Creating a new GUID or file ID From a path in delphi

Question

i am using Delphi XE4 to create a Voip program. i am using an outdated VOIP SDK From a company called BigSpeed which is no longer around the current code points to the following path 'C:\Program Files (x86)\BigSpeed Voice SDK\' where the active x controls are stored.

    LIBID_bsVoiChatCln: TGUID = '{D2A88515-99E0-4EEE-A030-E5D2AB306A03}';
    IID_IbsVoiChatClnX: TGUID = '{5055A626-56A1-4E58-A461-000A69CA3E03}';
    DIID_IbsVoiChatClnXEvents: TGUID = '{665DB561-22D3-4624-B55B-4416309A2E03}';
    CLASS_bsVoiChatClnX: TGUID = '{BE761C1E-1F6C-46F8-A99B-0AB29C9B2D03}'; 

How can i create a new GUID and have the program access the active x controls from a new directory.

Answer 1

You don't want to create new GUIDs. The GUIDs are the identifiers of that component. All you want to do, as far as I can tell from the question and your comments, is to register the DLL at a different location.

The ActiveX DLL almost certainly uses self-registration. This means that you can put the DLL somewhere else and register it there. For instance, suppose the DLL is located in:

C:\MyFolder\MyDll.dll

Then you could register it by executing this command:

regsvr32 C:\MyFolder\MyDll.dll

Answer 2

Looks like you do not understand (or do not explain) relations between your program, the library and the GUIDs.

How can i create a new GUID and

1) GUID is just a 128-bit random number. So you can "create new GUID" simply by editing its hexadecimal string. Or you can press Ctrl+Shift+G in Delphi source editor in designtime. In runtime you can use CreateGUID function of SysUtils unit.

• http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/CodeExamples/XE5/en/UsingGUIDs_(Delphi)
• http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/XE2/en/System.SysUtils.CreateGUID
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID

But i don't think creating new GUID will do you any good. If anything, it should mean explicitly declared incompatibility with old GUIDs (hence incompatibility with VOIP library)

from a new directory.

2) Why do you think your VoIP library is arranged as a set of ActiveX control ? Just because there are GUIDs there? Not any text file with GUIDs inside would be ActiveX.

ActiveX are specifically arranged Windows servers, that are registered in the registry so that any program could call them. Sometimes you can register them after the fact, if the installer failed it.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activex
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regsvr32
• http://support.microsoft.com/?id=207132

So you should read manuals for your library whether they constitute ActiveX or not, and if they do, how to register them in Windows (should be done by the library installer)

If installer does not provide for it, then you can not be sure that the library can work from a different place. Not only your program needs a connection to it, but also the library itself may need connection to its other parts.

have the program access the active x controls

3) If your library really conforms to ActiveX specifications and if it was correctly installed (registered) then you can just import them into Delphi IDE and drop them onto the form like you drop tables and dialogs.

• http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/RADStudio/XE3/en/Import_Component_Wizard
• http://delphi.about.com/library/howto/htaddactivex.htm
• http://www.delphisources.ru/pages/faq/master-delphi-7/content/LiB0125.html

4) if you do not want to drop your VoIP component onto the form, then you can try to create it in runtime with CoCreateInstance. But first you have to read some tutorial about Microsoft COM for beginners. You may miss some advanced concepts, but you should understand the most basic things like how interfaces are similar to and different from classes, how their lifetime is managed, how COM runtime is initialized and finalized for your program and so on.

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms686615.aspx
• http://delphi.about.com/library/weekly/aa121404a.htm
• http://www.delphikingdom.ru/asp/viewitem.asp?catalogid=1135
• How to use CoCreateInstance() to get a com object?
• https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=%5Bdelphi%5D+cocreateinstance
• all the MS Office related examples in c:\RAD Studio\9.0\OCX\Servers\

5) you may also try to bypass the proper Windows ways of locating and loading the server and try to do it yourself, using DllGetClassObject routines in proper DLLs. If the library is permissive, it will work. But if it does rely on Windows-provided services that has a potential for all kinds of crashes and unmet expectations.

• https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=CoCreateInstance+and+DllGetClassObject&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680760.aspx
• How do I use a COM DLL with LoadLibrary in C++
• DllGetClassObject return "No such interface supported" while CoCreateInstance can find it successful

If my memory serves me, You can find examples of that approach in early HTML Help units for delphi. Microsoft HTML Help provides for both late binding using CoCreateInstance and runtime ActiveX servers registry, or early binding towards htmlhlp.ocx treated as DLL. Early versions of HTML Help API for Delphi provided for both options. But i may be wrong here.