How to access methods of shapes placed in another module

There is no problem if you want to access a property of a specific shape in another panel or module. You can do it as described in Online Help:

setValue("moduleName.panelName:shapeName","property","value");

main()
{

  string sColor;
  setValue("ModuleEllipse.PanelEllipse:MyEllipse","foreCol","Red");   getValue("ModuleEllipse.PanelEllipse:MyEllipse","backCol", sColor);
}

But if you want to access a method of a shape in another panel or module you cannot use the syntax above. You have to access the method of the shape with the help of the CTRL - function “invokeMethode()” or by using the “shape” data type.

Example:

User wants to call the method selectedItems() for the a tree widget “TREE1”, which is placed in panel “PanelViews” in a module named “ModuleBase”.

If only getValue() function is used:

main()
{

   dyn_string dsItems;
   getValue("ModuleBase.PanelViews:TREE1","selectedItems",dsItems );   
}

WinCC OA UI throws following error message in the Log Viewer:

Object "TREE1" of type "TREE" does not know the attribute "selectedItems" for "getValue()"

Solution: Use of “invokeMethode” or “shape” data type:

main()
{

   dyn_string dsItems;
   invokeMethod("ModuleBase.PanelViews:TREE1", " selectedItems ", dsItems);

   // OR

   shape s = getShape("ModuleBase. PanelViews:TREE1");

   dsItems = s.selectedItems();
}