Hi, Jenda,

Thanks for the note.

You're right about the code we generate on Mid() -- we can
map directly to substr().  And you need to decrement the
index: Perl is 0-based, Basic 1-based (sort of).

As for the CreateObject error, the converter assumes that
the input is correct VB.  Objects must be assigned with
a 'set' statement.  So

set x = createObject("Scripting.Dictionary")

is recognized, and it's a current bug to map these objects to
Perl's hashes.  Good comment on the case -- we do preserve
case of most names, as case matters in Perl, but not for
the names of built-ins.

Thanks for the comment on error messages.  I'll open another
bug on it.

- Eric


On Tue, Jun 15, 2004 at 03:06:35PM +0200, Jenda Krynicky wrote:
>  From: "Jan Dubois" <jand@[...].com>
>  > We have uploaded the next PDK Beta feature to the FTP server: VBSPerl,
>  > a VBScript (and VBA) to Perl converter.
>  > ...
>  
>  Thanks. I did not run a lot of tests yet, but it seems to work so 
>  far.
>  
>  I expected a little better handling of the builtin string functions 
>  though:
>  
>  x = "hello"
>  x = Mid( x, 2, 3)
>  
>   ====>
>  
>  #!perl
>  
>  use Win32;
>  use Win32::OLE qw(in with);
>  use Win32::OLE::Variant;
>  use Win32::OLE::Const "Visual Basic For Applications";
>  
>  $x = 'hello';
>  $x = VBS::Mid($x, 2, 3);
>  
>  package VBS;
>  use strict;
>  sub Mid {
>    my($substr, $start, $len) = @_;
>    $start--;
>    return defined $len ? substr($substr, $start, $len) :
>                          substr($substr, $start);
>  }
>  
>  
>  I expected something like
>  
>  x = Mid( x, 2, 3)
>  	=>
>  $x = substr( $x, 2+1, 3);
>  
>  and
>  
>  x = Mid( x, 2)
>  	=>
>  $x = substr( $x, 2+1);
>  
>  But I guess there is just a list of these builtins and their Perlish 
>  implementations inside vbsperl and the calls are just translated 
>  syntacticaly, right.
>  
>  There is no chance the vbsperl sources will be released so that we 
>  could tweak them and add these special cases right?
>  
>  I also tried to convert a snippet of code using Scripting.Dictionary 
>  just to see whether it will be converted to using Perl hashes. Though 
>  I did not expect that to happen.
>  It would be cool if this was possible.
>  
>  
>  Also I think the errors in translations should be printed a little 
>  differently:
>  
>  x = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
>  	=>
>  $x =
>  #### Error: Can't resolve builtin createobject
>  ;
>  
>  should IMHO be something like
>  
>  $x = do { BEGIN { die "VBSPerl Convertor Error: Can't resolve builtin 
>  createobject" } };
>  
>  That way the user gets a nice compile-time error message if he/she 
>  tries to run the converted code.
>  
>  (And it seems you do not print the name of the unknown builtin in the 
>  original case, but lowercased.)
>  
>  Jenda
>  Jenda
>  ===== Jenda@[...].cz === http://Jenda.Krynicky.cz =====
>  When it comes to wine, women and song, wizards are allowed 
>  to get drunk and croon as much as they like.
>  	-- Terry Pratchett in Sourcery
>  
>  _______________________________________________
>  PDK-Beta@[...].com
>  http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/pdk-beta
_______________________________________________
PDK-Beta@[...].com
http://listserv.ActiveState.com/mailman/listinfo/pdk-beta