Unfortunately, further research I did found discouraging results, e.g., VBScript and JScript Arrays http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/RsArrays
Fabulous Adventures In Coding : JScript and VBScript Arrays http://blogs.msdn.com/ericlippert/archive/2003/09/22/53061.aspx It seems that there is no good way of passing a JScript array via COM. Strange that Microsoft never implemented this. JScript can read a variant SafeArray, but cannot create one. This one-way problem seems to also be true of dates, though is less of a problem because dates can be passed fairly easily as strings and then parsed into date objects. Concerning Python, I found a comtypes package that might be able to create a variant for registering a shared object (it can create variant SafeArrays, for example). http://starship.python.net/crew/theller/comtypes/ Unfortunately, however, I could not understand the technical details of the package well enough to do this. As background, I was thinking of creating a shared object with AJAX-like functionality for communicating with web servers using data formats like XML and JSON. JScript has a function for encoding data for a GET or Post request, whereas VBScript does not. Of course, JScript understands JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format, whereas VBScript does not. I was hoping to be able to return arrays as well as strings and numbers. Python has many modules for web communication, but creating the right variants is also a challenge. I suppose I could return dictionary objects created via the Scripting.Dictionary COM component, but certain things may be lost, such as the order of items. with it. Jamal On Fri, 17 Jul 2009, Ron Parker wrote: > Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 10:55:40 -0400 > From: Ron Parker <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Shared object in JScript > > > Some quick answers that might get you on the right track, though I don't > think they're entirely complete. Feel free to ask for clarification or > expansion on any of the below: > > The data types you can return to a client script are limited by the fact > that they have to fit into a VARIANT. That's the nature of COM > Automation, more than anything; IDispatch::Invoke does everything with > VARIANTs. > > I know that JScript and VBScript treat arrays differently, so you may > find that you need glue code on one end or the other to make them work > as you expect. There's a reason we return collections rather than > arrays from things like Keyboard.Keys, and that's it in a nutshell. I > haven't tried dates, so some experimentation will be required, but since > they fit in a VARIANT and are supported by both VBScript and JScript, it > seems they should be fine too. > > Basically, if Window-Eyes can find or create an IDispatch that > corresponds to your function or class, you can expose it as a shared > object. The GetRef function in VBScript turns a function name into an > IDispatch with the named function as the default method, but we also > have a shortcut built in to Window-Eyes that can look for functions by > name in the IDispatch that represents your entire script. If Python can > supply one or the other of those types of IDispatch, it should work. If > it can't supply one or the other of those types, you might also have > problems with things like hotkey and dialog callbacks, which use the > same mechanisms. There might be workarounds, though; that's essentially > what vbgetref.dll does for VB6, which doesn't seem to be able to supply > the necessary IDispatch objects. > > > > > > Jamal Mazrui wrote: > > Are there limitations on the data types a JScript shared object can return > > to a client script? I assume that strings and numbers may be returned, > > but how about arrays and dates? > > > > A related question is what features does a language need to create a > > shared object? For example, if I create a function in a Python program, > > can I register it as a shared object? > > > > Jamal > > > > >
