SoftCAT Plus can act as an OLE Automation Server. This allows you to easily generate HTML and XML documents.

Class name: SoftCATPlus.DataServer.

Delphi example:

var
C: Variant;
XMLFile: String;
HTMLFile: String;
begin
C := CreateOleObject(SoftCAT.DataServer');
C.Database := [path to database];
XMLFile := 'C:\My Documents\Data.xml';
// XML file - All apps
C.GenerateXML('Program', '', XMLFile);
HTMLFile := 'C:\My Documents\Doc.html';
// HTML file - Program, ID = 1
C.GenerateHTML('ProgramBrowse.xsl', 'ID=1', False, HTMLFile, '');
end;

Properties

Database (String)

The path to the database you want to work with.

ExtractImages (Boolean)

When set to True, all images are extracted and saved to the temp folder, and the IMG SRC tag contains the actual file path. When set to False, a special code is added to the IMG SRC tag, and you must use the GetImage method to extract the image.

ImageFileCount (Integer)

The number of image files in the temp folder. Use the ImageFileGet method to access the files.

ImageFileAutoDelete (Boolean)

When set to True, image files saved to the temp folder (when ExtractImages is True) are automatically deleted when a new html page is generated (or the data server shuts down). When set to False, you are responsible for deleting the image files.

TempFolder (String)

The path to the temp folder where all temporary files are created. By default, this is the default Windows Temp folder. You can change this if you like.

TemplateFolder (String)

The path to the template folder as specified under Tools->Explorer Templates. This is a read-only property.

UseExternalImageFilename (Boolean)

When set to True, the path to an external image file is stored directly in the IMG SRC tag. When False, external images are treated the same way as internal images.

Methods

ChangeSortOrder

Call this method to change the sort order of a recordset list.

Parameters:

RecordsetGUID (String) - This is the GUID of the recordset. This is created when you call the GenerateHTML method to generate the first page of the recordset.

OrderBy (String) - The new sort order. For example "Title" or "Publisher,Title".

Filename (String - by reference) - The full path to the location where the HTML file is saved. If you pass an empty string, the data server will create a file in the temp folder. You can access this filename after the method has been called.

NOTE: You must delete this file when it is no longer needed. The data server will not delete the generated HTML file when it shuts down.

GenerateHTML

Call this method to generate a HTML file.

Parameters:

XSLTemplate (String) - The name of the xsl template to use (do not include the folder, only the file name).

Filter (String) - The filter determines what information that is included in the HTML file. Use the same format as filter parameters in xsl templates. For example "ID=1" or "Publisher=Microsoft".

StipLinks (Boolean) - If True, all hyperlinks are removed.

Filename (String - by reference) - The full path to the location where the HTML file is saved. If you pass an empty string, the data server will create a file in the temp folder. You can access this filename after the method has been called.

NOTE: You must delete this file when it is no longer needed. The data server will not delete the generated HTML file when it shuts down.

RecordsetGUID (String - by reference) - When creating a list page based on a recordset (multiple records), this parameter holds the recordset GUID (an unique ID number) after the method has been called. You need to use this ID when creating other pages in the same recordset (see GenerateHTMLListPage) or if you want to change the sort order (see ChangeSortOrder).

Return value: Total number of pages. This is always 1 if you create a single record page, or is else the total number of pages in a recordset list.

GenerateHTMLListPage

Call this method to generate a new page based on a recordset.

Parameters:

RecordsetGUID (String) - This is the GUID of the recordset. This is created when you call the GenerateHTML method to generate the first page of the recordset.

PageNo (Integer) - The page number.

Filename (String - by reference) - The full path to the location where the HTML file is saved. If you pass an empty string, the data server will create a file in the temp folder. You can access this filename after the method has been called.

NOTE: You must delete this file when it is no longer needed. The data server will not delete the generated HTML file when it shuts down.

GenerateXML

Call this method to generate a XML data file.

Parameters:

Table (String) - The table the data is taken form (for example "Program" or "Publisher").

Filter (String) - The filter determines what information is included in the XML file. Use the same format as filter parameters in xsl templates. For example "Publisher=Microsoft".

Filename (String - by reference) - The full path to the location the XML file is saved. If you pass an empty string, the data server will create a file in the temp folder. You can access this filename after the method has been called.

Return value: Total number of records in the XML file.

NOTE: You must delete this file when it is no longer needed. The data server will not delete the generated HTML file when it shuts down.

GetImage

When the ExtractImages property is False, you must pass the IMG SRC tag from the generated HTML page to the method to extract the image.

Parameters:

SRC (String) - The IMG SRC tag (for example "*I:Program,1,1,2").

Filename (String - by reference) - The full path to the location where you want to save the image. If you pass an empty string, the data server will create the file in the temp folder. You can access this filename after the method has been called.

NOTE: You must delete this file when it is no longer needed. The data server will not delete the saved image file when it shuts down.

ImageFileGet

Returns the path to the specified image file in the temp folder.

Parameters:

Index (Integer) - The index of the image (this is zero based). Use the ImageFileCount property to access the total number of images.

Filename (String - by reference) - The parameter hold the full path to the image after you have called the method.

SelectedRecords

This method returns the record id numbers of the selected records in the active view if SoftCAT Plus is running. For example "2,632,43,23,12".

TemplateType

This returnes the type of template.

Parameters:

Template (String) - The name of the template. Do not include the path.

Return value: 1 - index template (for example Index.xsl), 2 - record template (for example Program.xsl) or 3 - recordset list template (for example ProgramList.xsl).