Learning about OLE and Win32 with Perl.

jdtoronto has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Esteemed Monks,

In my search to try and create an interface to Skype using Perl I have searched high and low for information on Perl and Win32's OLE. I am currently using Win32::OLE

I have merlyn's "Learning Perl on Win32 Systems" from 1997 - the 9 pages on OLE there only seem to echo the "use Word from Perl" or "use Excel from Perl" approach that I have also found in the monsatery and elsewhere on the Web. But of course in 1997 maybe there wasn't a lot of interest in OLE.

What other resources exist that you might know about? In particular I would like to learn about EVENTS and how to handle them. Is the Dave Roth book, "Win32 Perl Programming: The Standard Extensions, 2nd Edition" from 2001 of any value? I have never actually seen a copy in the bookstores.

jdtoronto

Comment on Learning about OLE and Win32 with Perl.

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Re: Learning about OLE and Win32 with Perl. by jdporter (Chancellor) on Mar 14, 2006 at 17:46 UTC
The docs that come with the Win32::OLE module are a good starting point. They're virtually all I've ever used. I'd also recommend searching this site, i.e. search for "Win32::OLE" in Tutorials and Categorized Questions and Answers, and in the various code sections for examples. We're building the house of the future together.	[reply]
Re^2: Learning about OLE and Win32 with Perl. by jdtoronto (Prior) on Mar 15, 2006 at 16:48 UTC
Only thing I can say, after looking through the Monastery, is that pretty much everything is focused on controlling Word or Excel. I am trying to learn how to go that one step further and respond to events. But I will keep digging! Maybe I can be the one to write the first tutorial! jdtoronto	[reply]
Re: Learning about OLE and Win32 with Perl. by MadraghRua (Vicar) on Mar 15, 2006 at 21:02 UTC
If you have access to ActiveState Perl and Komodo, there is rather a nice little faq called Using OLE with Perl. There is also this node which turned up recently and was very useful indeed. Marto's answer was particularly useful. MadraghRua yet another biologist hacking perl....	[reply]
Re: Learning about OLE and Win32 with Perl. by gawatkins (Monsignor) on Mar 16, 2006 at 15:10 UTC
Along with the online documentation mentioned above, consider the book you mentioned. I own a copy of "Win32 Perl Programming: The Standard Extensions, 2nd Edition" and carry it in my laptop bag. I looked to confirm that chapter 5 is dedicated to OLE. Of the 65 pages in chapter 5, approximately 7 are dedicated to Events. In addition to OLE there are several other valuable chapters on accessing dll files and working with win32 modules in general. Thank you, Greg W	[reply]

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