I am trying to find out the exposed methods and properties of OLE
automation objects.

How do you do something like this with delphi?

I imagine that I will have to use the IDispatch interface and somehow
QueryInterface to find out what the Properties and Methods are.

I am not sure where to go.  I can create a reference to the object,
using:

OleObject : OleVariant;

procedure Button1Click(Sender : TObject);
begin
  OleObject := CreateOleObject(OleAutoObjectName);
end;
.
.
.

But what do I need to do to create a list of the properties and
methods that are useable for this object.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jason T. Ashmead

You'll need documentation or a typelib.  If you've got a typelib,
which can be a .tlb, .olb or an embedded resource in an exe or dll,
open it in Delphi and you'll get a list of the methods and arguments.

I have seen/used TypeLibs before, but that is not really what I am
trying to do.  In Visual Basic, there is a powerful Object Browser.
If you have used it, you will know that it brings up a list of all the
properties and methods of classes in a variety of OLE Objects.
For example, WINWORD.EXE.

I am trying to write something comparable in Delphi, as an EXE or a
wizard, to help me in development.  I was hoping there was a way to
query the Object itself to determine what properties/methods, and what
parameters of its methods it accepts.

Maybe I just need a better understanding of what the ObjectBrowser in
VB is doing.  Do you think that it is reading TypeLibs and/or embedded
resource info from the exe/dll?

If so, then how is that done?  I have seen the GetTypeInfo routine, so
that must be for reading info from a TypeLib.  But what about the
embedded Resource info?  Is that accessed via standard Resource calls,
ie GetIconFromResource???

Is there any other way?

Jason

A couple things to note:  There's a "hidden" flag in the typelib, much
like a file's hidden flag.  It seems that borland honors the flag and
does not display the type in the Project Import | TypeLib list.  MS's
OLEVIEW does not honor the flag and displays it.  So you will probably
see more things in the MS list.   Also, OLEVIEW displays the typelib in
MS MIDL format, while Delphi displays it in Pascal.  The general
structure should be similar.

You can do this at runtime assuming the object you are querying has type
library (like Microsoft word).  The trick is that you need to get a pointer
to the ITypeInfo and ITypeLib interfaces defined for the object you are
interested in.  Look at the OLE Programmers Reference help file that ships
with Delphi 3 and C++ Builder  - it is invaluable.  If somehow you don't
have this file go to the Microsoft Developers Network and do a search on
ITypeInfo.  You'll find the same information on-line.

Basically, what you need to do is (I haven't looked up the exact syntax, so
sorry if I make a mistake - the process is correct however):

var
   Dispatch: IDispatch;
    typeInfo: ITypeInfo;
    typeLib: ITypeLib;
    Word: OleVariant;
begin
//create object you are interested in
Word:=CreateOleObject("Word.Application")

//get dispatch interface
Dispatch:=Word as IDispatch

//get type info
oleCheck(Dispatch.GetTypeInfo(TypeInfo,GetThreadLocale,0));

//load type lib
oleCheck(TypeInfo.GetContainingTypeLib(TypeLib,0)

Then interate through the typelibrary using the functionality built into the
ITypeLib interface.  For each interface or co-class in the type library
you'll need a ITypeInfo interface.  Use this interface to find out the
number of properties, methods, what the method arguments are, etc., etc.,
etc.

Hope that gets you started.

Charlie Savage
c...@interserv.com