COM: pass reference to a SAFEARRAY

Question

Introduction

I want to query a COM function with Qt. I have a documentation but for VB. Nevertheless this doc says:

Object.Frequencies DataArray

Object     -> An object expression that evaluates to a BKDataSet object.
DataArray  -> An array of strings or an array of values 

The DataArray structure must be declared in the application that is controlling PULSE and the size of the array must be equal to the number of x-axis entries. In Visual Basic, use the DIM (or corresponding) statement to declare the variable and allocate storage space. In other languages use a safearray of strings (VT_BSTR) or reals (VT_R8 for double or VT_R4 for float/single).

---

Step 1

First I used OLEVIEW to see what the function prototype really looks like.

I got: void Frequencies(VARIANT* FrequencyArray).

So I tried to do it with Qt:

IBKDataSet *data = function->FunctionData();
int nbFrequencies = data->dynamicCall("GetNumberOfXAxisEntries()").toInt();
QList<QVariant> frequencies;
for(int i=0; i<nbFrequencies; j++) {
    frequencies << 0.0;
}
QList<QVariant> parameters;
parameters << QVariant(frequencies);
data->dynamicCall("Frequencies(QVariant&)", parameters);
for(int i=0; i<frequencies.size(); i++) {
    qDebug() << frequencies.at(i);
}

Note: I used a QList<QVariant> as it is shown here.

But I had the following message Type Mismatch in Parameter. Pass an array of type string or real..

---

Step 2

So I tried with an array of string:

IBKDataSet *data = function->FunctionData();
int nbFrequencies = data->dynamicCall("GetNumberOfXAxisEntries()").toInt();
QList<QString> frequencies;
for(int i=0; i<nbFrequencies; i++) {
    frequencies << "0.0";
}
QList<QVariant> parameters;
parameters << QVariant(frequencies);
data->dynamicCall("Frequencies(QList<QString>&)", parameters);
for(int j=0; j<frequencies.size(); j++) {
    qDebug() << frequencies.at(j);
}

No more error but the returned values are the values set during the initialization (I tried with several ones, not only 0.0).

---

Step 3

After that, I tried many combinations with no success. So I asked the developers (hard to contact) to provide an example. They sent me the following code (Visual-C++):

IBKDataSetPtr bkDataSet(function->FunctionData);
int nEntries = bkDataSet->GetNumberOfXAxisEntries();
COleSafeArray safeArray;

safeArray.CreateOneDim( VT_R8, nEntries);
COleVariant vDontCare;
bkDataSet->Frequencies(&safeArray);
double* pFrequencyData;
safeArray.AccessData((void**)&pFrequencyData);
CString sMessage;
sMessage.Format("Y[1] = %1.4e ", pFrequencyData[1]);
MessageBox(sMessage);
safeArray.UnaccessData();

---

Question

How this code can be used in QtCreator?

I realized COleSafeArray is specific to VisualStudio...

I am sorry for the length of the post but this is a while I'm trying to get around this issue without success.

---

EDIT

Here is a clue on how to do that with the WIN32 API:

QList<double> getCOMValues(IDispatch *dispatch, const QString &method, int arraySize) const {
    QList<double> result;
    HRESULT hr;
    // I don't know how to convert a QString into an OLECHAR*
    OLECHAR * szMember = L"Frequencies";
    DISPID dispid;

    // Retrieve the dispatch identifier for the method.
    // Use defaults where possible.
    hr = dispatch->GetIDsOfNames(IID_NULL, &szMember, 1, LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT, &dispid);

    // Test return is OK
    if(FAILED(hr)) {
        qDebug() << "Error while trying to read the " << method;
        return result;
    }

    // Defines a SAFEARRAY.
    SAFEARRAY *psa;
    // Represents the bounds of one dimension of the array.
    SAFEARRAYBOUND freqBound[1];
    // The lower bound of the dimension starts at 0.
    freqBound[0].lLbound = 0;
    // The number of elements in the dimension is the number of frequencies.
    freqBound[0].cElements = arraySize;

    // Creates a new array descriptor, allocates and initializes the data for
    // the array, and returns a pointer to the new array descriptor.
    // VT_R8 represents double.
    // 1 is the number of dimensions in the array.
    psa = SafeArrayCreate(VT_R8, 1, freqBound);

    // Check the array is not NULL.
    if(psa == NULL) {
        qDebug() << "Error while trying to read the " << method;
        return result;
    }

    // This is the default value to put into the array.
    double init[] = {0.0};
    // Populates the array with 0.0.
    for(long index=0;index<arraySize;index++)
    {
        // Stores the data element at the specified location in the array.
        hr = SafeArrayPutElement(psa,&index,init);
        if( FAILED(hr)) {
            qDebug() << "Error while initialising the array for " << method;
        }
    }

    // Describes arguments passed within DISPPARAMS.
    VARIANTARG v[1];
    // A safe array descriptor, which describes the dimensions, size, and in-memory location of the array.
    v[0].parray = psa;
    // The type of data in the union.
    v[0].vt = VT_ARRAY|VT_R8;

    // Contains the arguments passed to a method or property.
    DISPPARAMS params = {v, NULL, 1, 0};

    // To catch errors
    EXCEPINFO pExcepInfo;

    // Provides access to properties and methods exposed by the object.
    hr = dispatch->Invoke(dispid, IID_NULL, LOCALE_USER_DEFAULT, DISPATCH_METHOD, &params, NULL, &pExcepInfo, NULL);

    if(FAILED(hr)) {
        if(hr == DISP_E_EXCEPTION) {
            printf("%S\n", pExcepInfo.bstrSource);
            printf("%S\n", pExcepInfo.bstrDescription);
        }

        qDebug() << "Error while trying to read the " << method;
        return result;
    }

    double res = 0;
    for(long idx=0; idx<arraySize; idx++) {
        hr = SafeArrayGetElement(psa, &idx, &res);
        if(hr == S_OK) {
            result.push_back(res);
        } else {
            result.push_back(0.0);
            qDebug() << "Error while trying to read the " << method;
        }
    }

    // Clears the variant.
    hr = VariantClear(v);

    return result;
}

But the Invoke method returns a DISP_E_EXCEPTION: Type Mismatch in Parameter. Pass an array of type string or real.

Answer 1

Found the problem. Very simple!

IBKDataSet *data = function->FunctionData();
int nbFrequencies = data->dynamicCall("GetNumberOfXAxisEntries()").toInt();
QList<QString> frequencies;
for(int i=0; i<nbFrequencies; i++) {
    frequencies << "0.0";
}
QList<QVariant> parameters;
parameters << QVariant(frequencies);
data->dynamicCall("Frequencies(QList<QString>&)", parameters);
frequencies = parameters.first().toStringList();
for(int j=0; j<frequencies.size(); j++) {
    qDebug() << frequencies.at(j);
}

I had to read the first element of parameters and convert it to a QStringList...