Sending Connect Commands via COM

The following example will take (a simplified version of) the SendAConnectCommand HTML utility that will run inside STK, and convert it to a single integrated utility containing a Globe control.

The above image shows what you should see if you open SendAConnectCommand.html with the HTML Viewer inside STK. The version used for this example can be found in:

<STK install folder>Help\stkX\gettingStarted

The complete source code for this example is given below. The new tool built in this exercise will allow you to send Connect commands to STK X through the COM layer.

Adding STKXApp and the Globe Control

Open up StkXSendAConnectCommand.htm in a text editor (Notepad or TextPad, for example). Start by adding the STK X Application and Globe control into the page. Navigate down to the bottom of the code, and start editing before the </body> line.

Create a table, setting the border to 1 and aligning to center
<Table border="1" Align="center">
Add a new row and table data entry with a column span of 2.
<tr><td colspan = "2">
Add the STK X Application.
<object name="STKXApp" classid="CLSID: F508ED88-0F6A-433F-BB83-35DB379BCB4C " width="0" height="0"></object>
Add the Globe control into the row using the following class identifier:
<object name="AxVO" classid="CLSID: 0035ED34-09AB-478D-BF38-887A9830A45A " width="600" height="400" Border="1"></object>

Be sure to note that the name of the Globe control object in the code is AxVO, as this is how the remainder of the code will identify this new object.

Modifying the VBScript

Before any commands can be sent to STK X via Connect Commands the VBScript portion of the code needs to be modified to account for this change in destination. We start by modifying InitPage.

The original version must locate STK by catching the external window and then identifying its personality. This portion of the code becomes much simpler when using STK X. Clear the existing contents of InitPage, except for the “Set stk” line. Having given our instance of STK X a name in the previous section, this line should now look like this:

Set stk = STKXApp

Now that stk has been properly set, the next portion of the script can be modified. Move down the code until you find SendCommand. As in the case of the last subroutine, start by removing some of the unnecessary code. In this case, remove everything between “on error resume next” and “Set rVal.” The section that is being removed contains window management information that will no longer be necessary.

Next add the word command in the header for the subroutine. It should look like this:

Sub SendCommand(command)

This will allow the subroutine to catch the Connect Command. You will also need to change the Set rVal line to the following:

Set rVal = stk.ExecuteCommand(command)

This change also requires a change in the HTML section. On the line where the text box called Input is set, change the empty set of parenthesis to contain Input.value. The line, when edited, should look like this:

<center><input type="text" name="Input" size = 135>  <input type="button" size="20" align="Center" value="Send Command" onClick="SendCommand(Input.value)" class="submit">

To finish the modification of SendCommand, all that is necessary is to remove the “thiswindow.NoWBClose = false” line.

Creating an Animation Toolbar

In this section we will build the animation tool bar that a user expects to see associated with the typical STK interface. This will be constructed inside the table that contains the Globe control. Add a new row and table data entry with a column span of 2, aligned to center.

<tr><td colspan = "2" align="center">

First add the reset button. Use the following line:

<input type="image" name="AnimateReset" src="images\reset.gif" alt="AnimateReset" value="AnimateReset" onClick="SendCommand('Animate * Reset')"></input>

Note that the onClick directive is to send the AnimateReset Connect command via InputCommand. Also, be sure to check that the images folder containing the reset.gif file (as well as the other gif images) is in the images sub-folder of the gettingStarted folder. Add a similar line for each of the animation buttons using the information from the table below.

Name/alt/value	Image name	Connect command
AnimateReset	reset.gif	Animate * Reset
StepReverse	stepbak.gif	Animate * Step Reverse
AnimateReverse	playbak.gif	Animate * Start Reverse
AnimatePause	pause.gif	Animate * Pause
AnimateForward	play.gif	Animate * Start Forward
AnimateStepForward	step.gif	Animate * Step Forward
AnimateFaster	speedup.gif	Animate * TimeStep Increase
AnimateSlower	slowdown.gif	Animate * TimeStep Decrease

Save your page once again, and open it in Internet Explorer. If everything has been done properly your page should look like the image below. Paste the New Scenario command from the pull down menu and click Send Command to insure that everything is working properly.

Source Code for HTML Example

<html>

<!--

Dim stk

Sub InitPage()

Set stk = STKXApp

End Sub

Sub SendCommand(command)

on error resume next

Set rVal = stk.ExecuteCommand(command)

if err <> 0 then

SendCommand = 0

MsgBox("NACK")

else

SendCommand = rVal(0)

end if

End Sub

Sub Paste

Input.value = Selection(Selection.selectedIndex).text

End Sub

Sub UnloadPage()

Set stk = Nothing

End Sub

// -->

</script>

Connect commands:<br><br>

<option>AllInstanceNames /</option>

<option>CheckScenario /</option>

<option>GetDefaultDir /</option>

<option>GetLicenses /</option>

<option>GetSTKHomeDir /</option>

<option>GetSTKVersion /</option>

<option>GetDB /</option>

<option>GetUserDir /</option>

<option>New / Scenario Scenario1</option>

</select>

Type (or paste) a command to execute:<br><br>

<br>

</Table>

</body> </html>

STK Programming Interface 11.0.1