Open a Session From a Microsoft Excel Macro

In This Topic

You can open an InfoConnect session from another application that supports VBA.

Visual Basic uses a standard set of protocols called Automation (or OLE Automation) that allows one application to communicate with other applications. Any application that supports Automation can communicate with any other application. This means that an InfoConnect session can communicate with other InfoConnect sessions, Microsoft Office products, stand-alone Visual Basic, or any other product that supports Automation.

This example shows how to open an InfoConnect session document from an Excel macro.

If you prefer to run macros in pre-configured sessions instead of creating your own sessions, you can download the VBA Sample Sessions and open the open-ibm-session-from-excel.xlsm (IBM) and open-os-session-from-excel.xlsm (Open Systems) files. The download package contains everything you need to run the macros in these files. See Download the VBA Sample Sessions.

Open an InfoConnect session from an Excel Macro

In InfoConnect, create a session and save it as "mySavedSession" in your ...\Documents\Micro Focus\Reflection\" folder.
In a Microsoft Excel worksheet, open the Visual Basic Editor and insert a new code module.
On the Excel VBA Editor Tools menu, select References and then select the following InfoConnect Libraries:
- Attachmate_Reflection_Objects
- Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts (if you want to open an IBM session)
- Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_OpenSystems (if you want to open an Open Systems session)
- Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework

Copy the following code into the VBA Editor and press F5 to run it.

IBM
Open Systems

Open a session	Copy Code
Private Sub OpenReflectionIBMSession() 'Declare an object variable for the InfoConnect application Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject 'Declare frame, terminal, and view object variables: Dim frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.frame Dim terminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view 'If an instance of InfoConnect is open, get a handle to it On Error Resume Next Set app = GetObject("InfoConnect Workspace") 'Otherwise, create a new instance of InfoConnect On Error GoTo 0 If IsEmpty(app) Or (app Is Nothing) Then Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject End If With app 'wait until InfoConnect initializes Do While .IsInitialized = False .Wait 200 Loop 'Get a handle to the Frame object Set frame = .GetObject("Frame") 'Make the frame visible so we can view the workspace frame.Visible = True End With 'Create an Ibm3270 control using an .rd3x session document file Set terminal = app.CreateControl(Environ$("USERPROFILE") & _ "\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect\" & "mySavedSession.rd3x") 'Create a view so that we can display the session Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal) End Sub

Open a session

Copy Code


Private Sub OpenReflectionIBMSession()

    'Declare an object variable for the InfoConnect application

    Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject

    

    'Declare frame, terminal, and view object variables:

    Dim frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.frame

    Dim terminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal

    Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view

 

    'If an instance of InfoConnect is open, get a handle to it

    On Error Resume Next

    Set app = GetObject("InfoConnect Workspace")



    'Otherwise, create a new instance of InfoConnect

    On Error GoTo 0

    If IsEmpty(app) Or (app Is Nothing) Then

       Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject

    End If

   

    With app

        'wait until InfoConnect initializes

        Do While .IsInitialized = False

           .Wait 200

        Loop

       

       'Get a handle to the Frame object

        Set frame = .GetObject("Frame")

       

        'Make the frame visible so we can view the workspace

        frame.Visible = True

    End With

     

    'Create an Ibm3270 control using an .rd3x session document file

    Set terminal = app.CreateControl(Environ$("USERPROFILE") & _

    "\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect\" & "mySavedSession.rd3x") 



    'Create a view so that we can display the session

    Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal)

End Sub

Open a session	Copy Code
Private Sub OpenReflectionOpenSystemsSession() 'Declare an object variable for the InfoConnect application Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject 'Declare frame, terminal, and view object variables: Dim frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.frame Dim terminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_OpenSystems.terminal Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view 'If an instance of InfoConnect is already open, get a handle to it On Error Resume Next Set app = GetObject("InfoConnect Workspace") 'Otherwise, create a new instance of InfoConnect On Error GoTo 0 If IsEmpty(app) Or (app Is Nothing) Then Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject End If With app 'wait until InfoConnect is initialized Do While .IsInitialized = False .Wait 200 Loop 'Get a handle to the Frame object. Set frame = .GetObject("Frame") 'Make the frame visible so we can view the workspace frame.Visible = True End With 'Create an Open Systems terminal control using an .rdox sesssion document file Set terminal = app.CreateControl(Environ$("USERPROFILE") & _ "\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect\" & "mySavedSession.rdox") 'Create a view so that we can display the session Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal) End Sub

Open a session

Copy Code


Private Sub OpenReflectionOpenSystemsSession()

    'Declare an object variable for the InfoConnect application

    Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject

   

    'Declare frame, terminal, and view object variables:

    Dim frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.frame

    Dim terminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_OpenSystems.terminal

    Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view

       

    'If an instance of InfoConnect is already open, get a handle to it

    On Error Resume Next

    Set app = GetObject("InfoConnect Workspace")



    'Otherwise, create a new instance of InfoConnect

    On Error GoTo 0

    If IsEmpty(app) Or (app Is Nothing) Then

         Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject

    End If

  

    With app

        'wait until InfoConnect is initialized

        Do While .IsInitialized = False

           .Wait 200

        Loop

        'Get a handle to the Frame object.

        Set frame = .GetObject("Frame")

      

        'Make the frame visible so we can view the workspace

        frame.Visible = True

    End With

  

    'Create an Open Systems terminal control using an .rdox sesssion document file

    Set terminal = app.CreateControl(Environ$("USERPROFILE") & _

    "\Documents\Micro Focus\InfoConnect\" & "mySavedSession.rdox")

      

    'Create a view so that we can display the session

    Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal)

End Sub

Concepts

To open a session from another application, you'll need to use the InfoConnect ApplicationObject, IbmTerminal or Terminal, Frame, and View objects:

The ApplicationObject is the InfoConnect application.
The Frame object is the top-level user interface component for the workspace and it can be used to control the display of the workspace and to create views for the terminal controls running in the workspace.
The IbmTerminal (or Terminal) object is the top level control for the new session. The CreateControl method returns the appropriate terminal control for the session document file that you pass to it.
The View object represents the user interface aspect of the new session. To display the session, we need to create a View Object for the terminal and we do this using the Frame object.

For more about these objects, see Using the InfoConnect Object Model.

Concepts

Using the InfoConnect Object Model