OLE automation write chinese characters to Excel
lazarus / 34-Windows

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robotech · 2016-05-03 12:06

Dear All,

I'm using Lazarus 1.6 , and try to do the same what i did in Delphi
several years before at last:
Fill some cells by OLE office automation.

When i hardcoding the text to the program, it's export very well to
Excel, but
if i want to send a variable to excel (for ex: edit1.text) just appear
Chinese text, but nothing else...

Here is some code:

procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  XLApp := CreateOleObject('Excel.Application');
 try
   XLApp.Visible := True;
   XLApp.DisplayAlerts := True;
    XLApp.Workbooks.Add;     // Open the Workbook
       XLApp.Cells[1,1].Value :='This is a Hardcoded text in program';
       XLApp.Cells[2,1].Value :=edit2.text ;
      end;
    end;
 finally
   XLApp.ActiveWorkBook.SaveAs(edit1.text, 51);  //here also save
excel whith name full chinese chars...

end;           

I took  screenshot about the results....
I think there is must be a string conversation  issue, but a couldn't
figure it out what may wrong...      Could you help in this , please? 
  

---UPDATE---!

Very interesting! if i type:

    XLApp.Cells[2,1].Value :=utf8Decode(edit2.text) ;

Stops with SIGSEGV error, but this is the conversion, what i was
looking for...

But if i put in function

Function StrToWidestr(aString: String): WideString;
begin
  Result:= UTF8Decode(aString);
end;                      

with
XLApp.Cells[2,1].Value :=StrToWidestr(edit2.text) ;  

Its works! How this can be?


Another question:

Can you help me to find the command to change printer?

Xlapp.Application.ActivePrinter:='Xerox Phaser 3117' doesnt work... or
how can i make sure the name of the printer exactly in the system?

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fred · 2016-05-03 12:43

Did you try WideString(Edit2.Text) ?

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wp · 2016-05-03 12:44

Excel, by OLE automation, I think, requires Unicode strings.
Edit2.Text, however, is UTF8, and assigning to a variant should not
trigger an internal conversion. So, I think, you should try
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i
XLApp.Cells[2,1].Value :=UTF8ToUTF16(edit2.text); // or // ... :=
UTF8Decode(edit2.text);
Alternatively you could try fpspreadsheet which works in UTF8 and does
the conversions needed for saving automatically:
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i uses 
fpspreadsheet, fpstypes, xlsxooxml;var  workbook: TsWorkbook; 
worksheet: TsWorksheet;begin  workbook := TsWorkbook.Create; 
worksheet := workbook.AddWorksheet('Sheet 1');  worksheet.WriteText(0,
0, 'This is a hardcoded text in program');  worksheet.WriteText(1, 0,
Edit2.Text);  workbook.WriteToFile(Edit1.Text, sfOOXML, true); 
workbook.Free;end;
It would be interesint to see it with Chinese characters, I never
tested it this way...

As for the printer, try
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i uses 
Printers;var  activePrinter: String;....  activePrinter :=
Printer.PrinterName;In fpspreadsheet, the Printer, however, is not
supported.

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robotech · 2016-05-04 08:09

I have tried Printers class, but i didnt reach any goal...

everything i try it makes : SIGSEGV error...  but just simple a wanted
to ask the installed printers in two different way:


procedure TForm1.Button2Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  ComboBox1.Items.Assign(Printer.Printers);
end;         


procedure TForm1.Button3Click(Sender: TObject);
begin
  edit1.text := Printer.PrinterName;
end;


Lazarus stopping here in Printers class:

//Return the current selected printer
function TPrinter.GetPrinterIndex: integer;
begin
  Result:=fPrinterIndex;
  if (Result<0) and (Printers.Count>0) then
     Result:=0; //printer by default
end;               

What could be wrong?

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wp · 2016-05-04 09:03

Did you add the package printer4lazarus as a requirement to your
project? http://wiki.freepascal.org/Using_the_printer

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robotech · 2016-05-04 09:09

Huhh! 

This was a very good observation, Thanks!  Of course i didn't add it! 

But i really need to write it onto a sticky notes to remember for this
in the following years too, as i don't use printer class to often! 

Thanks for help!

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robotech · 2016-05-04 09:42

Just one more question:

I intended to know what printers are available, because i would like
to print documents on two different printer (PDF, and a real printer).

To set this with OLE autiomation i use:

XLApp : OLEvariant;

....


XLApp.Appication.ActivePrinter:=strtowidestr(edit1.text);

As errormessage shown: Unable to set ActivePrinter property of the
Application class

 is that means that this property is not exist, (have to), or it means
it is read only, or how i can set printer to the Excel by OLE
automation?

Unfortunately if i set printer by lazarus with:

Printer.Setprinter('name');

doesn't work, because when excel opens, it's set printer the default
printer...

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wp · 2016-05-04 10:58

Microsoft knows many tricks to confuse people...

You must add the port name to the printer name. Strangely enough, all
ports are called "NeXX:" with XX being replaced by a two-digit number,
but I did not find out the logics behind these numbers. And, there is
a localized word between the printer name and port name to indicate
that the printer prints TO this port. Just open Excel, record a macro
for printing to the requested port, edit the macro and you'll see the
required string in the command "ExecuteExcel4Macro". For selecting the
printer "PDF24 Fax" on my Germany system, for example, the code would
be
Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]window.onload = function(){var x1 =
document.getElementById("main_content_section"); if (x1) { var x =
document.getElementsByClassName("geshi");for (var i = 0; i  
XlApp.Application.ActivePrinter:= WideString(PDF24 Fax auf Ne02:');
 // In English Windows this would be   //
XlApp.Application.ActivePrinter:= WideString(PDF24 Fax to
Ne02:');Tested, and this works.

[EDIT]
Check this out (I didn't), it may help you to find the printer string
correctly.