Python Programming On Win32

Building the First View

Adding the following methods to your COMBookSet allows you to load a data file, see how many transactions the BookSet contains, and then build a view that displays a Journal, a listing of all the transactions in date order:

# more methods for COMBookSet - must be named in _public_methods_
    def load(self, filename):
        self.__BookSet.load(str(filename))

    def count(self):
        # return number of transactions
        return len(self.__BookSet)
    

    def getTransactionString(self, index):
        return self.__BookSet[index].asString()

In load, you perform a str(filename) operation to convert the Unicode filename from COM into an ordinary Python string. Then pass the request to the delegate Python BookSet instance. Most methods follow this pattern, doing any necessary transformations of arguments on the way in and out and passing the real work onto the delegate.

Now you need to open files. This is the VB code for the File → Open menu option (generated by one of VB’s Wizards and so is somewhat verbose):

Private Sub mnuFileOpen_Click()
    Dim sFile As String
    With dlgCommonDialog
        .DialogTitle = "Open"
        .CancelError = False
        'ToDo: set the flags and attributes of the common dialog control
        .Filter = "Doubletalk Journal Files (*.dtj)|*.dtj"
        .ShowOpen
        If Len(.FileName) = 0 Then
            Exit Sub
        End If
        sFile = .FileName
    End With
    BookServer.Load sFile
    
    'display something helpful in the Journal caption
    frmJournal.Caption = sFile & ", " & BookServer.count & " Transactions"
End Sub

The only line of interest here is in ...