AutoHotkey Community

In trying to do some automation with Visual Studio, I'd like to have be able to call functions and use the results of some calls (objDTE.ActiveDocument.FullName() for example) in ahk. So it seems I'd need some GetObject'ing WS_Exec()'ing.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could point out the correct way do this sort of thing.

A little test VB script:

Wow Chris, I didn't expect this. I was sorta hoping to start a blank new thread so people aren't bothered with all the development ramblings. But it's here, so I guess I'll run with it. But I do very much like the title of this thread, as I still hadn't decided on a good name for the one I was going to make. And also thank you for all your feedback.


That's a good question.

I believe I included most, if not all of Sean's CoHelper.ahk functionality in WS4AHK.ahk, so I suppose it is possible to use WS4AHK to do raw COM work in the same way CoHelper does (of course it would have to be written to work with the different function names, expected parameters, and return types). While it's possible, and very useable, I never expected anyone to use it for that purpose. Once someone accepts the extra bulk of WS4AHK into their scripts, then there's really no reason to use the raw COM functions since it's so much easier to use VBScript/JScript.

I figured that if someone wants to make a very small and quick script to access COM, then Sean's raw functions are the way to go. I would think that Sean's scripts should be preferred for compact, high quality, well designed, widely released code that only needs access to a static set of COM functions.

WS4AHK, on the other hand, I figure would be preferred for simple, quickly made scripts for individual use. It may be worthwhile to use in widely released code if there is a need for heavy and dynamic access to COM (such as a web page DOM).

But those are just my thoughts. There may be a better way to handle the two different libraries.

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-m35

@Boo
To use Embedded Windows Scripting in AHK, it's important to first know VBScript or JScript.

To access Microsoft Excel or Word, then it is also important to understand each of these programs' COM object model. The best way to lean this is to use the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that is included in Microsoft Excel and Word.

If you are familiar with VBScript/JScript and the Excel/Word COM object model, then it's like your writing the VBScript/JScript code on the fly.


I haven't ever played much with Word's COM interface, so maybe someone more familiar with it can share. I am, however, very familiar with Excel's COM interface.

Here is how you might gain access to the top left cell in the active worksheet of a currently running Excel program--in VBScript:


Now here's how you could do it using WS4AHK.ahk:
(Note it is recommended you also include some error checking for each line to ensure there wasn't an error)

You can see the VBScript code is nearly identical. In most cases, you can write and test the code you want in VBScript, then put it directly into Autohotkey like I did above.

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-m35

@BoBo¨
You can do something very similar with WS4AHK

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-m35

@ erictheturtle
Thx a mill for your effort to provide your code samples/advise in a noob friendly format. Much appreciated.

I guess one of the main reasons why (noobish) people will be interested using wsh2ahk, is the option to use code snippest from outer space (Fry - my alter ego from Futurama would call it "The Internet" ). Let's name it VBS plug&play

erictheturtle :
Thanks erictheturtle for your superb work and your explanations. The things begin to be much clear for me. Some questions :

- How is it possible to act on a specific instance/window of Word or Excel in which the file I want to act on is already loaded ?

For example, If I have an instance of (say) Excel with the file BoBo.xls in it (each instance is visible or not, never mind) and an other instance with the file erictheturtle.xls in it, how can I "take control" over erictheturtle.xls ?
The same question with only one instance of Excel with the two files in it

- What is(are) the differences between CreateObject and GetObject ? I think the first one is to lauch an instance of Excel (or other app) and the second to act on an instance already launched, is it OK ?

- How to identify and use a particular instance of Excel (so I think in VBScript, as the fact to activate it under AHK is probably not usefull to work with it with a vbs-ahk script) ?

- I tried to use the VBScript (WSH) command "Wscript.Sleep 2500".
The answer is that there isn't any Wscript object. If I try to create a Wscript Object (I don't know if the syntax is correct), the answer is that such an object can't be created. Probably what I did is stupid. But how I can use the sleep command ?

May be my questions are stupid. So sorry if it is the case.
Thanks by advance for your answer.

2Chris : Do you think it would be possible to integrate these functionnalities in ahk ? May be it would be possible to use continuation sections to put the vbscript in ?
Thanks for your answer

@harryman
I hope the examples I posted for Boo and Bobo have provided what you needed. If you still have questions, feel free to ask.


@Boo

Your understanding is correct. I might recommend you look at Microsoft's VBScript library reference for CreateObject and GetObject, but their descriptions are pretty cryptic.


Hmm, that's a good question. It's very possible to have two different Excel programs running at the same time, but I've never tried to gain access to both of them. I'm not sure what you can do. Maybe there is someone who has some experience with this situation?

But in the case where both workbooks are open in the same Excel program, then you can do something like this (in VBScript)



Unfortunately the WScript object is only available in normal VBScript executed via wscript.exe or cscript.exe. It is not part of the Microsoft Scripting Control that WS4AHK uses. This isn't usually a problem because Autohotkey can do most of the things WScript can do. Instead of calling the VBScript code you should just use the AHK code

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-m35

Is it possible to change the autohotkey.net ~name? I looked but didn't find any way how.

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-m35

Thanks erictheturtle for your explanations.

I am seaching in vbscript ressources on internet if I can find an answer concerning the multiple instances of Excel. For the moment, I didn't found really interstings things. If I find the solution, I'll post it.
Of course. It was just in the case it was possible to put the whole vbscript and exec it.
I didn't knew that. It's a pity, even if the majority of the vbscript commands can be replaced by AHK !!!

Thanks again for your work.

erictheturtle,

Yes I think that example gives me a good enough understanding. Thank you.

I don't know if this is a good solution, but I might suggest that there be 2 threads. A "help with" thread and a development thread.

The problem I found with the actual help forum is that the people that do the helping out over there might not know how to help with something like this. They'd probably just point back over here. Perhaps if you started the thread in the help section and monitored it that might work...

Thanks again,
-hm

At first, thank you erictheturtle for your wonderful improvement! Really great
Has someone a hint for me, how to send a string to an excel cell? The following line sends nothing!?

I think I found it... or is there a more elegant way?

Ah I thought you might find the error yourself :)

Your approach will work fine for constant strings that are guaranteed not to have any forbidden characters (such as tab or linefeed).

If the string might possibly contain forbidden characters, then there are safer ways of inserting a string into the code.

The VBStr() function (part of the WS4AHK) will wrap your string in quotes, and will escape forbidden characters in the string.


If you've ever written any C/C++ code before, then you are probably familiar with the function printf(). In that case you may feel comfortable using a similar syntax (also wraps in quotes and escapes forbidden characters).


Hope this helps. And thanks for trying out the code.

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-m35

Thank you! I try it and it works wonderful

This code works very similar to Sean's NetConnect() function, but uses ws4ahk instead.

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-m35