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The SKY Index Communications Interface
All documentation is preliminary and subject to change
What is SKY Index Command Interface (SICI)?
SICI provides a way for programs running on the same computer as SKY Index to instruct SKY Index to execute commands that are part of the External Application Command Set. This would allow, for instance, a Visual Basic
for Applications program to start SKY
Index, create a connection to the program and to then execute commands using the interface. This would allow all the power of the Visual Basic
language for manipulating strings to be used to manipulate (edit) indexes to achieve highly complex modifications. It also allows the VBA program to
check the index for special conditions that SKY
Index itself does not natively have the ability to check for.
Your program can be implimented as a Add-in
If you create your program as a standalone executable program, you can add your utility to one of the menus of SKY Index and even provide a
keyboard shortcut and icon. Your program will appear as if it is part of the SKY Index program to the end user.
The SICI DLL
The SICI DLL is a ActiveX Dynamic Link Library that provides the interface to SKY Index. It does the
following:
- Checks to be sure the currently installed
SKY
Index program supports the commands in the DLL
- Accepts commands from your program
- Sends the commands to SKY
Index
- Waits for a response from SKY
Index
- Returns the response to the your program
How does my program use the SICI DLL to send commands to SKY Index?
There are 5 basic steps:
- Call “RequestConnection” which returns True if successful and False if
not.
- Call one of the functions in the DLL. (There are no subroutines, only
functions.)
- React to the function’s return value as appropriate.
- Repeat steps 2 and 3 until your program has completed its goal.
- Call CloseConnection.
Requirements
The SKY Index Command Interface is an ActiveX DLL. The programming language you use must support ActiveX DLLs in order to use the interface.
Currently Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Basic for Applications have been tested and are known to work. Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# will also work with
the caveat that the CommitRowChanges function always returns false and therefore its return value must be ignored.
Progammer's Reference
Click here for a developer's reference guide describing the available functions.
Sample Code
We've included a few example subroutines so that you can get an idea of how the interface works and how to use it.
Click here for some examples on how to use the interface.
Adding your program as an Add-in
Click here for detail on how to get SKY Index to recognize your program as an add-in for SKY Index.
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