Computer Programming Concepts and Visual Basic David I. Schneider

Notice that the document in the OLE rectangle is the original document, not the
modified version. Visual Basic maintains an image of this original document in
the program to display at run time if it is unable to display the latest version of
the data (document).
8. Run the program.
The document is still the original version.
9. Double-click on the OLE rectangle to invoke Word.
Notice that the document displayed is the modified version.
10. Exit back to Visual Basic and then end the Visual Basic program.
11. Double-click on the form and add the code
Ole1.Action = 6 ‘Update OLE image
to the Form_Load event procedure.
12. Run the program.
Notice that Visual Basic has updated the document to the last version saved
while in Word even though you have not yet accessed Word by double-clicking.
COMMENTS
1. OLE requires a powerful computer to operate at a reasonable speed.
2. An embedded application in the container OLE1 can be made into an OLE
Automation object by a pair of statements of the form
Dim objVar As Object
Set objVar = OLE1.Object
3. After an Excel spreadsheet has been opened as an object, data can be assigned
to and read from a single cell with statements such as
objExcel.Application.Cells(4, 2).Value = “49”
num = objExcel.Application.Cells(1, 3).Value
These statements can be replaced by the following statements that use the standard
spreadsheet notation for cells.
objExcel.Application.Range(“B4”).Value = “49”
num = objExcel.Application.Range(“C1”).Value
4. A linked or embedded application can be activated by double-clicking on the
OLE container. They can also be activated with the code
OLE1.Action = 7
and deactivated with the code
OLE1.Action = 9
5. The OLE Automation function GetObject, which is similar to CreateObject, can
be used to access existing Excel spreadsheets. For instance, if a worksheet
resides in the root directory on a diskette in drive A and has the name EXPENS-
ES.XLS, then the spreadsheet can be accessed with the pair of statements
Dim objExcel As Object
Set objExcel = GetObject(“A:\EXPENSES.XLS”)
6. Some other Word statements for use in OLE Automation are
OLE 391