NAME

Win32::OLE::Variant - Create and modify OLE VARIANT variables

SYNOPSIS

        use Win32::OLE::Variant;
        my $var = Variant(VT_DATE, 'Jan 1,1970');
        $OleObject->{value} = $var;
        $OleObject->Method($var);

DESCRIPTION

The IDispatch interface used by the Perl OLE module uses a universal argument type called VARIANT. This is basically an object containing a data type and the actual data value. The data type is specified by the VT_xxx constants.

Methods

new(TYPE, DATA)

This method returns a Win32::OLE::Variant object of the specified type that contains the given data. The Win32::OLE::Variant object can be used to specify data types other than IV, NV or PV (which are supported transparently). See Variants below for details.

As(TYPE)

As converts the VARIANT to the new type before converting to a Perl value. This take the current LCID setting into account. For example a string might contain a ',' as the decimal point character. Using $variant-As(VT_R8)> will correctly return the floating point value.

The underlying variant object is NOT changed by this method.

ChangeType(TYPE)

This method changes the type of the contained VARIANT in place. It returns the object itself, not the converted value.

LastError()

The LastError method returns the last recorded OLE error in the Win32::OLE::Variant class. This is dual value like the $! variable: in a numeric context it returns the error number and in a string context it returns the error message.

The method corresponds to the Win32::OLE-LastError> method for Win32::OLE objects.

Type()

The Type method returns the type of the contained VARIANT.

Unicode()

The Unicode method returns a Unicode::String object. This contains the BSTR value of the variant in network byte order. If the variant is not currently in VT_BSTR format then a VT_BSTR copy will be produced first.

Value()

The Value method returns the value of the VARIANT as a Perl value. The conversion is performed in the same manner as all return values of Win32::OLE method calls are converted.

Functions

Variant(TYPE, DATA)

This is just a function alias of the Win32::OLE::Variant->new() method. This function is exported by default.

Overloading

The Win32::OLE::Variant package has overloaded the conversion to string an number formats. Therefore variant objects can be used in arithmetic and string operations without applying the Value method first.

Class Variables

This module supports the $CP, $LCID and $Warn class variables. They have the same meaning as the variables in Win32::OLE of the same name.

Constants

These constants are exported by default:

        VT_EMPTY
        VT_NULL
        VT_I2
        VT_I4
        VT_R4
        VT_R8
        VT_CY
        VT_DATE
        VT_BSTR
        VT_DISPATCH
        VT_ERROR
        VT_BOOL
        VT_VARIANT
        VT_UNKNOWN
        VT_UI1
        VT_BYREF

Variants

A Variant is a data type that is used to pass data between OLE connections.

The default behavior is to convert each perl scalar variable into an OLE Variant according to the internal perl representation. The following type correspondence holds:

        C type          Perl type       OLE type
        ------          ---------       --------
          int              IV            VT_I4
        double             NV            VT_R8
        char *             PV            VT_BSTR
        void *           ref to AV       VT_ARRAY
           ?              undef          VT_ERROR
           ?        Win32::OLE object    VT_DISPATCH

Note that VT_BSTR is a wide character or Unicode string. This presents a problem if you want to pass in binary data as a parameter as 0x00 is inserted between all the bytes in your data. The Variant() method provides a solution to this. With Variants the script writer can specify the OLE variant type that the parameter should be converted to. Currently supported types are:

        VT_UI1     unsigned char
        VT_I2      signed int (2 bytes)
        VT_I4      signed int (4 bytes)
        VT_R4      float      (4 bytes)
        VT_R8      float      (8 bytes)
        VT_DATE    OLE Date
        VT_BSTR    OLE String
        VT_CY      OLE Currency
        VT_BOOL    OLE Boolean

When VT_DATE and VT_CY objects are created, the input parameter is treated as a Perl string type, which is then converted to VT_BSTR, and finally to VT_DATE of VT_CY using the VariantChangeType() OLE API function. See "EXAMPLES" in Win32::OLE for how these types can be used.

Variants by reference

Some OLE servers expect parameters passed by reference so that they can be changed in the method call. This allows methods to easily return multiple values. There is preliminary support for this in the Win32::OLE::Variant module:

        my $x = Variant(VT_I4|VT_BYREF, 0);
        my $y = Variant(VT_I4|VT_BYREF, 0);
        $Corel->GetSize($x, $y);
        print "Size is $x by $y\n";

After the GetSize method call $x and $y will be set to the respective sizes. They will still be variants. In the print statement the overloading converts them to string representation automatically.

This currently works for integer, number and BSTR variants. It can also be used to pass an OLE object by reference:

        my $Results = $App->CreateResultsObject;
        $Object->Method(Variant(VT_DISPATCH|VT_BYREF, $Results));

Don't try VT_BYREF with VT_ARRAY variants (yet).

AUTHORS/COPYRIGHT

This module is part of the Win32::OLE distribution.

cpanm Win32

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Win32