Invoking component methods
Once a connection to a COM component has been established, the client application can begin using the component methods.
Use the REF keyword for output parameters
You must use the REF keyword when you call a method on a COM object that has an output parameter. For example: of_add( arg1, arg2, REF sum )
Example
Using the EmpObj object created in the previous example, this example calls two methods on the component, then disconnects and destroys the instance:
Long units, time Double avg, ld_retn String ls_retn ld_retn = EmpObj.f_calcdayavg(units, time, REF avg) ls_retn = EmpObj.f_teststring() EmpObj.DisconnectObject() DESTROY EmpObj
Passing result sets
PowerBuilder provides three system objects to handle getting result sets from components running in transaction server environments and returning result sets from PowerBuilder user objects running as transaction server components. These system objects (ResultSet, ResultSets, and ADOResultSet) are designed to simplify the conversion of transaction server result sets to and from DataStore objects and do not contain any state information.
Handling runtime errors
Runtime error information from custom class user objects executing as OLE automation objects, COM objects, or COM+ components is reported to the container holding the object as exceptions (or, for automation objects, as exceptions or facility errors). Calls to the PowerBuilder SignalError function are also reported to the container. To handle runtime errors generated by PowerBuilder objects, code the ExternalException event of the OLE client.
For more information about handling runtime errors in OLE or COM objects, see Handling errors.
