_TYPE;
Begin
app := client_OLE2.CREATE_OBJ('WORD.Application');
CLIENT_OLE2.SET_PROPERTY(app,'Visible',1);
client_OLE2.INVOKE(app,'Activate');
dialogs := client_ole2.get_obj_property(app, 'Dialogs');
arglist:= client_OLE2.CREATE_ARGLIST;
client_OLE2.ADD_ARG(arglist, 79);
dialog := client_ole2.invoke_obj(dialogs, 'Item', arglist);
client_OLE2.DESTROY_ARGLIST(arglist);
l_type_num := client_ole2.Invoke_obj(dialog, 'Show');
doc := client_ole2.get_obj_property(app, 'ActiveDocument');
client_ole2.Release_OBJ(doc);
client_ole2.Release_OBJ(dialog);
client_ole2.Release_OBJ(dialogs);
     client_ole2.Release_OBJ(app);     
Exception
     When others then
null;
End;
end;
any assistance would be most appreciated.
thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I've finally had a chance to run your code. Oddly enough, it runs fine for me (most likely a JACOB versioning quirk.) Upon closer inspection, I find that the Show method of a Dialog object returns a Long, not an object, suggesting that the problem is an incompatible return value type. Try declaring I_type_num_client as type NUMBER, rather than CLIENT_OLE2.OBJ_TYPE -- I'm guessing that should fix your error.
If you're wondering where Word's objects, methods, arguments and argument types are documented, I use VBA's Object Browser for this, and simply couldn't manage without it. Have a look at the section entitled A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE VBA IDE & THE OBJECT BROWSER UTILITY, which appears at the beginning of the following article:
   [b]Tutorial:[/b] Simplify Developing OLE Automation Code Using VBA
The rest of the article shows how I prefer to write custom OLE procedures -- by first writing them as VBA procedures and testing them in the VBA environment, before adapting them to PL/SQL. Because the VBA IDE provides syntax checking, code completion and meaningful error messages, writing automation code goes much more smoothly on this end, and errors are usually detected at design time. So much more smoothly, in fact, that I can implement a procedure twice -- once in VBA, and once in PL/SQL -- more quickly than I can implement it once in PL/SQL, skipping the VBA prototype. Also, most of my VBA prototypes run to completion more quickly than launching a trivial web form, so a significant time savings can realized by experimenting and refining on the VBA end, rather than spending all of my time effectively waiting for my web form to load.
Hope this helps,
Eric Adamson
Lansing, Michigan