Built-In Global UNO Variables

OOo Basic contains built-in global variables that provide quick access to frequently used components in OOo. The most commonly used variable is ThisComponent, which refers to the currently active document. To demonstrate using the variable ThisComponent, the macro in Listing 10 displays all of the styles in the current document. Figure 2 is only one of the many dialogs that are displayed while the macro runs.

Figure 2: Eight character styles used in the current document.

Listing 10: DisplayAllStyles is found in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files as SC09.sxw.

 Sub DisplayAllStyles   Dim vFamilies As Variant 'All the style types   Dim vFamNames As Variant 'Array with names of the style types   Dim vStyles As Variant   'One style type such as Number or Page Styles   Dim vStlNames As Variant 'Array with names of specific styles   Dim s As String          'Message to display   Dim n As Integer         'Iterate through the style types   Dim i As Integer         'Iterate through the styles   vFamilies = ThisComponent.StyleFamilies           'Get the styles   vFamNames = vFamilies.getElementNames()           'What type of styles?   For n = LBound(vFamNames) To UBound(vFamNames)    'Look at all style types     s = ""     vStyles = vFamilies.getByName(vFamNames(n))     'Get styles of a type     vStlNames = vStyles.getElementNames()           'names of styles for type     For i = LBound(vStlNames) To UBound (vStlNames) 'for all styles of a type       s=s & i & "  :  " & vStlNames(i) & Chr$(13)     'Build a display string       If ((i + 1) Mod 35 = 0) Then                  'Display 35 at a time         MsgBox s,   ,vFamNames(n)                     'Display them         s = ""                                      'Clear string, start over       End If     Next i                                          'Next style     If Len(s) > 0 Then MsgBox s,   ,vFamNames(n)      'Leftover styles for type   Next n                                            'Next style type End Sub

OpenOffice is based on the same code as StarOffice, which had a desktop. All of the individual windows were contained in this desktop. The desktop paradigm is now gone, but for legacy reasons a desktop object still acts as the global application that ties all of the documents together. Although I frequently see code that creates a desktop service by using the function CreateUnoService, this is not required in OOo Basic. OOo Basic provides the variable StarDesktop, which accesses the primary desktop service in OOo. The macro in Listing 11 demonstrates the use of the StarDesktop by traversing all of the currently open documents. See the results in Figure 3 .

Figure 3: All the currently open documents.

Listing 11: Iterate ThroughAllDocs is found in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files as SC09.sxw.

 Sub IterateThroughAllDocs   On Error Resume Next      'Ignore the non-document components   Dim vComponents As Object 'All of the components   Dim vDocs As Object       'Enumeration of the documents   Dim vDoc As Object        'A single document   Dim s As String   GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.LoadLibrary("Tools")'Contains FileNameOutOfPath   vComponents = StarDesktop.getComponents()      'Get all the components   vDocs = vComponents.createEnumeration()        'Enumerate them   Do While vDocs.  hasMoreElements  ()               'While there are more     vDoc = vDocs.nextElement()                   'Get the next component     s = s & getDocType(vDoc) & "   "             'Add the document type     s = s &  FileNameOutOfPath  (vDoc.getURL())     'Add the file name     s = s & CHR$(10)                             'Add a new line   Loop   MsgBox s, 0, "Currently Open Components" End Sub

Tip	The primary visible windows in OOo are called "components." Every open document is a component, as is the Basic IDE and the Help window. In OOo, the word "component" almost always means an open document.

While iterating through the open documents (components), you may find some unexpected documents. These are component windows such as the Basic IDE and the Help window. The macro in Listing 11 uses the function FileNameOutOfPath. This is another macro and is not a function that is built into OOo Basic. This function is stored in the Strings module of the application-level Tools library. If a library is not currently loaded, you cannot call the methods that it contains.

The GlobalScope variable references the application-level libraries and is used to load the Tools library. Loading a library loads all of the modules in the specified library. OOo contains libraries and modules that are not built into OOo Basic. Use the LoadLibrary method before you use the routines in the libraries.

 GlobalScope.BasicLibraries.LoadLibrary("Tools")

To access the Basic libraries in the current document, either use the BasicLibraries global variable or access the BasicLibraries property in the current document.

 Print EqualUnoObjects(vObj.BasicLibraries, BasicLibraries) 'True

Use the DialogLibraries variable to access the dialog libraries in the current document. Unlike BasicLibraries, an individual document does not contain a property called DialogLibaries to directly obtain the dialog libraries for a specific document. You can easily obtain the dialog and Basic libraries for a specific document through a less direct route. Each document has a LibraryContainer property.

 ThisComponent.LibraryContainer.getByName("OOMECH09").getModuleContainer() ThisComponent.LibraryContainer.getByName("OOMECH09").getDialogContainer()

The getByName() method on the LibraryContainer returns the named library. The getModuleContainer() method returns the Basic container for the specified library, and the getDialogContainer() method returns the Dialog container for the specified library. The code in Listing 12 , however, uses the variables DialogLibraries and BasicLibraries to list the number of dialogs and modules in each library in the current document. Figure 4 shows the results.

Figure 4: Dialog and Basic libraries in the current document.

Listing 12: ExamineDocumentLibraries is found in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files as SC09.sxw.

 Sub ExamineDocumentLibraries   Dim vLibs           'Hold the library names   Dim vMod            'Hold the modules/dialogs object   Dim nNumMods%       'Number of modules or dialogs in a library   Dim i%              'Scrap index variable   Dim s$              'Scrap string variable   s = "*** Dialog Libs In Document" & CHR$(10)         'Initialize s   vLibs = DialogLibraries.getElementNames()            'Library names   For i = LBound(vLibs) To UBound(vLibs)               'Look at each name     vMod = DialogLibraries.getByName(vLibs(i))         'Get the dialog library     nNumMods = UBound(vMod.getElementNames()) + 1      'How many dialogs     s = s & vLibs(i) & " has " & nNumMods & " dialogs" 'Build string     s = s & CHR$(10)   Next i   s = s & CHR$(10)   s = s & "*** Basic Libs In Document" & CHR$(10)      'Ready for code libs   vLibs = BasicLibraries.getElementNames()             'Library names   For i = LBound(vLibs) To UBound(vLibs)               'Look at each name     vMod = BasicLibraries.getByName(vLibs(i))          'Get the code library     nNumMods = UBound(vMod.getElementNames()) + 1      'Number of modules     s = s & vLibs(i) & " has " & nNumMods & " modules" 'Build the string     s = s & CHR$(10)   Next i   MsgBox s, 0, "Libraries" End Sub

To view the libraries in the application-level library container, modify the code in Listing 12. Add GlobalScope before each occurrence of BasicLibraries and DialogLibraries. This change has already been made in the ExamineGlobalLibraries routine in the UNO module in this chapter's source code files.