# Classes in WIN32OLE

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/classes-in-win32ole/78304>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [December 4, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/classes-in-win32ole/78304 "2006-12-04T21:23:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/classes-in-win32ole/78304/1 "2006-12-04T21:23:02Z")

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Hi all,

There are so many pre-assumptions when using WIN32OLE  
library. Can anyone out there briefly explain the  
relation among the classes and modules in it?

Thanks,

Li

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**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 7:26am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/classes-in-win32ole/78304/2 "2006-12-10T07:26:46Z")

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WIN32OLE basically provides an interface to the OLE type libraries in  
Windows, so you’re going to want to be able to see what classes,  
methods, and properties those libraries provide.

If you plan on doing work with Microsoft Office applications the best  
thing to do would be to open an app (Excel, for example), go to Tools  
=\> Macro =\> Visual Basic Editor, Then go to View =\> Object Browser  
(make sure you have a document open in the Office app, or nothing will  
show up.) There you can see everything available to the object you’ve  
created (i.e. WIN32OLE.new(‘excel.application’)).

This program:  
[http://homepage1.nifty.com/markey/ruby/win32ole/index\_e.html](http://homepage1.nifty.com/markey/ruby/win32ole/index_e.html) allows you  
to browse other type libraries, and I believe there are other apps  
available to view this information.

Hope that helps.

Thanks,

Nate

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/13edae/32.png) [@alex-osu3](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/alex-osu3)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/classes-in-win32ole/78304/3 "2006-12-10T15:54:01Z")

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> WIN32OLE basically provides an interface to the OLE type libraries in  
> Windows, so you’re going to want to be able to see what classes,  
> methods, and properties those libraries provide.  
> Nate

Hi Nate,

When I read the document about this library I see several classes as  
follows

Classes

OLEProperty  
WIN32OLE  
WIN32OLE::VARIANT  
WIN32OLERuntimeError  
WIN32OLE\_EVENT  
WIN32OLE\_METHOD  
WIN32OLE\_PARAM  
WIN32OLE\_TYPE  
WIN32OLE\_VARIABLE

I know WIN32OLE is a big player for this library. But how about the  
others? What are their roles and the relation with WIN32OLE? I would  
like to someone or you get a very quick introduction.

Thanks,

Li