Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of PeterLarsen
PeterLarsen

asked on

Register a Com object

Hi Experts,

I would like to know how to register a com object through another program.
I have notice that a com obejct register itself when activated directly by doubleclick on it.

Regards
Peter
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of Russell Libby
Russell Libby
Flag of United States of America image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of Buda
Buda

try

WinExec('regsvr32 C:\ComObjDir\ComObj.xxx /s',0);
Also You can search Microsoft's website to find what registry entries must be changed to register COM server. (process of registering COM server is nothiong more than changing registry).
ziolko.
Avatar of PeterLarsen

ASKER

Hi Russell,

So what you are saying is that my com object has a exported function named 'DLLRegisterServer' - and i should call that ??

Peter

btw - thanks to you all for your comments !!

Hi Peter,

All exe's and dll's that expose COM objects export 4 standard functions:

DllRegisterServer, DllClassObject, DllCanUnloadNow, and DllUnregisterServer

The windows utility regsvr32 is a simple utility that does nothing more than what I described above (load library and call DllRegisterServer or DllUnRegisterServer). I have used this technique in quite a few applications, and it works like a champ.

So to answer your question, yes. Just load the library, make sure you get a valid handle, get the proc address, and call it with the function prototype that i supplied in my previous comment

Russell
Thanks Rusell
Btw, The 4 standard functions you'r talking about - that is also what i found in the help file !! :-)
well, it does not work :-(
well, it does not work :-(

DllRegisterServer does not exitst in that type of Com Objects.

This is what i have :

1: Create 'New Application'
2: Hit New - ActiveX tab and selecting 'Com Object'.

This create a com object as a exe file.

When i want to use this com-exe file from within another application the com object is unknown to windows.

To make the com-exe file known to windows i have to activate the com-exe file once.
After this the com object is known to windows and may be activated from other applications.

My question is - How do i make the com object visible to other applications without having to activate the com object first ??

Regards
Peter
DllRegisterServer does not exitst in that type of Com Objects.

This is what i have :

1: Create 'New Application'
2: Hit New - ActiveX tab and selecting 'Com Object'.

This create a com object as a exe file.

When i want to use this com-exe file from within another application the com object is unknown to windows.

To make the com-exe file known to windows i have to activate the com-exe file once.
After this the com object is known to windows and may be activated from other applications.

My question is - How do i make the com object visible to other applications without having to activate the com object first ??

Regards
Peter
Hello Peter,

I'm sorry that we can't re-open questions. But here is what I will do.

I will reduce the points on this question to zero. That will refund your points to you.

Then you can post a new question "Follow up".

Just say something like:

"Follow up from https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qShow.jsp?ta=delphi&qid=20147812

The question was not resolved, and I need further information"

Post the URL of the new question here. That way I will know that you've done it, so I can assume this is resolved, and also the other participants will get a notification and will find the new question easily, so that you can continue there as soon as possible.

Regards

modder
Community Support Moderator@Experts-Exchange
OK. Reduced points to 0.

modder
Unfortunately the answer didn't help me to solve my problem.
I have posted a new question here :https://www.experts-exchange.com/jsp/qManageQuestion.jsp?ta=delphi&qid=20150494.

Regards
peter

Sorry Peter,

I had additional notes on OLE Server registration that I should have included as well. What I sent will work for all COM/AX dll's as well as OCX's. For the OLE server portion of it, I clipped the notes from the MSDN:

(in short, winxec(exefile+' /regserver', SW_SHOW))

MSDN:
Self-Registering .EXEs

There isn't an easy way for .EXEs to publish entry points with well-known names, so a direct translation of DllRegisterServer isn't possible. Instead, .EXEs support self-registration using special command line flags. .EXEs that support self-registration must mark their resource fork in the same way as .DLLs, so that the .EXEs support for the command line flags is detectable. Launching an .EXE marked as self-registering with the /REGSERVER command line argument should cause it to do whatever OLE installation is necessary and then exit. The /UNREGSERVER argument is the equivalent to DllUnregisterServer. The /REGSERVER and /UNREGSERVER strings should be treated case-insensitively, and that the character '-' can be substituted for '/'.

Other than guaranteeing that it has the correct entry point or implements the correct command line argument, an application that indicates it is self-registering must build its registration logic so that it may be called any number of times on a given system even if it is already installed. Telling it to register itself more than once should not have any negative side effects. The same is true for unregistering.

On normal startup (without the /REGSERVER command line option) .EXEs should call the registration code to make sure their registry information is current. .EXEs will indicate the failure or success of the self-registration process through their return code by returning zero for success and non-zero for failure.

Russell
Thanks rllibby - this works.

"if ShellExecute(self.Handle, 'open' ,PChar(ComObjectName) ,Pchar('/regserver') ,nil ,sw_hide) <= 32 then ..."

Regards
Peter