Calling COM component method from IBM Notes 9 fails - com

When calling a 32 bit COM component method registered in sysWOW64 fails with an error message:
"type mismatch in method OleVarToLsVal, Unknown found, Unknown
expected"
Its win7 64 bit, but the Notes client is installed by default as a 32 bit application. The code looks like:
dim c as Variant
dim n as Variant
set c = createobject("MSWC.counters")
n = c.Get("xx")
When debugging the call, the object is set and testable with "isObject(c)", (although you can't inspect each method/property in detail in LotusScript debug).
The method is supposed to return a primitive long. I've tried setting n as long, clng-ing the values, cstr-ing the values, the parameter, strconv the parameter, using a variable for the parameter, all to no avail.
The exact same code run by WScript VBS host (in syswow64) runs the code as expected.
So, does anybody know:
If Notes 9 COM value marshalling is working for any components?
Is Notes 9 COM set to recognize the 'wow64' alternate 32 bit registry
Are there some COM related marshalling settings somewhere in the registry I can check (if so what/where are they)?
Is there some setting to tell Notes to use 32 bit components (like IIS 32bit compatibility option)
Is there anything I need to do or could do in the main OS to 'redirect or configure' COM
Or is Notes just broken again and nobody cares?
Any help appreciated - Thanks.

The easiest and probably most productive way to solve this would be to open a PMR with IBM. They should be able to answer this quite quickly.

Well, 7 years on (and seriously obsolete!) just an update for anybody looking for an answer... There are a couple of Notes settings needed and not all COM/Active-X componenets or data types are supported by LotusScript, so even if Notes is setup correctly, you still may not be able to acces/use any specific component or some methods in the component.
The user must be allowed to run unrestricted agents/code in the 'Sign or run unrestricted methods and operations:' in the security section of the server(s) document.
The Notes client execution control list ('ECL') must allow access to 'External programs' either by default or to the code-signer. An ECL warning box will ask the user to continue if the external access has not been granted.
If you try to execute an unsupported method or unsupported data type, then further errors will be issued either by LotusScript or COM/Active-X error reporting. The Notes developer help file for 'CreateObject' gives a bit more detail about unsupported data types:
LotusScript does not support identifying arguments for OLE methods or properties by name rather than by the order in which they appear, nor does LotusScript support using an OLE name by itself (without an explicit property) to identify a default property.
Results are unspecified for arguments to OLE methods and properties of type boolean, byte, and date that are passed by reference. LotusScript does not support these data types.
Relying on the 'default property' to access a default method is a common mistake and requires you to pay extra attention to the component details. It is easy to assume the component is not working, but in fact you're just not using it properly.
One way to test this is to try to open a common object available on all Windows machines (maybe others?) maybe 'FileSystemObject' (FSO) or VbScript 'regExp' component. If these work, you can build on that. Getting the 32/64bit registration correct for your client install is another element to test/get right.
For my issues, I suspect that I was using unsupported methods or data types and having used COM/Active-X in Notes occasionally, its all worked ok in general.

Related

SAPJco invoking BAPI_MATERIAL_DISPLAY

I was trying to invoke BAPI_MATERIAL_DISPLAY functional module from SAP JCO, This is how i pass my input parameter.
function.getImportParameterList().setValue("MATERIAL", "10");
From my program output i got
The material 10 does not exist or is not activated.
If I execute BAPI_MATERIAL_DISPLAY using SAP logon, iam getting the entry. Using debugger I found that,
My input is going as 00000000000010. And so returning response.
Dunno, how to handle this in a proper way in SAPJCO.
I had directly passed the value 00000000000010 from SAPJCo and this time i got an error,
com.sap.conn.jco.JCoException: (104) JCO_ERROR_SYSTEM_FAILURE: Screen output without connection to user.
Hope SAP is opening a popup. Let me know how to solve both the issues in SAPJCO
Field Material has a conversion exit routine. See also its domain MATNR in the DDIC.
These conversion exits are always called automatically by SE37 but not when the Remote Function Module is called directly - like here from outside from a a JCo program.
So if the BAPI expects to get certain parameters in their SAP internal representation format (I don't know if this is the case here), then you have to do this data transformation on your own beforehand, either by doing this purely within an own routine at Java side, or by calling the appropriate conversion routines at ABAP side via RFC.
For more details on this I recommend to study SAP note 206068.
Regarding your second question with the error message "Screen output without connection to user", I guess that this BAPI expects to have a connection to an SAP GUI for displaying the selected data. With a remote function call you don't have a SAP GUI connection by default, but you can attach a SAP GUI to your RFC connection with JCo, namely by specifying the additional logon parameter jco.client.use_sapgui=1. For this to work, an SAP GUI frontend (either for Windows or for Java) also needs to be installed on your host where JCo is running, of course.

Firebreath plugin not loading in IE 10

EDIT: See end of post for more information.
I am trying to to get plugins created via the Firebreath framework (1.7.0) to load. I am on Windows 8 in Desktop Mode using Internet Explorer 10. I've reproduced this with the built-in test FBTtestPlugin that comes with Firebreath. The failure is silent in that the object element is created, but fails to have any properties specified by the plugin. How does one go about debugging this? The Microsoft Internet Explorer Compatibility Tool reports that the plugin is failing to load.
(The FBTtestPlugin loads three plugins, hence the three errors.)
I've got other (non-FB) plugins working on the same settings (e.g. the example here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd565667(v=vs.85).aspx works fine as do all the examples from this site http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/browser/activexfiltering/Default.html ).
I've tried a huge combination of security settings, but here's the most relaxed set I have so far follows:
Tools / Safety / ActiveX Filtering: is unchecked
Internet Options / Security / Internet: "Enable Protected Mode" is unchecked
Internet Options / Security / Internet: is at Custom Level. Under ActiveX everything is "enabled" except restrictive properties such as "Allow ActiveX Filtering"
All sorts of security warnings are visible based on these settings.
Note: I don't intend to keep these settings. I just want to get the plugin working, then work backwards re-enabling security settings.
UPDATE
I figured this out partly and can now run the FB test FBTestPlugin. To make debugging easier for IE, I defined the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\TabProcGrowth as 0 to limit the browser to use one process. Unfortunately, with IE10 both iexplore.exe in Program Files and Program Files (x86) direct to the 64-bit version of IE. This prevents 32-bit plugins from running (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716529 ), and the symptom is silent failure.
However, my plugin still fails to load in IE and the retitled question above is otherwise still open. The problem is still silent load failure. However, I think it may have something to do with plugin configuration. The CLSID listed in the Compatibility Test Tool (like the example shown above) is listed as all 0's instead of a valid GUID. Moreover the registry looks funky: The key HKCR\Company.Name exists as does HKCR\Company.Name.1, but both are empty (instead of having a CLSID child as in normally working plugins). The expected GUID does exist, but under a bogus name "applications.'". I am now digging into the code that gets called when regsvr32 is run.
Thanks all!
I am providing this answer in the hopes that someone can use the result.
IE was not loading the plugin for two reasons.
1) The TabProcGrowth registry key and the 32/64 bit issue with IE 10. ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2716529 )
Don't define this key.
2) My plugin description used an apostrophe (e.g. "Gluttco's Plugin") and this messed up the registration of the component.
DETAILS ON 2):
I traced through the DllRegisterServer code and found that the phoney registry entries are due to the fact that my plugin description contained an apostrophe. E.g. "Joe's plugin". The generator (fbgen.py/cmake), generated a malformed FBControls.rgs file (it't didn't escape the quotes and thus contained a string literal such as (s 'Joe's cool plugin'). The DllRegisterServer code (called from regsvr32) used the contents of this file (embedded?) when (deep in atlbase.h). Oddly, the parser did not detect the error (or somehow erroneously recovered). From Process Monitor I could see a bunch of bogus keys being added, before it started adding good registry keys again.
For now Firebreath plugin descriptions should not contain apostrophes (probably other characters are illegal too). It might be sensible to make fbgen.py check for these characters and possibly escape, reject, or replace them.
Searching found this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd565667(v=vs.85).aspx
Do you have any group policies in place that could affect it? I don't think this is related directly to FireBreath, rather to the activex configuration...
I also found http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/90c3202c-448b-42b7-acf7-dab8dba7b000/one-or-more-activex-controls-could-not-be-displayed-because-either which has a few things you could try.

vb.net 2010 - reading from registry doesn't work - win 7

I thought this would be dead simple however....
Right, so all I'm simply trying to do is read a value from my registry. I have been through several examples but can't get any of them to work. I've also tried running my application in Admin mode and still nothing. Can someone please help?
From all my examples that I've tried, I'll use the simplest one.
This works:
Dim val As String
val = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0").GetValue("Identifier").ToString()
MsgBox(val)
This (the one I want) doesn't:
Dim val As String
val = Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\PTSClient").GetValue("ConfigDB").ToString()
MsgBox(val)
THe latter path and value is one that I've manually created in the registry. I've checked the permissions between the two and they are the exact same. I've also tried running the app as administrator. I get a runtime error on the val= line, it says: Use the "new" keyword to create an object instance.
Any ideas? All the various online examples have failed and for the life of me, I can't figure out why...
Cheers,
J
Well, I have tried your code with a sample application compiled for x86 and, as expected, it fails with a null value exception.
I assume you are building an application for x86 mode and running in a 64bit environment.
Of course, if this is not the case, let me know and I will delete this answer.
In the situation outlined above, the calls to read/write in the LocalMachine.Software registry path will be automatically changed by the Operating System to read/write in the Software\Wow6432Node subkey and thus, your code is unable to find your manually inserted key ("SOFTWARE\PTSClient").
This code will give a null value as return from Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey("SOFTWARE\PTSClient") leading to the failure to get the ConfigDB value.
You need to add your keys/values to the Software\Wow6432Node path or compile your application for AnyCPU mode or let your code write the value to the register (it will be redirected to the Wow6432Node).

webBrowser failure. Migration VB6 to VB.Net. ExecWB and QueryStatusMethod failure

I want to migrate an application from VB6.0 to VB.net.
I migrate it myself and get an error on this two lines. The error says "ExecWB is not a member of System.Windows.Forms.WebBrowser"!!The same error with the ExecWB Method. I dont find any solution or any equivalent code in .net for that. Do I need an imprt or reference or equivalent type?
Please help.
eQuery = webBrowser.QueryStatusWB(SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_COPY)
webBrowser.ExecWB(SHDocVw.OLECMDID.OLECMDID_PAGESETUP,
SHDocVw.OLECMDEXECOPT.OLECMDEXECOPT_DODEFAULT, Nothing, Nothing)
webBrowser?
Thank you
There are two different WebBrowser things, the WebBrowser Object and the WebBrowser Control. The object is the ActiveX version that you were using in VB6 while the control was completely redesigned to follow .Net standards. While there may be some common methods, properties and events between the two they are not really related.
You can continue to use the ActiveX version in .Net just fine if you want. You'll need to add a reference to it either via the Add References menu or by adding the Microsoft Web Browser object to your toolbox. If you want to use the .Net version then you'll need to find the updated way to do your specific tasks.
A 30s Google search returned this article that suggests you can use late binding on the ActiveXInstance property to access the methods directly.
Note that this method is marked as "infrastructure use only" and may well be subject to change/removal, etc at a later date.

Classic ASP, Cookies, and VB.NET COM+ objects

This is tangled.
I've been handed a web site written in classic ASP, with a lot of behind the scenes stuff done in VB6 COM+ objects called from the ASP pages via Server.ObjectCreate() instantiations. For this incarnation, the VB6 routines have been converted to VB.NET simply by running the Visual Studio 2003 converter tool on them, and then upgrading that solution file to VS 2008. So there's a thousand and one possible sources for error.
One of the VB6 Modules that is giving me trouble clears a bunch of Response cookies by lines of the following form:
ASPResponse.Cookies("SysUserCode") = ""
Where ASPResponse is defined as :
Private ASPResponse As ASPTypeLibrary.Response
And was set up on Object Activation by:
Set ASPResponse = objContext("Response")
In the VB.NET conversion of this module, those lines became
ASPResponse = ContextUtil.GetNamedProperty("Response")
and
ASPResponse.Cookies("SysUserCode")() = ""
(note the extra pair of parentheses. Not being much of a VB person, I'm not real sure what that syntax means.)
Okay, here's the question: When this code executes on MY machine, that line is giving a VB error 13, with the Error.Description being "Specified cast is not valid." Huh? What cast?
Incidentally, this module runs fine on a co-workers machine, and he cannot see any difference in the configuration of my machine and the relevant components from his.
I'm totally at a loss here. Googling it has given me a bunch of stuff on VB.NET cookies, or COM components with VB.NET, but nothing related to classic ASP cookies.
Is...
Private ASPResponse As ASPTypeLibrary.Response
Set ASPResponse = objContext("Response")
...Post VB.NET conversion? If so, you'll need to explicitly cast objContext("Response") into the ASPTypeLibrary.Response object. This especially applies if Option Strict is on. e.g.
ASPResponse = CType(objContext("Response"), ASPTypeLibary.Response)
Also, Set and Let statements aren't supported in VB.NET.
This MAY have to do with the way the COM component's host is activated. I read another post ([Klaus H. Probst])1 that indicated that, in order to access the Response element, the COM component had to be activated as a Library (as opposed to Server) so that it was running in the ASP process space. So I tried changing the Activation type of the Component's hosting application to library, resetting and rebuilding a few times, and now I'm able to access the Cookies element of the Response. However, my co-worker is still running the host application as a Server, and has no problem.