Advanced
ways to manipulate OLE objects
Contents
In addition to OLE objects in controls and objects for automation,
PowerBuilder provides an interface to the underpinnings of OLE data
storage.
OLE data is stored in objects called streams, which live in objects
called storages. Streams and storages are analogous to the files and
directories of a file system. By opening, reading, writing, saving, and
deleting streams and storages, you can create, combine, and delete your
OLE objects. PowerBuilder provides access to storages and streams with the
OLEStorage and OLEStream object types.
When you define OLE controls and OLEObject variables, you have full
access to the functionality of server applications and automation, which
already provide you with much of OLE’s power. You might never need to use
PowerBuilder’s storage and stream objects unless you want to construct
complex combinations of stored data.
Storage files from other applications
This section discusses OLE storage files that a PowerBuilder
application has built. Other PowerBuilder applications will be able to
open the objects in a storage file built by PowerBuilder. Although
Excel, Word, and other server applications store their native data in
OLE storages, these files have their own special formats, and it is not
advisable to open them directly as storage files. Instead, you should
always insert them in a control (InsertFile) or connect to them for
automation (ConnectToObject).