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*if_ole.txt* For MNV version 10.0. Last change: 2026 Feb 14
MNV REFERENCE MANUAL by Paul Moore
The OLE Interface to MNV *ole-interface*
1. Activation |ole-activation|
2. Methods |ole-methods|
3. The "normal" command |ole-normal|
4. Registration |ole-registration|
5. MS Visual Studio integration |MSVisualStudio|
{only available when compiled with the |+ole| feature. See
src/if_ole.INSTALL}
An alternative is using the client-server communication |clientserver|.
==============================================================================
1. Activation *ole-activation*
MNV acts as an OLE automation server, accessible from any automation client,
for example, Visual Basic, Python, or Perl. The MNV application "name" (its
"ProgID", in OLE terminology) is "MNV.Application".
Hence, in order to start a MNV instance (or connect to an already running
instance), code similar to the following should be used:
[Visual Basic] >
Dim MNV As Object
Set MNV = CreateObject("MNV.Application")
[Python] >
from win32com.client.dynamic import Dispatch
mnv = Dispatch('MNV.Application')
[Perl] >
use Win32::OLE;
$mnv = new Win32::OLE 'MNV.Application';
[C#] >
// Add a reference to MNV in your project.
// Choose the COM tab.
// Select "MNV Ole Interface 1.1 Type Library"
MNV.MNV mnvobj = new MNV.MNV();
MNV does not support acting as a "hidden" OLE server, like some other OLE
Automation servers. When a client starts up an instance of MNV, that instance
is immediately visible. Simply closing the OLE connection to the MNV instance
is not enough to shut down the MNV instance - it is necessary to explicitly
execute a quit command (for example, :qa!, :wqa).
==============================================================================
2. Methods *ole-methods*
MNV exposes four methods for use by clients.
*ole-sendkeys*
SendKeys(keys) Execute a series of keys.
This method takes a single parameter, which is a string of keystrokes. These
keystrokes are executed exactly as if they had been typed in at the keyboard.
Special keys can be given using their <..> names, as for the right hand side
of a mapping. Note: Execution of the Ex "normal" command is not supported -
see below |ole-normal|.
Examples (Visual Basic syntax) >
MNV.SendKeys "ihello<Esc>"
MNV.SendKeys "ma1GV4jy`a"
These examples assume that MNV starts in Normal mode. To force Normal mode,
start the key sequence with CTRL-\ CTRL-N as in >
MNV.SendKeys "<C-\><C-N>ihello<Esc>"
CTRL-\ CTRL-N returns MNV to Normal mode, when in Insert or Command-line mode.
Note that this doesn't work halfway a MNV command
*ole-eval*
Eval(expr) Evaluate an expression.
This method takes a single parameter, which is an expression in MNV's normal
format (see |expression|). It returns a string, which is the result of
evaluating the expression. A |List| is turned into a string by joining the
items and inserting line breaks.
Examples (Visual Basic syntax) >
Line20 = MNV.Eval("getline(20)")
Twelve = MNV.Eval("6 + 6") ' Note this is a STRING
Font = MNV.Eval("&guifont")
<
*ole-setforeground*
SetForeground() Make the MNV window come to the foreground
This method takes no arguments. No value is returned.
Example (Visual Basic syntax) >
MNV.SetForeground
<
*ole-gethwnd*
GetHwnd() Return the handle of the MNV window.
This method takes no arguments. It returns the hwnd of the main MNVwindow.
You can use this if you are writing something which needs to manipulate the
MNV window, or to track it in the z-order, etc.
Example (Visual Basic syntax) >
MNV_Hwnd = MNV.GetHwnd
<
==============================================================================
3. The "normal" command *ole-normal*
Due to the way MNV processes OLE Automation commands, combined with the method
of implementation of the Ex command :normal, it is not possible to execute the
:normal command via OLE automation. Any attempt to do so will fail, probably
harmlessly, although possibly in unpredictable ways.
There is currently no practical way to trap this situation, and users must
simply be aware of the limitation.
==============================================================================
4. Registration *ole-registration* *E243*
Before MNV will act as an OLE server, it must be registered in the system
registry. In order to do this, MNV should be run with a single parameter of
"-register".
*-register* >
gmnv -register
If gmnv with OLE support is run and notices that no MNV OLE server has been
registered, it will present a dialog and offers you the choice to register by
clicking "Yes".
In some situations registering is not possible. This happens when the
registry is not writable. If you run into this problem you need to run gmnv
as "Administrator".
Once mnv is registered, the application path is stored in the registry.
Before moving, deleting, or upgrading MNV, the registry entries should be
removed using the "-unregister" switch.
*-unregister* >
gmnv -unregister
The OLE mechanism will use the first registered MNV it finds. If a MNV is
already running, this one will be used. If you want to have (several) MNV
sessions open that should not react to OLE commands, use the non-OLE version,
and put it in a different directory. The OLE version should then be put in a
directory that is not in your normal path, so that typing "gmnv" will start
the non-OLE version.
*-silent*
To avoid the message box that pops up to report the result, prepend "-silent":
>
gmnv -silent -register
gmnv -silent -unregister
==============================================================================
5. MS Visual Studio integration *MSVisualStudio*
The old "VisMNV" integration was removed from MNV in patch 9.0.0698.
Using MNV with Visual Studio .Net~
.Net studio has support for external editors. Follow these directions:
In .Net Studio choose from the menu Tools->External Tools...
Add
Title - MNV
Command - c:\mnv\mnv63\gmnv.exe
Arguments - --servername VS_NET --remote-silent "+call cursor($(CurLine), $(CurCol))" $(ItemPath)
Init Dir - Empty
Now, when you open a file in .Net, you can choose from the .Net menu:
Tools->MNV
That will open the file in MNV.
You can then add this external command as an icon and place it anywhere you
like. You might also be able to set this as your default editor.
If you refine this further, please post back to the MNV maillist so we have a
record of it.
--servername VS_NET
This will create a new instance of mnv called VS_NET. So if you open multiple
files from VS, they will use the same instance of MNV. This allows you to
have multiple copies of MNV running, but you can control which one has VS
files in it.
--remote-silent "+call cursor(10, 27)"
- Places the cursor on line 10 column 27
In MNV >
:h --remote-silent for more details
[.Net remarks provided by Dave Fishburn and Brian Sturk]
==============================================================================
mnv:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl:
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