DLL TwinBasic

[siggismalz]

Hello, can anyone explain how TwinBasic works?

[joyfullservice]

TwinBASIC is essentially a new development IDE/compiler for writing VBA/BASIC type code and compiling to EXE/DLL. I use it in this project because it provides a very simple and maintainable way to compile a helper COM add-in for the VBA IDE that acts as a wrapper to launch the Microsoft Access add-in through a ribbon interface. The other key advantage is that TwinBASIC allows us to create a 64-bit add-in that works in 64-bit Microsoft Access.

In this project, the code in the TwinBASIC COM add-in is pretty minimal, keeping as much as possible in the native Access VBA code in the Access add-in. The VCS ribbon can be extended and customized through the XML file without having to recompile the COM add-in, which is a big plus especially as we look towards supporting multiple languages in the future.

Hope that helps!

[siggismalz]

Can I extend the ribbon with functionalities without touching the DLL?
I can't find the references to the onaction button in xml.

[joyfullservice]

Yes, absolutely! That is the advantage of the approach we took with it. The onAction events all link to the same generic OnActionButton function.

When you click the button, the button name is passed over to the add-in, the prefix stripped off, and it looks for a matching function in clsVersionControl. For example, the button above calls the following code:

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
' Procedure : ExportSelected
' Author    : Adam Waller
' Date      : 2/21/2023
' Purpose   : Export the selected object
'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'
Public Sub ExportSelected()
    
    Dim objSelected As AccessObject
    
    If HasFormOpen Then Exit Sub
    
    Set objSelected = GetSelectedNavPaneObject
    If objSelected Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox2 "Please Select an Object First", _
            "Select a single object in the Navigation Pane to export.", _
            "(This item must have the keyboard focus.)", vbInformation
    Else
        ' Export the item
        RunExport , objSelected
    End If

End Sub

To add new buttons to the ribbon, use a unique name for the button, and create a corresponding sub in the clsVersionControl class.