Active X DLL tips?

[Roger Irwin]

Got there in the end. For the benefit of other clueless souls who turn 
up my post in searches, this is what I used:

 >>>
 >>> import win32com.client
 >>> 
OPCDA=win32com.client.gencache.GetModuleForTypelib('{28E68F91-8D75-11D1-8DC3-3C302A000000}',0,1,0)
 >>> AnOPCServer=OPCDA.OPCServer.default_interface
 >>>

This generates what I think is a 'Class Factory' in OPCDA, and this can 
be used to generate an OPCServer object, as well as other OPC objects, 
allthougth of course these are usually generated by calls to higher 
level objects.

It would be nice to have a few tips and examples on this type of usage 
in the Client QuickStart guide. Unfortunately I have little idea of what 
I am doing so I am not the person to write it.

The GetModuleForTypeLib is documented in the win32com helpfile, the 
parameters are:

IID,lcid,major,minor

IID - Get this using the COM browser. Look for OPC Automation 2.0, the 
'filename' entry in the Type Library should point to opcdaauto.dll

lcid - this is a 'locale' ID. One of my mistakes was tring to set this 
to a typical value for my (Italian) PC. Set to 0 and use the standard 
conventions.

major & minor - Get the major and minor versions by looking at the 
property of the DLL. In this case the type library is called OPC 
Automation 2.0 but the DLL is version 1.0 . This may sound odd but the 
2.0 refers to the OPC standard that is implemented, not the version 
number of the DLL which implements it!


Roger wrote:
> 
> I want to use and Active X DLL in Python applications. I have the 
> win32all stuff installed and the "Excel.Application" example in the 
> Client QuickStart section of the manual works OK, so I guess it is 
> installed correctly.
> 
> Problem comes when I want to use the objects in the OPCDA library. In VB 
> I would include the library in the references and could then do 
> something like:
> 
> Dim foo as OPCServer
> dim baa as OPCGroups
> (lots of lower level objects omitted)
> 
>     set foo=New OPCServer
>     foo.Connect <Server details>
>     set baa=foo <Call for getting a new OPCGroups object>
>     (code continues in a similar manner)
> 
> Leading on from the Excel example, I have tried using client.Dispatch 
> with "OPCServer", "OPCAutomation.OPCServer" and a few other 
> combinations, but I cannot get a valid object. Either I am told the 
> string is invalid, or I get no error but the variable which the object 
> was supposed to be assigned to is.....not assigned.
> 
> Maybe (as warned in the docs) the COM browser is not correctly reporting 
> the names I should use. It mentions the VC COM browser, but if you don't 
> have that are there other valid alternatives?
> 
> I have looked at the gencache functions for generating a Python module 
> from the type library, but I am not sure about the parameters, in 
> particular, what should the lcid be? Also, what is the correct way to 
> pass an IID, as a string complete with the hyphens?
> 
> I have looked around for examples but all I have found so far is either 
> accessing applications such as Excel, IE and outlook, or building 
> clients to test servers that have been created with Python.
> 
> I suspect that maybe I sould be doing things a bit differently to access 
> a vanilla Automation DLL.
> 
> Tips anyone?
> 
>