Obtain specific/active instance of COM Object

[Sancarn]

Hi All,

I'm trying to automate the front instance of MapInfo from another application. The easiest way to do this, pre .NET, is to connect to the COM object and use MapInfo.Do() / MapInfo.Eval() functions to execute commands. For example, in VB6/VBS:

Dim MapInfo As Object

Set MapInfo = GetObject(, "MapInfo.Application.x64")

MapInfo.Do "Print ""Hello World"""

Will print "Hello World" to the message window of the first opened instance of MapInfo 64-bit.

However my problem here is that the returned COM object is the first opened instance of MapInfo rather than the active instance of MapInfo. Is there any way to obtain the COM Object for the active, or any other, instance of MapInfo?

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

Are you launching your ”other application” from within the MapInfo Pro that you want it to “link” back to?

 

If yes, you might be able to send a reference to this MapInfo Pro to your application.

 

Peter Horsbøll Møller

Pitney Bowes

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[Sancarn]

I've found this post asking a similar question:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/mapinfo-l/GetObject|sort:relevance/mapinfo-l/L0HU1kZ86gA/3ni8tOChVacJ

It looks like it might not be possible without modifying all MapInfo shortcuts on the computer which seems a bit convoluted... It's possible though of course it would be nice if there was a direct method...

[Sancarn]

I can launch it from within MapInfo if that eliminates the problem! :) How would one send a reference to the MapInfo Pro application?

[Peter Horsbøll Møller]

One of these attributes from the SystemInfo() function should do the trick:

 

SYS_INFO_MAPINFOWND	9	IntPtr*: a Windows HWND of the MapInfo Pro frame window, or zero on non-Windows platforms.
SYS_INFO_APPIDISPATCH	17	IntPtr*: the IDispatch OLE Automation pointer for the MapInfo application.
SYS_INFO_IMAPINFOAPPLICATION	20	Returns an instance of the MapInfo Pro application represented as a .NET Specific Variable. This variable type refers to an instance of IMAPINFOPRO, which is the base interface providing access to MapInfo Pro components in your Add-ins.

[Sancarn]

Ah right of course. The IDispatch... Thanks Peter!

[Sancarn]

Hi Peter,

Today I tried using the iDispatch however I cannot connect to the COM Object?

Are there any available examples of how to use IDispatch with VB/C#?

Thanks,

On Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 1:09:00 PM UTC, Sancarn wrote:

[Thomas Bacon]

You might find this thread useful: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mapinfo-l/eZ4P1DTikUk

 

Specifically, have a look at Cliff B’s answer.

 

HTH,

 

Tom

 

From: mapi...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mapi...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Sancarn

Sent: 24 March 2017 12:49
To: MapInfo-L <mapi...@googlegroups.com>

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[Sancarn]

Tom,

Thanks. Sadly I do not have access to the Marshal library/object... However I did find a way to get all active COM objects from the ROT (Running Objects Table - Stores all active COM objects). This involves interfacing with IRunningObjectTable interface

Fortunately for me the code had already been created by someone else. I believe it would be even easier in C# / VB.

This will be extremely powerful for me! So maybe it'll help others too :)

Thanks,

[Cliff B]

I'm actually revisiting this now in the x64 mapinfo.

The Dispatch ID is now a long not an int so I've had to send it as a string rather than integer.
However doing it this way I've only been able to get the DMapInfo which doesn't expose the new methods in IMapInfoPro such as creating unattached windows, etc.


The alternative is to pass the result of SystemInfo(SYS_INFO_IMAPINFOAPPLICATION) to .net as a Mapinfo.Types.IMapInfoPro. (you'll need to add a reference to MapInfo.Types.dll)

[Sancarn]

As far as I know a pointer to a COM object cannot be used in another process:

https://autohotkey.com/board/topic/77840-how-to-pass-com-object-pointer-to-a-script/?p=495011

So such a system will only work if you are calling an MBX from within MapInfo itself. (Which is ideally what I was wanting to avoid, given that I am writing a large portion of the application outside MapInfo and i'd rather avoid multiple files)

So as said above the only option, if wanting to use it from a separate process, is to loop through IMonikers of the iRunningObjectTable. I will try to throw some .NET console application which will do this also :)