SafeArrayWrapper Class

Instances of SafeArrayWrapper are creatable by the user and are returned by OLE methods that return SAFEARRAY values. Available in 3ds Max 8 and higher.

Constructor:

SafeArrayWrapper ()
SafeArrayWrapper <data array>
SafeArrayWrapper <data array> <lBounds array>

Properties:

<SafeArrayWrapper>.dataArray

Data array. Might be 'undefined'. The dataArray is a set of nested arrays. The dataArray must be "square" (the number of elements in the dataArray at any given dimension is constant). For example,

dataArray[i].count is constant for i = 1 to dataArray.count, dataArray[i][j].count is constant for j = 1 to dataArray[2].count.

A runtime error will be thrown if dataArray is set to a non-square array. The depth of the array is its dimension. A dimension 2 array is where dataArray[i][j] is a non-array data value. Setting dataArray will change the number of elements in lBoundsArray to match with added elements having the value 0.

<SafeArrayWrapper>.lBoundsArray

Lower bounds array. Might be 'undefined'. Array of size dimensions, where each element contains the lower bound of one dimension of the array. This array is used for creating the OLE SAFEARRAY value from the SafeArrayWrapper. When setting lBoundsArray, its size must be 'dimensions' or a runtime error will be thrown.

<SafeArrayWrapper>.dimensions

Number of dimensions in the data and bounds array. Read only.

Methods:

copy <SafeArrayWrapper>

Returns a new SafeArrayWrapper, a deep copy is performed on the data and bounds array.

Notes:

• SafeArrayWrapper values can be passed to OLE methods as arguments and can passed to/from ActiveX control methods. Arrays passed to OLE or ActiveX methods are automatically converted to intermediate SafeArrayWrapper values.

• The following additional variant types for values returned by OLE objects can be converted to MAXScriptvalues: VT_UI2, VT_UI4, VT_INT, VT_NULL, and VT_VOID.

• Color values are converted to VT_I4 variant values when passed to OLE objects.

Examples:

Example tests which show in part retrieving data from an SQL database using the GetRows method:

-- open sql database and get rows
DogConn = createOLEObject "ADODB.Connection"
DogConn.Open "driver={SQL Server}; server=dsqedb01.autodesk.com; database=MXSTest"
recordSet = createOLEObject "ADODB.Recordset"
recordSet.Open "SELECT * from TestTable" DogConn
a = recordSet.GetRows()
-- display data properties
a.dataArray
a.lBoundsArray
a.dimensions

-- create a new SafeArrayWrapper using data array and lbounds array
b = SafeArrayWrapper #(#(1, 1.2345, "One point two three four five", undefined, undefined, undefined), #(2, undefined, "Float is null", undefined, undefined, undefined), #(3, 0.0, " ", undefined, undefined, undefined), #(4, 123.4, undefined, undefined, undefined, undefined)) #(0, 0)
b.dataArray
b.lBoundsArray
b.dimensions

-- create a new SafeArrayWrapper using data array
d = SafeArrayWrapper a.dataArray
d.dataArray
d.lBoundsArray
d.dimensions

-- create a new SafeArrayWrapper via copy, show it is a deep copy
f = copy a
f.dataArray
f.lBoundsArray
f.dimensions
f.dataArray[1][1] = 999999
f.dataArray
a.dataArray

Example of updating an SQL database, where the update method is passed an array or SafeArrayWrapper values:

DogConn=createOLEObject "ADODB.Connection"
DogConn.Open "driver={SQL Server}; server=dsqedb01.autodesk.com; database=MXSTest"
recordSet = createOLEObject "ADODB.Recordset"
recordSet.Open "SELECT * from TestTable" DogConn 1 3 -- adOpenKeyset adLockOptimistic
fields=recordSet.Fields -- print out column names
count = fields.count
for i = 1 to count do (local item = fields.item (i-1); print item.name)
recordSet.GetRows() -- display current contents
recordSet.AddNew #("arbitraryFloat", "arbitraryChar", "boolean", "arbitraryInt") #(pi,"Hello World",true,42) -- add via array
recordSet.AddNew (SafeArrayWrapper #("arbitraryFloat", "arbitraryChar", "arbitraryInt")) (SafeArrayWrapper #(e/pi,"Merry xmas!", 54321)) -- add via SafeArrayWrapper
recordSet.close()
recordSet.Open "SELECT * from TestTable" DogConn
recordSet.GetRows() -- display current contents

Example of getting/setting an ActiveX control property with SafeArrayWrapper:

rollout controlR86 "Microsoft Chart Control 6.0 (SP4) (OLEDB)"
(
activeXControl ax "{3A2B370C-BA0A-11D1-B137-0000F8753F5D}" height:200 width:300 align:#left setupEvents:false
)
createdialog ControlR86 height:250 width:350
data = ControlR86.ax.chartdata -- returns SafeArrayWrapper
ControlR86.ax.chartdata = SafeArrayWrapper #(#(undefined, "R1", "R2", "R3", "R4", "R5"), #("C1", 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), #("C2", 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), #("C3", 5, 4, 3, 2, 1), #("C4", -1, 2, 3, 2, 1))

VT_EMPTY
VT_NULL

undefined

VT_VOID

OK

VT_UI1
VT_UI2
VT_UI4
VT_I2
VT_I4
VT_INT

Integer

VT_R4
VT_R8
VT_CY

Float

VT_BSTR

String

VT_BOOL

Boolean

VT_DISPATCH

OLEObject

VT_ARRAY | VT_VARIANT

SafeArrayWrapper

SafeArrayWrapper
Array

VT_ARRAY | VT_VARIANT

Integer

VT_I4

Float

VT_R4

Boolean

VT_BOOL

Color

VT_I4

String

VT_BSTR

Undefined

VT_EMPTY

OLEObject

VT_DISPATCH