Windows C++ Node.JS addon, that implements COM IDispatch object wrapper, analog ActiveXObject on cscript.exe
-
Using ITypeInfo for conflict resolution between property and method (for example !rs.EOF not working without type information, because need define EOF as an object)
-
Using optional parameters on constructor call
var con = new ActiveXObject("ADODB.Connection", {
activate: false, // Allow activate existence object instance, false by default
async: true, // Allow asynchronous calls, true by default (not implemented, for future usage)
type: true, // Allow using type information, true by default
});- Create COM object from JS object and may be send as argument (for example send to Excel procedure)
var com_obj = new ActiveXObject({
text: test_value,
obj: { params: test_value },
arr: [test_value, test_value, test_value],
func: function (v) {
return v * 2;
},
});- Additional COM variant types support:
- int - VT_INT
- uint - VT_UINT
- int8, char - VT_I1
- uint8, uchar, byte - VT_UI1
- int16, short - VT_I2
- uint16, ushort - VT_UI2
- int32 - VT_I4
- uint32 - VT_UI4
- int64, long - VT_I8
- uint64, ulong - VT_UI8
- currency - VT_CY
- float - VT_R4
- double - VT_R8
- string - VT_BSTR
- date - VT_DATE
- decimal - VT_DECIMAL
- variant - VT_VARIANT
- null - VT_NULL
- empty - VT_EMPTY
- byref - VT_BYREF or use prefix 'p' to indicate reference to the current type
var winax = require("winax");
var Variant = winax.Variant;
// create variant instance
var v_short = new Variant(17, "short");
var v_short_byref = new Variant(17, "pshort");
var v_int_byref = new Variant(17, "byref");
var v_byref = new Variant(v_short, "byref");
// create variant arrays
var v_array_of_variant = new Variant([1, "2", 3]);
var v_array_of_short = new Variant([1, "2", 3], "short");
var v_array_of_string = new Variant([1, "2", 3], "string");
// change variant content
var v_test = new Variant();
v_test.assign(17);
v_test.cast("string");
v_test.clear();
// also may be used cast function
var v_short_from_cast = winax.cast(17, "short");-
Additional diagnostic properties:
- __id - dispatch identity, for example: ADODB.Connection.@Execute.Fields
- __value - value of dispatch object, equals valueOf()
- __type - array all member items with their properties
- __methods - list member methods by names (ITypeInfo::GetFuncDesc)
- __vars - list member variables by names (ITypeInfo::GetVarDesc)
-
Full WScript Emulation Support through nodewscript
- ActiveXObject type
- WScript.CreateObject
- WScript.ConnectObject
- WScript.DisconnectObject
- WScript.Sleep
- WScript.Arguments
- WScript.Version
- GetObject
- Enumerator
Install package throw NPM (see below Building for details)
npm install winax
npm install winax --msvs_version=2015
npm install winax --msvs_version=2017
Create ADO Connection throw global function
require("winax");
var con = new ActiveXObject("ADODB.Connection");Or using Object prototype
var winax = require("winax");
var con = new winax.Object("ADODB.Connection");Open connection and create simple table
con.Open(
'Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=c:\tmp;Extended Properties="DBASE IV;"',
"",
""
);
con.Execute(
"Create Table persons.dbf (Name char(50), City char(50), Phone char(20), Zip decimal(5))"
);
con.Execute(
"Insert into persons.dbf Values('John', 'London','123-45-67','14589')"
);
con.Execute(
"Insert into persons.dbf Values('Andrew', 'Paris','333-44-55','38215')"
);
con.Execute(
"Insert into persons.dbf Values('Romeo', 'Rom','222-33-44','54323')"
);Select query and return RecordSet object
var rs = con.Execute("Select * from persons.dbf");
var reccnt = rs.RecordCount;Inspect RecordSet fields
var fields = rs.Fields;
var fldcnt = fields.Count;Process records
rs.MoveFirst();
while (!rs.EOF) {
var name = fields("Name").value;
var town = fields("City").value;
var phone = fields("Phone").value;
var zip = fields("Zip").value;
console.log(
"> Person: " + name + " from " + town + " phone: " + phone + " zip: " + zip
);
rs.MoveNext();
}Or using fields by index
rs.MoveFirst();
while (rs.EOF != false) {
var name = fields[0].value;
var town = fields[1].value;
var phone = fields[2].value;
var zip = fields[3].value;
console.log(
"> Person: " + name + " from " + town + " phone: " + phone + " zip: " + zip
);
rs.MoveNext();
}Release COM objects (but other temporary objects may be keep references too)
winax.release(con, rs, fields);Working with Excel ranges using two dimension arrays (from 1.18.0 version)
- The second dimension is only deduced from the first array.
- If data is missing at the time of SafeArrayPutElement, VT_EMPTY is used.
- Best way to explicitly pass VT_EMPTY is to use null
- If the SAFEARRAY dims are smaller than those of the range, the missing cells are emptied.
- Exception to 4! Excel may process the SAFEARRAY as it does when processing a copy/paste operation
var excel = new winax.Object("Excel.Application", { activate: true });
var wbk = excel.Workbooks.Add(template_filename);
var wsh = wbk.Worksheets.Item(1);
wsh.Range("C3:E4").Value = [
["C3", "D3", "E3"],
["C4", "D4", "E4"],
];
wsh.Range("C3:E4").Value = [["C3", "D3", "E3"], "C4"]; // will let D4 and E4 empty
wsh.Range("C3:E4").Value = [[null, "D3", "E3"], "C4"]; // will let C3, D4 and E4 empty
wsh.Range("C3:F4").Value = [[100], [200]]; // will duplicate the two rows in colums C, D, E, and F
wsh.Range("C3:F4").Value = [[100, 200, 300, 400]]; // will duplicate the for cols in rows 3 and 4
wsh.Range("C3:F4").Value = [[100, 200]]; // Will correctly duplicate the first two cols, but col E and F with contains "#N/A"
const data = wsh.Range("C3:E4").Value.valueOf();
console.log("Cell E4 value is", data[1][2]);The repo allows to re-use some of its code as a library for your own native node addon.
To include it, install it as a normal node-dependency and then add it
to the "dependencies" section of your binding.gyp file like this:
"dependencies": [
"<!(node -p \"require.resolve('winax/lib_binding.gyp')\"):lib_node_activex"
]
In your code, you can then include it using:
#include <node_activex.h>This makes functions like Variant2Value or Value2Variant that translate between COM VARIANT and node types
available in your code.
Note that providing this library functionality is not the core target of this repo however,
so importing it eg. currently declares
all methods in the global namespace and opens the namespaces v8 and node.
Check the source code src/disp.h and src/utils.h for details.
This project uses Visual C++ 2013 (or later versions then support C++11 standard). Bulding also requires node-gyp and python 2.6 (or later) to be installed. Supported NodeJS Versions (x86 or x64): 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 You can do this with npm:
npm install --global --production windows-build-tools
To obtain and build use console commands:
git clone git://github.com/durs/node-axtivex.git
cd node-activex
npm install
or debug version
npm install --debug
or using node-gyp directly
node-gyp configure
node-gyp build
For Electron users, need rebuild with a different V8 version:
npm rebuild winax --runtime=electron --target=12.22.0 --dist-url=https://electronjs.org/headers --build-from-source
Change --target value to your electron version. See also Electron Documentation: Using Native Node Modules.
WScript is designed as a runtime, so WSH scripts should be executed from command line. WScript emulation mode allows one to use standard WScript features and mix them with nodejs and ES6 parts.
There is one significant difference between WScript and NodeJS in general. NodeJS is designed to be non-blocking and execution is done when last statement is done AND all pending promises and callbacks are resolved. WScript runtime is linear. It is done when last statement is executed.
So NodeJS is more convenient for writing things like async web services. Also with NodeJS you get access to invaluable collection of npm modules.
WScript has impressive collection of Windows-specific APIs available through ActiveX (such as WScript.Shell, FileSystemObject etc). Also it supports application events to implement two way communication with external apps and processes.
This module allows taking the best from the two worlds - you may now use npm modules in your WScript scripts. Or, if you have bunch of legacy JScript sources, you may now execute them using this NodeJS-based runtime.
If you install this package with -g key, you will have nodewscript command.
Usage:
nodewscript [options] <Filename.js>
Its direct analog in the windows scripting host is cscript.exe (it it outputs to the console, and WScript.Echo writes a line instead of showing a popup window).
Where Filename.js is a file designed for windows scripting host.
This is a key drawback of v8 engine compared to MS. Consider an example:
var a = WScript.CreateObject(...)
if( a.Prop )
{
// If 'Prop' is a dynamic property (i.e. it is not defined in TypeInfo and
// not marked explicitly as a property, then never got here. Even if a.Prop is null or false.
}var WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell");
var processEnv = WshShell.Environment("PROCESS");
processEnv("ENV_VAR") = "CUSTOM_VALUE"; // This syntax is valid for JScript, but will throw syntax error on v8Default WScript engine checks for events every time you do some sync operation or Sleep. In this implementation we check for events when WScript.Sleep is executed.
It is using the same bitness as installed version of the nodejs. So if your JScript files are designed for 32 bit, make sure to have nodejs x86 version installed before installing the winax.
mocha is required to run unit tests.
npm install -g mocha
mocha --expose-gc test
This module includes Typescript definitions that allow you to inject a known structure of a COM object.
import { Object } from "winax";
interface SampleResultSet {
RecordCount: number;
}
interface ADODBSample {
Open(connection: string): void;
Exec(query: string): SampleResultSet;
}
const instance = Object<ADODBSample>("ADODB.Sample");
const rs = conn.Execute("SELECT * FROM tbl");
// Will be properly typed to number
const rc = rs.RecordCount;