#73 Patch for Testing Parameter Problem

[bkssmith]

As requested by Mark, I have attached patches that
demonstrate a problem I am having with parameter
handling when using a Python COM Object from Visual
Basic after creating a type library for the object.

Here are the two problems I am having, as originally
reported on the pywin32 mailing list.

1) When using the COM server without the type
library, I was returning a tuple with the return
value of the function (in my case, an error code) as
the first element. With the type library, this value
must be the last element. It is my understanding
that the return value for the function should be
returned first, not last.

2) VBA was giving me an error like "Expecting 3
return values, got: 2" whenever a function contained
an [in, out] parameter. It looks like the extra
parameter it is looking for is the HRESULT signifying
the success of the call itself, because if I insert a
0 at the beginning of my returned tuple the problem
goes away but any other value causes an error saying
the method call failed.

I was originally testing my own object using VBA in
Excel 2000. Mark requested the patches to the pippo
sample included with pywin32. The patch adds two
methods with the same signature. The difference is
that the Python implementation of Method2() returns
two values (as the IDL signature would suggest) and
Method3() returns 3 values, with a 0 as the first
value. My VBA test code (also attached) calls Method3
() first and correctly sets inout1 to -31 and the
return value to -41. Note that this occurs even
though the function return value is the *last* return
value. The call to Method2() fails with
the "Expecting 3 return values, got: 2" error.

I have also tried using Visual Basic 2005 Express
Edition and the behaviour is similar: the call to
Method3() succeeds and the call to Method2() fails,
although now the error is "Error HRESULT E_FAIL has
been returned from a call to a COM component".

My platform is Win XP Pro (SP2), Python 2.3.4, pywin
Build 210.

[bkssmith]

Patches to test function parameter problem

[Mark Hammond]

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Re point (1) - that is just the nature of the beast when you don't have a typelib - python guesses best it can. I can't explain your other points though. I got as far as checking in your Method2, and a test that Python calls it correctly. I didn't get to adding the VB test though, but hopefully I will sooner rather than later...