1.7 Calling COM interface methods

The with-com-interface macro is useful when several methods are being called with the same COM interface pointer, because it establishes a local macro that takes just the method name and arguments.

For example, the following are equivalent ways of calling the move and resize methods of a COM interface pointer window-ptr for the i-window interface:

1.7.1 Data conversion when calling COM methods

All IDL definitions map onto FLI definitions, mirroring the mapping that midl.exe does for C/C++. However, IDL provides some additional type information that C/C++ lacks (for instance the string attribute), so there are some additional conversions that Lisp performs when it can.

The COM API uses the information from the IDL to convert data between FLI types and Lisp types where appropriate for arguments and return values of COM method calls. In particular:

Primitive integer types are represented as Lisp integers.
Primitive char types are represented as Lisp characters.
Primitive float types are represented as Lisp float types.
COM interface pointers are FLI objects represented as objects of type com-interface, which supports type checking of the interface name.
Except as detailed below, all other COM types are represented as their equivalent FLI types. This includes other pointer types and structs.

In COM, all parameters have a direction which can be either in , out or both in and out (referred to as in-out here). Arguments and values for client-side COM method calls reflect the direction as described in the following sections. For a complete version of the example code, see the file:


(example-edit-file "com/manual/args/args-calling")

1.7.1.1 In parameters

In parameters are passed as positional arguments in the order they are specified and do not affect the return values.

A parameter with the string attribute can be passed either as a foreign pointer or as a Lisp string (converted to a foreign string with dynamic extent for the duration of the call).
A parameter whose type is either an array type or a pointer type with a size_is attribute can be passed either as a foreign pointer or, if the element type is not a foreign aggregate type, as a Lisp array of the appropriate rank (converted to a foreign array with dynamic extent for the duration of the call).
Otherwise, the Lisp value is converted using the FLI according to the mapping of types defined above.

For example, given the IDL

import "unknwn.idl";

[ object,

  uuid(E37A70A0-EFC9-11D5-BF02-000347024BE1)

interface IArgumentExamples : IUnknown

  typedef [string] char *argString;

  HRESULT inMethod([in] int inInt,

                   [in] argString inString,

                   [in] int inArraySize,

                   [in, size_is(inArraySize)] int *inArray);

the method in-method can be called with Lisp objects like this:

(let ((array #(7 6)))

  (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                   in-method)

                      "the answer"

                      (length array)

                      array))

or with foreign pointers like this:

(fli:with-dynamic-foreign-objects ()

  (let* ((farray-size 2)

         (farray (fli:allocate-dynamic-foreign-object

                  :type :int

                  :nelems farray-size

                  :initial-contents '(7 6))))

    (fli:with-foreign-string (fstring elt-count byte-count)

        "the answer"

      (declare (ignore elt-count byte-count))

      (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                       in-method)

                          fstring

                          farray-size

                          farray))))

Note that the int arguments are always passed as Lisp integer because int is a primitive type.

1.7.1.2 Out parameters

Out parameters are always of type pointer in COM and never appear as positional arguments in the Lisp call. Instead, there is a keyword argument named after the parameter, which can be used to pass an object to be modified by the method. In addition, each out parameter generates a return value, which will be eq to the value of keyword argument if it was passed and otherwise depends on the type of the parameter as described below.

If the value of the keyword argument is a foreign pointer then it is passed directly to the method and is expected to point to an object of the appropriate size to contain the returned data.
If the value of the keyword argument is nil then a null pointer is passed to the method.
Except where specified below, if the keyword argument is omitted, a foreign object with dynamic extent is created to contain the value and a pointer to this object is passed to the method. On return, the contents maybe be converted back to a Lisp object as specified.
A parameter with the string attribute is converted to a Lisp string if the keyword is not passed. If the keyword is passed, the memory for the string might need to be freed by co-task-mem-free if nothing else does this.
A parameter whose type is either an array type or a pointer type with a size_is attribute will be converted to a Lisp array if the keyword is not passed and the element type is not a foreign aggregate type. If the keyword argument is not passed then a new Lisp array is made. If the value of the keyword argument is a Lisp array then that is filled.
For a parameter whose type is a foreign aggregate type, such as struct, the keyword argument must be passed and its value must be as a foreign pointer. This pointer is passed directly to the method.
For a parameter with the iid_is attribute, a com-interface pointer is returned using the indicated iid parameter to control the interface name.
Otherwise, the dynamic extent foreign pointer is dereferenced to obtain the Lisp return value, as if by calling fli:dereference.

For example, given the IDL

import "unknwn.idl";

[ object,

  uuid(E37A70A0-EFC9-11D5-BF02-000347024BE1)

interface IArgumentExamples : IUnknown

  typedef [string] char *argString;

  HRESULT outMethod([out] int *outInt,

                    [out] argString *outString,

                    [in] int outArraySize,

                    [out, size_is(outArraySize)] int *outArray);

the method out-method can return Lisp objects like this:

(multiple-value-bind (hres int string array)

    (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                     out-method)

8)

  ;; int is of type integer

  ;; string is of type string

  ;; array is of type array

or fill an existing array like this:

(let ((out-array (make-array 5)))

  (multiple-value-bind (hres int string array)

      (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                       out-method)

                          (length out-array)

                          :out-array out-array)

    ;; int is of type integer

    ;; string is of type string

    ;; array is eq to out-array and was filled

))

or set the contents of foreign memory like this:

(fli:with-dynamic-foreign-objects ((out-int :int)

                                   (out-string WIN32:LPSTR))

  (let* ((out-farray-size 5)

         (out-farray (fli:allocate-dynamic-foreign-object

                      :type :int

                      :nelems out-farray-size)))

    (multiple-value-bind (hres int string array)

        (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                         out-method)

                            out-farray-size

                            :out-int out-int

                            :out-string out-string

                            :out-array out-farray)

      ;; Each foreign pointer contains the method's results

      ;; int is the foreign pointer out-int

      ;; string is the foreign pointer out-string

      ;; array is the foreign pointer out-array

      ;; Note that the string must be freed as follows:

      (co-task-mem-free (fli:dereference out-string)))))

1.7.1.3 In-out parameters

In-out parameters are always of type pointer in COM and are handled as a mixture of in and out . In particular, they have both a positional parameter and a keyword parameter, which can be used to control the value passed and conversion of the value returned respectively. Each in-out parameter generates a return value, which will be eq to the value of the keyword argument if it was passed and otherwise depends on the type of the parameter as below.

As for out parameters, if the value of the keyword argument is a foreign pointer then it is passed directly to the method and is expected to be of the appropriate size to contain the returned data. If the value of the keyword argument is nil then a null pointer is passed to the COM call. The positional argument should be nil is these cases. If the keyword argument not passed, a foreign object with dynamic extent is created to contain the value, initialized with data from the positional argument before calling the method and possibly converted back to a Lisp value on return.
For a parameter with the string attribute, the positional argument is handled as for the in argument string case and the keyword argument is handled as for the out argument string case. The functions co-task-mem-alloc and co-task-mem-free should be used to manage the memory for the string itself.
For a parameter whose type is a non-aggregate array type or a pointer to a non-aggregate type that has the size_is attribute, the positional argument is handled as for the in argument array case and the keyword argument is handled as for the out argument array case. To update an existing array, pass it as both the positional and keyword argument values.
For a parameter whose type is a foreign aggregate type, the keyword argument must be passed and its value must be a foreign pointer. This pointer is passed directly to the method and the positional argument should be nil.
Otherwise, a foreign object with dynamic extent is created, set to contain the value of positional argument before calling the method and dereferenced on return to obtain the Lisp return value, as if by calling fli:dereference.

For example, given the IDL

import "unknwn.idl";

[ object,

  uuid(E37A70A0-EFC9-11D5-BF02-000347024BE1)

interface IArgumentExamples : IUnknown

  typedef [string] char *argString;

  HRESULT inoutMethod([in, out] int *inoutInt,

                      [in, out] argString *inoutString,

                      [in] int inoutArraySize,

                      [in, out, size_is(inoutArraySize)]

                      int *inoutArray);

the method inout-method can receive and return Lisp objects like this:

(let ((in-array #(7 6)))

  (multiple-value-bind (hres int string array)

      (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                          inout-method)

                          "the answer"

                          (length in-array)

                          in-array)

    ;; int is of type integer

    ;; string is of type string

    ;; array is of type array

))

or fill an existing array like this:

(let* ((in-array #(7 6))

       (out-array (make-array (length in-array))))

  (multiple-value-bind (hres int string array)

      (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                       inout-method)

                          "the answer"

                          (length in-array)

                          in-array

                          :inout-array out-array)

    ;; int is of type integer

    ;; string is of type string

    ;; array is eq to out-array, which was filled

))

or update an existing array like this:

(let* ((inout-array #(7 6)))

  (multiple-value-bind (hres int string array)

      (call-com-interface (arg-example i-argument-examples

                                       inout-method)

                          "the answer"

                          (length inout-array)

                          inout-array

                          :inout-array inout-array)

    ;; int is of type integer

    ;; string is of type string

    ;; array is eq to inout-array, which was updated

))