msl.loadlib.activex module

Helper module for loading an ActiveX library in an application window.

Example usage,

import sys

from msl.loadlib.activex import Application, Icon, MenuGroup, MenuItem

def letter_clicked(item: MenuItem):
    print(item, item.data)
    if item.text == 'C':
        item.checked = not item.checked

def group_clicked(item: MenuItem):
    group.checked = item
    print(item)

# Create an application window
app = Application(title='My ActiveX Control', icon=Icon(sys.executable))

# Create a new 'Letters' menu
letters = app.menu.create('Letters')

# append items to the 'Letters' menu
app.menu.append(letters, 'A')
app.menu.append(letters, 'B', callback=letter_clicked, data=1)
app.menu.append_separator(letters)
app.menu.append(letters, 'C', callback=letter_clicked, data=[1, 2, 3])

# Create a new menu group
group = MenuGroup()
group.append('Group 1', callback=group_clicked)
group.append('Group 2', callback=group_clicked)
group.append('Group 3', callback=group_clicked)

# Create a new 'Numbers' menu
numbers = app.menu.create('Numbers')
# add the group to the 'Numbers' menu
app.menu.append_group(numbers, group)
# add a separator then another item
app.menu.append_separator(numbers)
app.menu.append(numbers, 'Not in Group')

# Load an ActiveX control in the main application window
# ocx = app.load('My.OCX.Application', width=300, height=300)

app.set_window_size(300, 300)

app.show()
app.run()

Classes

• Application

• Icon

• Menu

• MenuItem

• MenuGroup

class msl.loadlib.activex.Application(*, background=Background.WHITE, class_style=ClassStyle.NONE, icon=None, style=WindowStyle.OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, title='ActiveX')

Bases: object

Create the main application window to display ActiveX controls.

Parameters:

• background (int) – The background colour of the main window (a Background value).

• class_style (int) – The class style(s). Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of ClassStyle values.

• icon (Icon) – The application icon.

• style (int) – The window style(s). Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of WindowStyle values.

• title (str) – The text to display in the titlebar (if one is visible).

add_message_handler(handler)

Add a custom handler for processing window messages.

Messages correspond to events from the user and from the operating system.

Parameters:

handler (Callable[[int, int, int, int], None]) – A function that processes messages sent to the main window. The function must accept four positional arguments (all integer values) and the returned object is ignored. See WindowProc for more details about the input arguments to the handler.

Return type:

None

close()

Close the application.

Return type:

None

handle_events(source, sink=None, *, interface=None)

Handle events from an ActiveX object.

Parameters:

• source (Any) – An ActiveX object that emits events.

• sink (Callable[[...], Any]) – The object that handles the events. The sink must define methods with the same names as the ActiveX event names. If not specified, the Application instance is used as the sink.

• interface (Any) – The COM interface to use.

Returns:

The advise-connection object.

property hwnd: int

Returns the handle to the main application window.

load(activex_id, *, parent=None, x=0, y=0, width=0, height=0, style=WindowStyle.CHILD | VISIBLE, ex_style=ExtendedWindowStyle.NONE)

Load an ActiveX library.

Parameters:

• activex_id (str) – ProgID or CLSID of the ActiveX object.

• parent (int) – The handle to the parent window that the ActiveX object will belong to. Default is the main application window.

• x (int) – Horizontal position of the ActiveX object in the parent window.

• y (int) – Vertical position of the ActiveX object in the parent window.

• width (int) – Width (in pixels) of the ActiveX object.

• height (int) – Height (in pixels) of the ActiveX object.

• style (int) – Style of the window that is created to contain the ActiveX object. Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of WindowStyle values.

• ex_style (int) – Extended style of the window that is created to contain the ActiveX object. Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of ExtendedWindowStyle values.

Returns:

The interface pointer to the ActiveX library.

Return type:

POINTER

property menu: Menu

Returns the menu instance.

static message_box(*, hwnd=None, language_id=0, options=MessageBoxOption.OK, text='', title='')

Displays a modal dialog box.

Parameters:

• hwnd (int) – A handle to the owner window of the message box to be created.

• language_id (int) – The language for the text displayed in the message box button(s).

• options (int) – The contents and behavior of the dialog box. Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of MessageBoxOption values.

• text (str) – The message to be displayed.

• title (str) – The dialog box title.

Returns:

An indication of how the message box was closed.

Return type:

int

static run()

Run the application.

This is a blocking call. Create and run the application in a separate thread if you want to execute other code while the application is running.

Return type:

None

set_window_position(x, y, width, height, *, flags=PositionFlag.NONE)

Set the position of the main window.

Parameters:

• x (int) – The new position of the left side of the window.

• y (int) – The new position of the top of the window.

• width (int) – The new width of the window (in pixels).

• height (int) – The new height of the window (in pixels).

• flags (int) – The window sizing and positioning flags. Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of PositionFlag values.

Return type:

None

set_window_size(width, height)

Set the size of the main window.

Parameters:

• width (int) – The new width of the window (in pixels).

• height (int) – The new height of the window (in pixels).

Return type:

None

set_window_title(title)

Set the text to display in the window’s title bar.

Parameters:

title (str) – The title bar text.

Return type:

None

show(command=ShowWindow.SHOWNORMAL)

Show the main application window.

Parameters:

command (int) – Controls how the window is shown (a ShowWindow value).

Return type:

None

property thread_id: int

Returns the identifier of the thread that created the main application window.

class msl.loadlib.activex.Icon(file, *, index=0, hinstance=None)

Bases: object

Extract an icon from an executable file, DLL or icon file.

Parameters:

• file (str) – The path to an executable file, DLL or icon file.

• index (int) – The zero-based index of the icon to extract.

• hinstance (int) – Handle to the instance of the calling application.

property hicon: int | None

Returns the handle to the icon or None if no icon was found.

destroy()

Destroys the icon and frees any memory the icon occupied.

Return type:

None

class msl.loadlib.activex.Menu

Bases: object

A menu associated with the main application window.

Do not instantiate directly. Use the Application.menu property to access the menu instance.

append(hmenu, text, *, callback=None, data=None, flags=MenuFlag.ENABLED)

Create a new MenuItem and append it to a popup menu.

Parameters:

• hmenu (int) – The handle of a popup menu to append the new menu item to.

• text (str) – The content of the new menu item.

• callback (Callable[[MenuItem], None] | None) – A callable object that will be called when this menu item is selected. The callable object will receive the MenuItem instance as an argument and the returned object is ignored.

• data (Any) – User data associated with the menu item.

• flags (int) – Controls the appearance and behaviour of the new menu item. Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of MenuFlag values.

Returns:

The menu item that was appended.

Return type:

MenuItem

append_group(hmenu, menu_group)

Append a group of menu items to a popup menu.

Parameters:

• hmenu (int) – The handle of a popup menu to append the group to.

• menu_group (MenuGroup) – A group of menu items.

Return type:

None

append_separator(hmenu)

Append a horizontal dividing line to a popup menu.

Parameters:

hmenu (int) – The handle to a popup menu.

Return type:

None

create(text)

Create a new popup menu and append it to the main menu.

Parameters:

text (str) – The text to display for the popup menu.

Returns:

The handle to the popup menu that was created.

Return type:

int

property hmenu: int

Returns the handle to the main menu.

class msl.loadlib.activex.MenuItem(**kwargs)

Bases: object

A menu item that belongs to a popup menu.

Do not instantiate this class directly. Use MenuGroup.append() or Menu.append() to create a new menu item.

data: Any

User data associated with the menu item.

property callback: Callable[[MenuItem], None] | None

The callback function to call when the menu item is clicked.

property checked: bool

Whether the menu item’s check mark is shown.

property flags: int

The flags that were used to create the menu item.

property hmenu: int

The handle to the popup menu that the menu item belongs to.

property id: int

The identifier of the menu item.

property text: str

The content of the menu item.

class msl.loadlib.activex.MenuGroup(name='')

Bases: object

A group of MenuItem's where only one item in the group may have a check mark to indicate that a particular item is selected.

Parameters:

name (str) – A name to associate with the group.

append(text, *, callback=None, data=None, flags=MenuFlag.ENABLED)

Create a new MenuItem and append it to the group.

Parameters:

• text (str) – The content of the new menu item.

• callback (Callable[[MenuItem], None] | None) – A callable object that will be called when this menu item is selected. The callable object will receive the MenuItem instance as an argument and the returned object is ignored.

• data (Any) – User data associated with the menu item.

• flags (int) – Controls the appearance and behaviour of the new menu item. Can be any combination (bitwise OR) of MenuFlag values.

Returns:

The menu item that was appended to the group.

Return type:

MenuItem

append_separator()

Append a horizontal dividing line to the group.

Return type:

None

property checked: MenuItem | None

Returns the menu item that is currently checked in the group.

property name: str

Returns the name of the menu group.

Enumerations

• Background

• ClassStyle

• ExtendedWindowStyle

• MenuFlag

• MessageBoxOption

• PositionFlag

• ShowWindow

• WindowStyle

class msl.loadlib.activex.Background(value)

Bases: IntEnum

Background colours.

WHITE = 0

LIGHT_GREY = 1

GREY = 2

DARK_GREY = 3

BLACK = 4

class msl.loadlib.activex.ClassStyle(value)

Bases: IntFlag

Window class style flags. See window-class-styles for more details.

BYTEALIGNCLIENT = 0x01000

BYTEALIGNWINDOW = 0x02000

CLASSDC = 0x00040

DBLCLKS = 0x00008

DROPSHADOW = 0x20000

GLOBALCLASS = 0x04000

HREDRAW = 0x00002

NOCLOSE = 0x00200

OWNDC = 0x00020

PARENTDC = 0x00080

SAVEBITS = 0x00800

VREDRAW = 0x00001

class msl.loadlib.activex.ExtendedWindowStyle(value)

Bases: IntFlag

Extended window style flags. See extended-window-styles for more details.

DLGMODALFRAME = 0x0000001

NOPARENTNOTIFY = 0x0000004

TOPMOST = 0x0000008

ACCEPTFILES = 0x0000010

TRANSPARENT = 0x0000020

MDICHILD = 0x0000040

TOOLWINDOW = 0x0000080

WINDOWEDGE = 0x0000100

CLIENTEDGE = 0x0000200

CONTEXTHELP = 0x0000400

RIGHT = 0x0001000

RTLREADING = 0x0002000

LEFTSCROLLBAR = 0x0004000

CONTROLPARENT = 0x0010000

STATICEDGE = 0x0020000

APPWINDOW = 0x0040000

LAYERED = 0x0080000

NOINHERITLAYOUT = 0x0100000

NOREDIRECTIONBITMAP = 0x0200000

LAYOUTRTL = 0x0400000

COMPOSITED = 0x2000000

NOACTIVATE = 0x8000000

class msl.loadlib.activex.MenuFlag(value)

Bases: IntFlag

Menu item flags. See append-menu for more details.

BITMAP = 0x004

CHECKED = 0x008

DISABLED = 0x002

GRAYED = 0x001

MENUBARBREAK = 0x020

MENUBREAK = 0x040

OWNERDRAW = 0x100

POPUP = 0x010

SEPARATOR = 0x800

class msl.loadlib.activex.MessageBoxOption(value)

Bases: IntFlag

Message box options. See message-box for more details.

ABORTRETRYIGNORE = 0x000002

HELP = 0x004000

OKCANCEL = 0x000001

YESNO = 0x000004

ICONINFORMATION = 0x000040

ICONQUESTION = 0x000020

ICONSTOP = 0x000010

DEFBUTTON2 = 0x000100

DEFBUTTON3 = 0x000200

SYSTEMMODAL = 0x001000

TASKMODAL = 0x002000

DEFAULT_DESKTOP_ONLY = 0x020000

RIGHT = 0x080000

RTLREADING = 0x100000

SETFOREGROUND = 0x010000

TOPMOST = 0x040000

SERVICE_NOTIFICATION = 0x200000

class msl.loadlib.activex.PositionFlag(value)

Bases: IntFlag

Window position flags. See set-window-pos for more details.

ASYNCWINDOWPOS = 0x4000

DEFERERASE = 0x2000

DRAWFRAME = 0x0020

HIDEWINDOW = 0x0080

NOACTIVATE = 0x0010

NOCOPYBITS = 0x0100

NOMOVE = 0x0002

NOOWNERZORDER = 0x0200

NOREDRAW = 0x0008

NOSENDCHANGING = 0x0400

NOSIZE = 0x0001

NOZORDER = 0x0004

SHOWWINDOW = 0x0040

class msl.loadlib.activex.ShowWindow(value)

Bases: IntEnum

Show window commands. See show-window for more details.

HIDE = 0

SHOWNORMAL = 1

SHOWMINIMIZED = 2

SHOWMAXIMIZED = 3

SHOWNOACTIVATE = 4

SHOW = 5

MINIMIZE = 6

SHOWMINNOACTIVE = 7

SHOWNA = 8

RESTORE = 9

SHOWDEFAULT = 10

FORCEMINIMIZE = 11

class msl.loadlib.activex.WindowStyle(value)

Bases: IntFlag

Window style flags. See window-styles for more details.

POPUP = 0x80000000

CHILD = 0x40000000

MINIMIZE = 0x20000000

VISIBLE = 0x10000000

DISABLED = 0x08000000

CLIPSIBLINGS = 0x04000000

CLIPCHILDREN = 0x02000000

MAXIMIZE = 0x01000000

BORDER = 0x00800000

DLGFRAME = 0x00400000

VSCROLL = 0x00200000

HSCROLL = 0x00100000

SYSMENU = 0x00080000

THICKFRAME = 0x00040000

GROUP = 0x00020000

TABSTOP = 0x00010000