1. Bruce Armstrong TeamSybase bruce.armstrong@teamsybase.com

2. Techniques  PowerBuilder 11 and beyond only Referencing.Net assemblies directly within Conditional Code blocks in PowerScript  Any version of PowerBuilder.Net Interop via COM Callable Wrappers

3. Referencing.Net Assemblies  Currently only non-visual assemblies Visual assemblies is a release milestone for PowerBuilder 12  Conditional Code blocks AutoScript is not supported (errors are reported at compile time) Syntax is neither PowerScript or C# but a mix of them (PowerScript#)

4. .Net Interop  Runtime Callable Wrapper  COM Callable Wrapper

5. Allows a.Net application to use a Win32 COM object Runtime Callable Wrapper COM Object Runtime Callable Wrapper.Net Application http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8bwh56xe.aspx

6. Allows a Win32 application to use a.Net object via COM COM Callable Wrapper.Net Object COM Callable Wrapper Win32 Application http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f07c8z1c.aspx

7. COM Callable Wrapper  Assembly has to be COM-Visible Assembly can be marked such at compile time FxCop can be used to determine if marked ILSASM/ILASM can be used (in some cases) to change the marking

8. COM Callable Wrapper  Marking the Assembly COM-Visible in Visual Studio

9. Using FxCop  Examining the COM-Visible attribute using Microsoft’s FxCop http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb429476(VS.80).aspx

10. ILDASM  ILASM (IL Assembler) is part of the.Net runtime Typical location: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727 In the System Path  ILDASM (IL Disassembler) is part of the.Net SDK Typical Location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft.NET\SDK\v2.0\Bin May not be in the System Path

11. Using ILDASM  Examining the COM-Visible attribute in the disassembled IL

12. REGASM .Net Assembly Registration Utility  Used to create COM registry entries for.Net component  Syntax: RegAsm AssemblyName [Options] Options: /unregister /regfile[:FileName] /codebase

13. REGASM Output  With regfile option but without codebase option

14. REGASM Output  With regfile option and codebase option

15. Registry Free COM  Not.Net specific, can be used for any COM components  Supported on Windows version XP and later (e.g., 2003, Vista, 2008)  http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/ms973913.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/ms973913.aspx

16. How Registry Free COM Works Client App Client App.Manifest Dependant Assembly (COM Component) Dependant Assembly.Manifest

17. GenMan32  Useful utility for generating manifest files for Registry Free COM  Syntax: GenMan32 AssemblyName [Options] Options: /add /out:filename  http://blogs.msdn.com/junfeng/archive/2007/04/14/genman32-a-tool-to- generate-sxs-manifest-for-managed-assembly-for-registration-free-com-net- interop.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/junfeng/archive/2007/04/14/genman32-a-tool-to- generate-sxs-manifest-for-managed-assembly-for-registration-free-com-net- interop.aspx

18. GenMan32 Output

19. CCW Limitations  Types, methods, properties, fields and events must all be public  Methods must not be static  Types must have a public default constructor  Overloaded methods should be avoided  Late binding clients can’t retrieve error information from.Net exceptions  PowerBuilder Specific: Events

20. Avoid Overloaded Methods.Net Class foo ( int a ) foo ( string a ) foo ( long a ) COM Wrapper foo (int a ) foo_2 ( string a ) foo_3 ( long a )

21. Why error information gets lost PowerBuilder Client CCW.Net Assembly IDispatch Exception 3. Exception Thrown 4.SetErrorInfo 5. GetErrorInfo 1. COM Call 2..Net Call 6. Return from call

22. What we can do about it Managed Exception Logger Exception Publisher Event Log Debug Window Managed Exception Queue CCW IDispatch Exception

23. Further Reading  Microsoft’s Exception Handling Application Block http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/library/cc511522.aspx  Get Seamless.NET Exception Logging From COM Clients Without Modifying Your Code http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/magazine/cc188710.aspx

24. Interop Forms Toolkit 2.0  Not just forms, but controls as well http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/vbasic/bb419144.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en- us/vbasic/bb419144.aspx  Can be used in the Express versions of Visual Studio with some limitations  C# implementation available on CodeProject http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/VB6_ -_C__Interop_Form.aspx http://www.codeproject.com/KB/dotnet/VB6_ -_C__Interop_Form.aspx

25. Supporting Events  Create a Interface of type ComInterfaceType.InterfaceIsIDispatch with the defined events Provide a GUID for the interface Assign a unique DispID for each event  Add a ComSourceInterfaces attribute to the control  Define the events within the control  Call those events from within the user control http://www.15seconds.com/issue/060309.htm

26. Event Declaration Interface

27. Implementing Events

28. Events exposed in PowerBuilder

29. Questions