This document covers the following topics:
Natural supports the following OLE technologies:
OLE Documents
OLE Visual Editing (In-place Activation)
ActiveX Controls
If you are new to OLE, it is highly recommended that you first get a basic overview by referring to one of the various sources available. One such source, for example, is the Microsoft Win32 software development kit documentation.
OLE documents is a technology that integrates different Windows applications seamlessly so that the end user can concentrate on the data rather than on handling the different applications. With OLE you can, for example, embed a Word for Windows document in a Natural dialog. Whenever the end user enters the text container to edit the document, the entire Word functionality is available. Thus, the end user does not have to invoke Word.
OLE Documents Support is provided by the Natural dialog element OLE container control.
The OLE documents technology defines container and server applications. A container application is an application that is able to use objects created by a server application. These objects are used by linking or embedding them. In this context, Natural is the container application because the dialog editor provides an OLE container control. A typical server application is Microsoft Word; the Word documents would then be the objects used by Natural.
Linking means that the content of a document is accessed via a link to an external file. This file is stored in the server's format (for example, a file in .rtf format would be stored in a file system outside Natural; the server residing in this external file system would be Microsoft Word).
Embedding means that the content of a document is maintained in the container application and is stored in the container's internal format. Embedded documents are created
either by building them from scratch in the container application;
or by loading an external document.
Embedded objects are edited by visual editing ("in-place activation"), whereas linked objects must be opened in an extra server window for editing.
Natural provides the dialog element OLE container control for embedding and linking documents. Furthermore, Natural provides actions to save and load embedded documents in internal Natural format. By default, these embedded objects in internal format are stored and retrieved in the %NATGUI_BMP% directory with a default extension of .neo (Natural Embedded Object).
To display an embedded object with the OLE container control when the
dialog starts
Invoke the container control's attribute window.
Set the Type entry to "Existing OLE Object".
Select a file specification in the Name field.
To display an embedded object dynamically at runtime
Use the PROCESS GUI statement action
OLE-READ-FROM-FILE.
To display a linked object with the OLE container control when the
dialog starts
Invoke the container control's attribute window.
Set the Type entry to "OLE Server".
In the Select OLE Server or Document dialog that comes up, select Create From File and select a file specification.
To display a linked object dynamically at runtime
Assign the file specification of the external document to the
attribute SERVER-OBJECT.
In-place activation means that the end user is able to activate a server application in the container application's window. Such a server application is related to an object embedded in a Natural dialog's OLE container control. The server application is activated by double-clicking on the OLE container control. The Natural dialog's toolbar and menu-bar control are then merged with the server application's menu and toolbar. The dialog now contains toolbar items and menu items that enable you to edit the object with the help of the server's functionality.
ActiveX controls support enables the Natural programmer to use the many third-party ActiveX controls inside a Natural dialog. Natural enables you to access the ActiveX controls properties and methods direct and to program the ActiveX controls events.
ActiveX controls support is provided by the Natural dialog element "ActiveX control". For more information, see Working with ActiveX Controls.
The following topics are covered below:
You can create an OLE container control either statically in the dialog editor or dynamically at runtime.
The OLE container control enables you to integrate server applications. You can integrate server applications in the following three ways, as indicated by the Object Information group frame, Type entry of the OLE container control's attributes window.
Type: New OLE object. You create an OLE container control that acts as a placeholder for the insertable object. At runtime, your end user can create the embedded object by starting the server application. The embedded object can then be saved as Natural embedded object (.neo file).
Type: Existing OLE object. Your end user changes an existing embedded object in the OLE container control. The embedded object is saved as Natural embedded object (.neo file).
Type: OLE server. You create a native OLE object in your application or you create a link to an external object.
To create an OLE container control in the dialog editor
In the dialog editor main menu, choose , then .
Draw a rectangle by holding down the right mouse button, dragging the mouse vertically/horizontally and releasing the mouse button.
An empty OLE container is created.
To display a document in the OLE container when starting the
dialog
Double-click the OLE container control to invoke the attribute window.
In the Type selection box, choose OLE server for linking an external document. Or choose Existing OLE object for reading in an embedded object.
Choose the button to select the external or embedded object file.
Before you enter the examples in an event-handler section, declare a handle variable for the OLE container control in the local data area of the dialog:
01 #OCT-1 HANDLE OF OLECONTAINER
Example for creating an OLE container control at runtime and linking an external document:
PROCESS GUI ACTION ADD WITH PARAMETERS HANDLE-VARIABLE = #OCT-1 TYPE = OLECONTAINER SERVER-OBJECT = 'PICTURE.BMP' RECTANGLE-X = 56 RECTANGLE-Y = 32 RECTANGLE-W = 336 RECTANGLE-H = 160 PARENT = #DLG$WINDOW SUPPRESS-CLICK-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-DBL-CLICK-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-CLOSE-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-ACTIVATE-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-CHANGE-EVENT = SUPPRESSED END-PARAMETERS GIVING *ERROR
Example for creating an OLE container control at runtime and embedding a Natural embedded object:
PROCESS GUI ACTION ADD WITH PARAMETERS HANDLE-VARIABLE = #OCT-1 TYPE = OLECONTAINER EMBEDDED-OBJECT = 'SLIDE.NEO' RECTANGLE-X = 56 RECTANGLE-Y = 32 RECTANGLE-W = 336 RECTANGLE-H = 160 PARENT = #DLG$WINDOW SUPPRESS-CLICK-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-DBL-CLICK-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-CLOSE-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-ACTIVATE-EVENT = SUPPRESSED SUPPRESS-CHANGE-EVENT = SUPPRESSED END-PARAMETERS GIVING *ERROR
This section contains examples for clearing and deleting an OLE container at runtime.
Before you enter the examples in an event-handler section, declare a handle variable for the OLE container control in the local data area of the dialog:
01 #OCT-1 HANDLE OF OLECONTAINER
Example for clearing (removing the document of) the OLE container control:
PROCESS GUI ACTION CLEAR WITH #OCT-1
Example for deleting the OLE container control:
PROCESS GUI ACTION DELETE WITH #OCT-1
The menu item attribute
MENU-ITEM-OLE can have
four different values which determine if and where the menu item in question is
displayed during in-place activation of a server.
The menu item attribute
MENU-ITEM-TYPE also has
the value MT-OBJECTVERBS. This enables you to have the
OLE container
control display the available server actions (command verbs) in this
menu item.
While a document is displayed in an
OLE container
control, the end user has the possibility to activate the default
command verb of the server by double-clicking inside the OLE container
control's rectangle. This is equivalent to executing the PROCESS
GUI statement action
OLE-ACTIVATE. Furthermore, the end user
can select a server command verb by displaying a popup menu. You display this
popup menu by holding down the right mouse button inside the OLE container.
Then you select the desired command verb and release the mouse button.
If the MODIFIABLE attribute of
an OLE
container control is set to FALSE, a double-click on
the container does not start the default command verb of the server and holding
down the right mouse button does not show the popup menu with the available
server command verbs (see also Executing Standardized
Procedures).
During visual editing (in-place activation), the server uses the
Natural dialog for the editing of the document. The server does its work as a
task on its own and the Natural processing continues. Thus, it is possible to
execute event code and, for example, to limit the visual editing to a certain
time by specifying PROCESS GUI ACTION
OLE-DEACTIVATE, WITH #OCT-1
in a timer's event section (see also Executing Standardized
Procedures).
The following sections list all the attributes, events and PROCESS
GUI statement actions that apply specifically to the
OLE container
control.
The OLE-specific attributes provided with the OLE container control are:
This OLE-specific event occurs when a server application is activated:
The OLE-specific PROCESS GUI statement actions provided
with the OLE
container control are: