[python-win32] getting underlying OLE object identity for win32com objects

[Tim Roberts]

Dan Lenski wrote:
> I'm trying to figure out if there is a canonical way to get the identity 
> of an object that has been wrapped by the win32com module, so that it 
> can be compared to other objects.
>
> For example, I can use this code to get a handle to the same object 
> twice in the JMP application, but the two tables do not have the same 
> "object identity" at the Python level:

Right.  They are two separate Python objects.

    print table
    print same_table
    print table is same_table

"is" will obviously fail, because it is checking for two identical
Python objects.  However, did you try the == operator?  The source code
seems to imply that the __eq__ operator is delegated to the _oleobj_
properties, which do know about COM object identity.


> In order to confirm that two objects refer to the same underlying OLE 
> object, I've resorted to parsing the `repr()` strings and comparing the 
> hexadecimal addresses ("`obj at 0x...`").
>
> Is there a better way to do this?

Assuming the straight "==" didn't work, I would think a better way would
be simply to compare the _oleobj_:

    if table._oleobj_ == same_table._oleobj_:

The source code in dynamic.py says the _oleobj_ members know how to
compare themselves.

-- 
Tim Roberts, timr at probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.