Using the WinCOM API

With WinCOM Support, you can invoke a Windows® application and send or receive data to or from it.

Prerequisites

To use this functionality, the program must use the GDC front-end.

Supported syntax

COM language syntax is very flexible and allows lots of notation. Genero WinCOM API is slightly more strict:

  • := notation is allowed in version 2.00.1e (or later) only; for instance: myFunction(SourceType:=3)
  • "no parenthesis" notation is not allowed; for instance: myFunction 3 must be written myFunction(3)
  • numeric constants are allowed in version 2.00.1e (or later) only. The constant list depends on the application used via WinCOM, therefore the list is configurable. A file named etc/WinCOM.cst gathers all the constants provided today by Microsoft™ for Office XP. It can be modified to add user-defined constants. Example with Word: 
    CALL ui.Interface.frontCall("WINCOM","SetProperty", [wdapp,"Selection.Font.Bold","9999998"],[wddoc])
    Here, "9999998" stands for the constant wdToggle (see etc/WinCOM.cst).
  • There is no way to handle an array as a method argument. This is also due to BDL limitation: you can't pass BDL Arrays to front calls.