205 lines
7.2 KiB
Text
205 lines
7.2 KiB
Text
*if_ole.txt* For Vim version 7.4. Last change: 2008 Aug 16
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VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Paul Moore
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The OLE Interface to Vim *ole-interface*
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1. Activation |ole-activation|
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2. Methods |ole-methods|
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3. The "normal" command |ole-normal|
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4. Registration |ole-registration|
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5. MS Visual Studio integration |MSVisualStudio|
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{Vi does not have any of these commands}
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OLE is only available when compiled with the |+ole| feature. See
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src/if_ole.INSTALL.
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An alternative is using the client-server communication |clientserver|.
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==============================================================================
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1. Activation *ole-activation*
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Vim acts as an OLE automation server, accessible from any automation client,
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for example, Visual Basic, Python, or Perl. The Vim application "name" (its
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"ProgID", in OLE terminology) is "Vim.Application".
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Hence, in order to start a Vim instance (or connect to an already running
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instance), code similar to the following should be used:
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[Visual Basic] >
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Dim Vim As Object
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Set Vim = CreateObject("Vim.Application")
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[Python] >
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from win32com.client.dynamic import Dispatch
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vim = Dispatch('Vim.Application')
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[Perl] >
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use Win32::OLE;
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$vim = new Win32::OLE 'Vim.Application';
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[C#] >
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// Add a reference to VIM in your project.
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// Choose the COM tab.
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// Select "VIM Ole Interface 1.1 Type Library"
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Vim.Vim vimobj = new Vim.Vim();
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Vim does not support acting as a "hidden" OLE server, like some other OLE
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Automation servers. When a client starts up an instance of Vim, that instance
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is immediately visible. Simply closing the OLE connection to the Vim instance
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is not enough to shut down the Vim instance - it is necessary to explicitly
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execute a quit command (for example, :qa!, :wqa).
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==============================================================================
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2. Methods *ole-methods*
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Vim exposes four methods for use by clients.
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*ole-sendkeys*
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SendKeys(keys) Execute a series of keys.
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This method takes a single parameter, which is a string of keystrokes. These
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keystrokes are executed exactly as if they had been types in at the keyboard.
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Special keys can be given using their <..> names, as for the right hand side
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of a mapping. Note: Execution of the Ex "normal" command is not supported -
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see below |ole-normal|.
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Examples (Visual Basic syntax) >
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Vim.SendKeys "ihello<Esc>"
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Vim.SendKeys "ma1GV4jy`a"
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These examples assume that Vim starts in Normal mode. To force Normal mode,
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start the key sequence with CTRL-\ CTRL-N as in >
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Vim.SendKeys "<C-\><C-N>ihello<Esc>"
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CTRL-\ CTRL-N returns Vim to Normal mode, when in Insert or Command-line mode.
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Note that this doesn't work halfway a Vim command
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*ole-eval*
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Eval(expr) Evaluate an expression.
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This method takes a single parameter, which is an expression in Vim's normal
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format (see |expression|). It returns a string, which is the result of
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evaluating the expression. A |List| is turned into a string by joining the
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items and inserting line breaks.
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Examples (Visual Basic syntax) >
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Line20 = Vim.Eval("getline(20)")
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Twelve = Vim.Eval("6 + 6") ' Note this is a STRING
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Font = Vim.Eval("&guifont")
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<
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*ole-setforeground*
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SetForeground() Make the Vim window come to the foreground
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This method takes no arguments. No value is returned.
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Example (Visual Basic syntax) >
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Vim.SetForeground
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<
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*ole-gethwnd*
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GetHwnd() Return the handle of the Vim window.
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This method takes no arguments. It returns the hwnd of the main Vimwindow.
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You can use this if you are writing something which needs to manipulate the
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Vim window, or to track it in the z-order, etc.
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Example (Visual Basic syntax) >
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Vim_Hwnd = Vim.GetHwnd
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<
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==============================================================================
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3. The "normal" command *ole-normal*
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Due to the way Vim processes OLE Automation commands, combined with the method
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of implementation of the Ex command :normal, it is not possible to execute the
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:normal command via OLE automation. Any attempt to do so will fail, probably
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harmlessly, although possibly in unpredictable ways.
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There is currently no practical way to trap this situation, and users must
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simply be aware of the limitation.
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==============================================================================
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4. Registration *ole-registration* *E243*
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Before Vim will act as an OLE server, it must be registered in the system
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registry. In order to do this, Vim should be run with a single parameter of
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"-register".
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*-register* >
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gvim -register
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If gvim with OLE support is run and notices that no Vim OLE server has been
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registered, it will present a dialog and offers you the choice to register by
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clicking "Yes".
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In some situations registering is not possible. This happens when the
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registry is not writable. If you run into this problem you need to run gvim
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as "Administrator".
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Once vim is registered, the application path is stored in the registry.
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Before moving, deleting, or upgrading Vim, the registry entries should be
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removed using the "-unregister" switch.
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*-unregister* >
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gvim -unregister
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The OLE mechanism will use the first registered Vim it finds. If a Vim is
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already running, this one will be used. If you want to have (several) Vim
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sessions open that should not react to OLE commands, use the non-OLE version,
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and put it in a different directory. The OLE version should then be put in a
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directory that is not in your normal path, so that typing "gvim" will start
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the non-OLE version.
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*-silent*
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To avoid the message box that pops up to report the result, prepend "-silent":
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>
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gvim -silent -register
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gvim -silent -unregister
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==============================================================================
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5. MS Visual Studio integration *MSVisualStudio* *VisVim*
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The OLE version can be used to run Vim as the editor in Microsoft Visual
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Studio. This is called "VisVim". It is included in the archive that contains
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the OLE version. The documentation can be found in the runtime directory, the
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README_VisVim.txt file.
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Using Vim with Visual Studio .Net~
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With .Net you no longer really need VisVim, since .Net studio has support for
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external editors. Follow these directions:
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In .Net Studio choose from the menu Tools->External Tools...
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Add
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Title - Vim
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Command - c:\vim\vim63\gvim.exe
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Arguments - --servername VS_NET --remote-silent "+call cursor($(CurLine), $(CurCol))" $(ItemPath)
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Init Dir - Empty
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Now, when you open a file in .Net, you can choose from the .Net menu:
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Tools->Vim
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That will open the file in Vim.
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You can then add this external command as an icon and place it anywhere you
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like. You might also be able to set this as your default editor.
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If you refine this further, please post back to the Vim maillist so we have a
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record of it.
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--servername VS_NET
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This will create a new instance of vim called VS_NET. So if you open multiple
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files from VS, they will use the same instance of Vim. This allows you to
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have multiple copies of Vim running, but you can control which one has VS
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files in it.
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--remote-silent "+call cursor(10, 27)"
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- Places the cursor on line 10 column 27
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In Vim >
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:h --remote-silent for mor details
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[.Net remarks provided by Dave Fishburn and Brian Sturk]
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==============================================================================
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vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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