To develop solutions that use the Reflection VBA, you'll need to interact with the objects provided by the Reflection object model. This topic introduces the most important objects:
Terminal and Web Control Objects
Conceptually, the Application object represents the Reflection application. It is the top root object from which you can get various parts of the object model. The Application object is not visible within a project (that is, it doesn't appear in the Project Explorer pane in Visual Basic for Applications).
In Reflection macros, you'll need to access this top level object to programmatically create sessions, find out how many sessions are running, or access other running sessions.
| Getting a handle to Reflection |
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Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject Set app = GetObject("Reflection Workspace") |
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From another application, you can use an existing instance of Reflection if it is running or open an instance if it is not:
| Creating a new instance of Reflection |
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Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject On Error Resume Next 'Try to use the existing workspace Set app = GetObject("Reflection Workspace") On Error GoTo 0 'Otherwise, create new instance of Reflection If IsEmpty(app) Or (app Is Nothing) Then Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject End If |
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To work with host sessions, you use Terminal and Screen objects. Together with their child objects, the Terminal and Screen objects make up all of the functionality within a host session. For Reflection Web sessions, you'll use the WebControl object to access the session objects.
| Using the ThisIbmTerminal property |
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ThisIbmTerminal.HostAddress = "demo:ibm3270.sim" ThisIbmTerminal.Port = "623" |
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If you are writing a macro in another application like Microsoft Excel or you're writing a Reflection macro and you want to create a new session, you'll need to create a terminal. You can do this by creating a new terminal session or by opening a session document file.
| Creating or opening an IBM terminal |
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Dim terminalA As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal Dim terminalB As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal Dim terminalC As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal 'Create an Ibm3270 control and set the host address Set terminalA = app.CreateControl2("{09E5A1B4-0BA6-4546-A27D-FE4762B7ACE1}") terminalA.HostAddress = "demo:ibm3270.sim" terminalA.Port = "623" 'For a 5250 ibmterminal control, use the following Guid: Set terminalB = app.CreateControl2("{AF03A446-F278-4624-B9EF-C896DF2CA1CA}" ) 'Open a session document file to create a terminal control for the new session Set terminalC = app.CreateControl(Environ$("USERPROFILE") "\Documents\OpenText\Reflection\" "mySavedSession.rd3x") |
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The IBM Terminal Object is the parent of the following objects:
Let's take a look at some of the key objects.
The Screen object represents the host application screen. It provides methods and properties to access host screen data.
'Print the screen text at column 1 and row 1, with a length of 30 characters
Debug.Print ThisIbmTerminal.screen.GetText(1, 1, 30)
The FileTransfer object provides properties for configuring host file transfer and methods for executing a file transfer to or from the host.
| Transferring a file |
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'This sample sends a file to the host. Before you run the sample, make sure the cursor is on a TSO command line. Sub FileTransferSendSample() path = Environ$("USERPROFILE") & "\Documents\OpenText\Reflection\" & "test.txt" 'Set the 3270 operating environment to TSO ThisIbmTerminal.FileTransfer.XfrHostSys = HostSystem_Tso ThisIbmTerminal.FileTransfer.INDSendFile path, "bvtst02.test7.txt", INDFileTransferType_Ascii, _ FileExistsOption_Overwrite, True End Sub |
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Use the Productivity object to get access to objects like screen history.
| Getting access to Screen History with the Productivity object |
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ThisIbmTerminal.Productivity.ScreenHistory.CaptureScreen |
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The Theme object represents a visual theme in the application. You can load custom themes or change properties of the current theme.
| Loading a theme |
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Sub loadTheme() 'Load a custom theme customTheme = Environ$("USERPROFILE") _ & "\Documents\OpenText\Reflection\Themes\customTheme.themex" ThisIbmTerminal.Theme.Load (customTheme) End Sub |
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If you are writing a Reflection macro in a session project folder, you can use the ThisTerminal property to get the terminal for the existing session:
'Create a Telnet connection and set the host name to connect to ThisTerminal.ConnectionSettingsTelnet.HostAddress = "yourHostName"
If you are writing a macro in another application like Microsoft Excel or you're writing a Reflection macro and you want to create a new session, you'll need to create a terminal. You can do this by creating a new terminal session or by opening a session document file.
| Creating or opening a new Open Systems terminal |
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Dim terminalA As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_OpenSystems.Terminal Dim terminalB As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_OpenSystems.Terminal 'Create a terminal control Set terminalA = app.CreateControl2("{BE835A80-CAB2-40d2-AFC0-6848E486BF58}") 'Create a telnet connection and set the host name to connect to terminalA.ConnectionSettingsTelnet.HostAddress = "yourHostName" 'Create a terminal control by opening a session document file Set terminalB = app.CreateControl(Environ$("USERPROFILE") & _ "\Documents\OpenText\Reflection\" & "testFile.rdox") |
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The Open Systems Terminal object is the parent of the following objects:
Let's take a look at some of the key objects.
The terminal object has a number of connection settings objects that support different types of connections, including: Telnet, SSH, Rlogin, serial port, and best network. You'll need to use one of these objects to set the host address and other connection properties.
| Setting ConnectionSettings |
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'Create a telnet connection and set the host name to connect to terminal.ConnectionSettingsTelnet.HostAddress = "yourHostName" |
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The Screen object represents the host application screen. It provides methods and properties to access host screen data.
| Accessing screen data |
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Sub PrintScreen() 'Print the screen display to the Immediate window Dim cols As Integer Dim rows As Integer cols = ThisScreen.DisplayColumns rows = ThisScreen.DisplayRows Debug.Print ThisScreen.GetText2(1, 1, cols, rows) End Sub |
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Use the Productivity object to get access to features like screen history.
ThisTerminal.Productivity.ScreenHistory.CaptureScreen
The Theme object represents a visual theme in the application. You can load custom themes or change properties of the current theme.
| Loading a theme |
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'Load a custom theme customTheme = Environ$("USERPROFILE") _ & "\Documents\OpenText\Reflection\Themes\customTheme.themex" ThisTerminal.Theme.Load (customTheme) |
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Each Web session includes a WebControl object, a WebDocument object, and one or more WebElement objects. (From WebDocuments, you can get WebElements; from those WebElements, you can get child WebElements.)
Let's take a look at these objects.
The WebControl contains the controls required to display a Web page in the Reflection Workspace.
| Getting a handle to a Web control |
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Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject webCtrl As WebControl 'Get a handle to the existing application object (the workspace) and create a Web control Set app = GetObject("Reflection Workspace") Set webCtrl = app.CreateControl2("{F1F058B1-0472-4095-A782-3D7333813AD0}") |
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The WebDocument object provides access to the IE Web document and the methods and properties used to get Web elements and control the document.
Use the Web Control to get the Web document. Make sure it is ready before you assign it.
| Getting a Web document |
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Dim wDocument As WebDocument Dim wElement As WebElement 'Wait until the Web page is ready and then set it as the Web document Do Until webCtrl.ReadyState = WebBrowserReadyState_Complete Wait (1000) Loop Set wDocument = webCtrl.Document |
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Use the WebElement object to get the HTML elements you'll need to interact with JavaScript.
| Finding a Web element |
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Dim wElementArray() As WebElement 'Iterate through all the links to find the link with the "Add Data" text and then click the link wElementArray() = wDocument.GetElementsByTagName("a") For i = 0 To UBound(wElementArray) If InStr(wElementArray(i).InnerHtml, "Add Data") = 1 Then wElementArray(i).Click Exit For End If Next i |
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If you're writing a macro in a Web document VBA project, you can use the ThisWebControl property to access the Web objects:
'Get the Web element with the "coolTable" ID ThisWebControl.Document.GetElementById ("coolTable")
Two high level objects are required to display Reflection sessions:
To display a session, you'll need to get the Frame object, Create a View object, and associate the Terminal object with the View object.
| Displaying a session |
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Dim Frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.Frame Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view 'Create controls to open and display the session document. Set Frame = app.GetObject("Frame") 'Make Frame visible to display the workspace Frame.Visible = True 'Create a view for the terminal to display the session Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal) |
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You can also access the Frame object with the ThisFrame property. If you're programming in a Reflection project module, you can use the ThisView property to access the view for the session.
| Getting the Frame and View objects in a project module |
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ThisFrame.Visible=True ThisView.ActiveTabBackgroundColor = RGB(0, 0, 0) ThisView.ActiveTabForegroundColor = RGB(255, 255, 255) ThisView.InactiveTabBackgroundColor = RGB(20, 200, 250) |
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You can use Frame object methods to access views and terminal controls of other open sessions.
To identify a particular View object, you can specify it by title, ID, or file path. For example, to write a macro that acts on one of three open session documents, you can get a View object by using the text that appears on the session's tab or by using the path to where its session file is saved. After you have the View object, you can use it to get the terminal control object for that session.
| Getting a View and a Terminal control |
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Sub CheckViews() Dim osTerminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_OpenSystems.Terminal Dim ibmTerminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.ibmTerminal Dim webCntrl As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.WebControl Dim sessionName As String Dim views() As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.View Dim osView As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.View 'Catch error if sessions are not open On Error GoTo MyHandler 'Get the view and terminal control from the session path and filename sessionName = Environ$("USERPROFILE") & "\Documents\OpenText\Reflection\" & "GetDataFromExcel.rd3x" views = ThisFrame.GetViewsByFilePath(sessionName) Set ibmTerminal = views(0).control 'Get the view and terminal control from the title text on the view's tab sessionName = "osSession.rdox" Set osView = ThisFrame.GetViewByTitleText(sessionName) Set osTerminal = osView.control Exit Sub 'If a session is not open, send a message to open it and then exit MyHandler: MsgBox "You need to open" & sessionName Exit Sub End Sub |
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For each legacy document, Reflection creates an additional VBA project for the supported legacy API. This legacy API VBA project includes objects that provide backward compatibility for legacy macros. (You can view the legacy API VBA project in the Project Explorer window of the Visual Basic Editor.) To determine which legacy API is supported, see Using Extra! and Legacy Reflection Macros.