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<p><table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="excerpt" data-macro-parameters="atlassian-macro-output-type=BLOCK|hidden=true" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2V4Y2VycHQ6aGlkZGVuPXRydWV8YXRsYXNzaWFuLW1hY3JvLW91dHB1dC10eXBlPUJMT0NLfQ&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="RICH_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><p>calling COM methods and properties from Groovy </p></td></tr></table></p>

<h1>Method Syntax</h1>

<p>The syntax for calling a method on an <strong>ActiveXObject</strong> is (mostly) the same as calling a method on any other Groovy object. The only caveat is that optional parameters may be omitted, or you can specify <strong>Scriptom.MISSING</strong> to indicate that an optional parameter is not defined.
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<table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="code" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2NvZGV9&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="PLAIN_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><pre>
def voice = new ActiveXObject('SAPI.SpVoice');
voice.Speak('It's all GROOVY, man!');
</pre></td></tr></table>
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<h1>Property Syntax</h1>

<p>In Groovy, which follows the JavaBean model, properties don't have indexes.  There are lots of COM properties without indexes, and they work the same way.  In the code example below, the <strong>voice.Status</strong> property returns an <strong>ActiveXObject</strong>, and the <strong>RunningState</strong> property returns an integer flag.</p>
<table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="code" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2NvZGV9&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="PLAIN_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><pre>
def voice = new ActiveXObject('SAPI.SpVoice')

voice.Speak 'GROOVY and SCRIPT um make com automation simple, fun, and groovy, man!', SpeechVoiceSpeakFlags.SVSFlagsAsync
while(voice.Status.RunningState != SpeechRunState.SRSEDone)
{
  ...
}
</pre></td></tr></table>
<p>COM also supports parameterized (or 'indexed') properties.  Indexed COM properties look like an array, list, or a map. Properties may be read from or written to, but they do not represent standalone objects (that's <strong>not</strong> an array you are working with). In some cases, properties have more than one index. The following practical example sets the value of the first column in an Excel spreadsheet to a date value (alternately, a Java <strong>Date</strong> could have been used).
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<table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="code" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2NvZGV9&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="PLAIN_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><pre>
worksheet.Cells.Item[row+1,1] = "$row/1/2007"
</pre></td></tr></table>
<p>Yep, that's a property!
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<h1>Maybe We Made It too Flexible?</h1>

<p>Methods and a property getters (both non-indexed and indexed) are pretty much the same thing, and in most cases, they are interchangeable.  So the following two lines of code do the same thing:
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<table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="code" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2NvZGV9&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="PLAIN_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><pre>
println worksheet.Cells.Item[row+1,1]
println worksheet.Cells.Item(row+1,1)
</pre></td></tr></table>
<p>Indexed properties don't work if all the parameters are optional.  This doesn't normally happen in the real world (why would you do that?), but it is possible.  To support this unlikely scenario, there is an alternate syntax for accessing properties as methods: </p>
<ul>
	<li>To get a property value, simply call it as a method.  Alternately (to match <em>setter</em> syntax), you can prefix the property name with <strong>_get</strong>. </li>
</ul>

<p>To set a property value,  prefix the property name with <strong>_set</strong> or <strong>_put</strong>.  The last argument passed to the method is the value.
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<table class="wysiwyg-macro" data-macro-name="code" style="background-image: url(/plugins/servlet/confluence/placeholder/macro-heading?definition=e2NvZGV9&amp;locale=en_GB&amp;version=2); background-repeat: no-repeat;" data-macro-body-type="PLAIN_TEXT"><tr><td class="wysiwyg-macro-body"><pre>
//Getters, all equivalent.
println worksheet.Cells.Item[row+1,1]
println worksheet.Cells.Item(row+1,1)
println worksheet.Cells._getItem(row+1,1)

//Setters, all equivalent.
worksheet.Cells.Item[row+1,1] = new Date()
worksheet.Cells._setItem(row+1,1, new Date())
worksheet.Cells._putItem(row+1,1, new Date())
</pre></td></tr></table>
<p>The method syntax is actually a little faster than the bracketed property syntax, but we recommend that you use the syntax that makes your intentions most evident.</p>