# WIN32OLE#= method in Ruby 1.9 (or later)

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 25, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930 "2006-03-25T14:20:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Masaki_S)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930/1 "2006-03-25T14:20:48Z")

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Hello,

I have a question about Win32OLE.  
I think that I’ll change the behavior of WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]=  
in Ruby 1.9 or later.

I have not commited the change yet.  
Before commiting it, I want suggestions or opinions from Win32OLE users.

For example,  
excel = WIN32OLE.excel(“Excel.Application”)  
excel[“Visible”] = true  
is NG.  
Instead, You must write  
excel = WIN32OLE.excel(“Excel.Application”)  
excel.Visible = true

For more,  
installer = WIN32OLE.new(“WindowsInstaller.Installer”)  
record = installer.CreateRecord(2)  
record [“StringData”, 1] = ‘dddd’

is NG. Instead,  
installer = WIN32OLE.new(“WindowsInstaller.Installer”)  
record = installer.CreateRecord(2)  
record.setproperty(“StringData”, 1, ‘dddd’)

By using new featuer, You can write

worksheet.cells[1,2] = 10

in Excel.

For more, you can write

WIN32OLE.new(“WScript.Shell”)  
env = sh.Environment(“User”)  
p env[“FOO”]  
env[“FOO”] = “BARBAZ”

For more, you can write

ado = WIN32OLE.new(“ADODB.Connection”)  
ado.Open("…")  
rs = ado.Execute(“SELECT \* from TABLE01”)  
while !rs.EOF  
puts rs.Fields.Item(“id”).value  
puts rs.Fields(“id”).value  
puts rs[“id”].value # This is new feature!  
rs.MoveNext  
end

and so on. Any comment, any question, welcome.

Regards,  
Masaki S.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Masaki_S)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930/2 "2006-03-25T15:25:29Z")

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Hi!

Masaki S. wrote:

> I have a question about Win32OLE.  
> I think that I’ll change the behavior of WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]=  
> in Ruby 1.9 or later.
> 
> I have not commited the change yet.  
> Before commiting it, I want suggestions or opinions from Win32OLE users.

No longer allowed:

> excel[“Visible”] = true  
> record [“StringData”, 1] = ‘dddd’

New:

> worksheet.cells[1,2] = 10  
> env[“FOO”] = “BARBAZ”  
> puts rs[“id”].value # This is new feature!

Excellent! This makes a lot more sense than the existing function of []  
and  
[]=.

When I first used WIN32OLE, I was surprised that you couldn’t use [] to  
access index operations.

I haven’t used obj[prop, n] before, that I can recall. I think neither  
that  
nor setproperty() are the ideal Ruby syntax for this operation, but []  
seems  
better. How about this:

> record [“StringData”, 1] = ‘dddd’  
> record.setproperty(“StringData”, 1, ‘dddd’)

record[:StringData][1] = ‘dddd’

Possible implementation:  
class WIN32OLE  
class Property  
attr\_reader :object, :name  
def initialize(obj, name)  
unless obj.kind\_of?(WIN32OLE)  
raise TypeError.new(“cannot convert #{obj.inspect} to  
WIN32OLE”)  
end  
self.object = obj  
self.name = name.to\_s  
end  
def   
object.getproperty(name, \*args)  
end  
def []=(\*args)  
object.setproperty(name, \*args)  
end  
end  
def   
if args.size == 1 && args[0].kind\_of?(Symbol)  
return Property.new(self, \*args)  
end  
# everything else  
end  
end

(I realize there’s ‘win32ole/property’ already, but I don’t know exactly  
what its purpose is.)

Thanks a lot for WIN32OLE, Masaki S.!

Cheers,  
Dave

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**Author:** ![Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Masaki_S)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2006, 1:14am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930/3 "2006-03-26T01:14:13Z")

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Masaki S. wrote:

> and so on. Any comment, any question, welcome.
> 
> Regards,  
> Masaki S.

I have been using WIN32OLE like this:

def test\_get\_serial  
bios = WIN32OLE.connect(“winmgmts:\\.”)  
bios.InstancesOf(“win32\_bios”).each do |item|  
return item.serialnumber  
end  
end

Thank you.  
Brad

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Masaki_S)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930/4 "2006-03-27T13:19:07Z")

</div>

Hi again,

Masaki S. wrote:

> In message “Re: WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]= method in Ruby 1.9 (or  
> later)”  
> on 06/03/25, “Dave B.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes:
> 
> > > record.setproperty(“StringData”, 1, ‘dddd’)
> > 
> > record[:StringData][1] = ‘dddd’
> 
> Thank you. It is very interesting.  
> I think about it.

It’s not ideal, but WIN32OLE doesn’t use Symbols - VBScript and JScript  
don’t have them.  
We’re trying to match this VBScript, right?

record.StringData(1) = “dddd”

As far as I understand, we can’t make record.StringData(1) = “dddd” or  
record.StringData[1] = “dddd” work while keeping the same dynamic call  
functionality we already have (StringData should be called as a method  
in  
both cases) but what about another option:

record.StringData{1} = “dddd”

The rule would be similar to the above, but instead of looking for a  
symbol,  
you’re looking for block\_given? and using “yield” as the index/parameter  
to  
the property.  
Although, in a sense, this matches semantic-for-semantic less than the  
[:StringData] version, and that’s what I like best about the change  
you’re  
suggesting - use Ruby’s index operators for the same purpose in OLE.

Thanks again for your efforts on this project,  
Dave

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Masaki_S)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930/5 "2006-03-27T12:43:07Z")

</div>

Hello,

In message “Re: WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]= method in Ruby 1.9 (or  
later)”  
on 06/03/25, “Dave B.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes:

> I haven’t used obj[prop, n] before, that I can recall. I think neither that  
> nor setproperty() are the ideal Ruby syntax for this operation, but [] seems  
> better. How about this:
> 
> > record [“StringData”, 1] = ‘dddd’  
> > record.setproperty(“StringData”, 1, ‘dddd’)
> 
> record[:StringData][1] = ‘dddd’

Thank you. It is very interesting.  
I think about it.

> (I realize there’s ‘win32ole/property’ already, but I don’t know exactly  
> what its purpose is.)

It is helper class of early binding of WIN32OLE.  
For example,  
ext/win32ole/sample/olegen.rb uses it.  
And,  
ruby olegen.rb ‘Microsoft ActiveX Data Object N.N Library’  
creates some property which uses OLEProperty.

Yes, it is not so convenient.

Regards,  
Masaki S.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Masaki\_S](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Masaki_S)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/win32ole-method-in-ruby-1-9-or-later/55930/6 "2006-03-29T16:36:09Z")

</div>

Hello,

In message “Re: WIN32OLE#[] and WIN32OLE#[]= method in Ruby 1.9 (or  
later)”  
on 06/03/27, “Dave B.” [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) writes:

> It’s not ideal, but WIN32OLE doesn’t use Symbols - VBScript and JScript  
> don’t have them.  
> We’re trying to match this VBScript, right?
> 
> record.StringData(1) = “dddd”

Yes.

> As far as I understand, we can’t make record.StringData(1) = “dddd” or  
> record.StringData[1] = “dddd” work while keeping the same dynamic call  
> functionality we already have (StringData should be called as a method in  
> both cases) but what about another option:

I commited the new feature, and I uses the trick (thanks to your hint).  
And  
record.StringData[1] = “dddd”  
works.

But the trick may create another trouble… I am not sure.  
So, if the trick does not work fine in another situation, then  
I think about using your following suggestion.

> record.StringData{1} = “dddd”
> 
> The rule would be similar to the above, but instead of looking for a symbol,  
> you’re looking for block\_given? and using “yield” as the index/parameter to  
> the property.  
> Although, in a sense, this matches semantic-for-semantic less than the  
> [:StringData] version, and that’s what I like best about the change you’re  
> suggesting - use Ruby’s index operators for the same purpose in OLE.

Thanks your great idea!

Regards,  
Masaki S.