Microsoft Object Linking and Embedding

Windows applications use OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) to allow applications to control other application objects. The following will show how to do this using a few examples.

Obviously the following examples assume that your are running on Microsoft Windows and have the application which is discussed installed.

Microsoft Outlook with Eclipse

This example assumes you running an MS operating system and that you have a version of Outlook installed.

2.1. Create Project

Create a new project "de.vogella.microsoft.outlook". See Eclipse RCP for details. Use the "Hello RCP " as a template.

2.2. Create a command

Using extensions create the command "de.vogella.microsoft.outlook.sendEmail" and add it to the menu. Program the default handler "de.vogella.microsoft.outlook.handler.SendEmail"

The following coding will create and open the email for the user. It also assumes that you have a file c:\temp\test.txt which will be attached to the email.

				

package de.vogella.microsoft.outlook.handler;



import java.io.File;



import org.eclipse.core.commands.AbstractHandler;

import org.eclipse.core.commands.ExecutionEvent;

import org.eclipse.core.commands.ExecutionException;

import org.eclipse.jface.dialogs.MessageDialog;

import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;

import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OLE;

import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleAutomation;

import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleClientSite;

import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleFrame;

import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.Variant;

import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display;

import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Shell;



public class SendEmail extends AbstractHandler {



	@Override

	public Object execute(ExecutionEvent event) throws ExecutionException {

		Display display = Display.getCurrent();

		Shell shell = new Shell(display);

		OleFrame frame = new OleFrame(shell, SWT.NONE);

		// This should start outlook if it is not running yet

		OleClientSite site = new OleClientSite(frame, SWT.NONE, "OVCtl.OVCtl");

		site.doVerb(OLE.OLEIVERB_INPLACEACTIVATE);

		// Now get the outlook application

		OleClientSite site2 = new OleClientSite(frame, SWT.NONE,

				"Outlook.Application");

		OleAutomation outlook = new OleAutomation(site2);

		//

		OleAutomation mail = invoke(outlook, "CreateItem", 0 /* Mail item */)

				.getAutomation();

		setProperty(mail, "To", "test@gmail.com"); /*

													 * Empty but could also be

													 * predefined

													 */

		setProperty(mail, "Bcc", "test@gmail.com"); /*

													 * Empty but could also be

													 * predefined

													 */

		setProperty(mail, "BodyFormat", 2 /* HTML */);

		setProperty(mail, "Subject", "Top News for you");

		setProperty(mail, "HtmlBody",

				"Hello
, please find some infos here.");

		File file = new File("c:/temp/test.txt");

		if (file.exists()) {

			OleAutomation attachments = getProperty(mail, "Attachments");

			invoke(attachments, "Add", "c:/temp/test.txt");

		} else {

			MessageDialog

					.openInformation(shell, "Info",

							"Attachment File c:/temp/test.txt not found; will send email with attachment");

		}

		invoke(mail, "Display" /* or "Send" */);

		return null;

	}



	private static OleAutomation getProperty(OleAutomation auto, String name) {

		Variant varResult = auto.getProperty(property(auto, name));

		if (varResult != null && varResult.getType() != OLE.VT_EMPTY) {

			OleAutomation result = varResult.getAutomation();

			varResult.dispose();

			return result;

		}

		return null;

	}



	private static Variant invoke(OleAutomation auto, String command,

			String value) {

		return auto.invoke(property(auto, command),

				new Variant[] { new Variant(value) });

	}



	private static Variant invoke(OleAutomation auto, String command) {

		return auto.invoke(property(auto, command));

	}



	private static Variant invoke(OleAutomation auto, String command, int value) {

		return auto.invoke(property(auto, command),

				new Variant[] { new Variant(value) });

	}



	private static boolean setProperty(OleAutomation auto, String name,



			String value) {

		return auto.setProperty(property(auto, name), new Variant(value));

	}



	private static boolean setProperty(OleAutomation auto, String name,

			int value) {

		return auto.setProperty(property(auto, name), new Variant(value));

	}



	private static int property(OleAutomation auto, String name) {

		return auto.getIDsOfNames(new String[] { name })[0];

	}



}



			

If you now start the application and press the button an email should be prepared and shown to the user.

Microsoft Excel with Eclipse

3.1. Create Project

Create a new project "ExcelTest". See Eclipse RCP for details. Use the "RCP with a view" as a template. Run it and see that is working.

3.2. Change View code

Select View.java and replace the coding with the following.

    
package exceltest;

import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWTError;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleClientSite;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleFrame;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

public class View extends ViewPart {

 public static final String ID = "ExcelTest.view";
 private OleClientSite site;

 public View() {
 }

 @Override
 public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
  try {
   OleFrame frame = new OleFrame(parent, SWT.NONE);
   site = new OleClientSite(frame, SWT.NONE, "Excel.Sheet");
  } catch (SWTError e) {
   System.out.println("Unable to open activeX control");
   return;
  }
 }

 @Override
 public void setFocus() {
  // Have to set the focus see https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=207688
   site.setFocus();
 }

}

   

Start your application and excel should be displayed.

Microsoft File Explorer with Eclipse

Create a new project "de.vogella.microsoft.fileexplorer". See Eclipse RCP For Details.

Add a view to the application and the perspective. To display the file explorer you can use the following code for your view.

   
package de.vogella.microsoft.fileexplorer;

import org.eclipse.swt.SWT;
import org.eclipse.swt.SWTError;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OLE;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleAutomation;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleClientSite;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.OleFrame;
import org.eclipse.swt.ole.win32.Variant;
import org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Composite;
import org.eclipse.ui.part.ViewPart;

public class FileExplorerView extends ViewPart {
 private OleClientSite site;
 static final int Navigate = 0x68;

 @Override
 public void createPartControl(Composite parent) {
  try {
   OleFrame frame = new OleFrame(parent, SWT.NONE);
   site = new OleClientSite(frame, SWT.NONE, "Shell.Explorer.1");
   site.doVerb(OLE.OLEIVERB_INPLACEACTIVATE);
   OleAutomation auto = new OleAutomation(site);
   auto.invoke(Navigate, new Variant[] { new Variant("c:\\temp") });
  } catch (SWTError e) {
   System.out.println("Unable to open activeX control");
   return;
  }

 }

 @Override
 public void setFocus() {
  site.setFocus();
 }

}

  

Thank you

Thank you for practicing with this tutorial.

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