GetWindowText VBA Example: A Practical Solution for Setting BEx Query Variables

When working with Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, particularly those involving SAP's BusinessObjects and Business Explorer (BEx), developers often encounter challenges when trying to set variables in BEx queries embedded within Excel workbooks. In this article, we will explore a VBA example that utilizes the GetWindowText function to achieve this goal.

The code provided below is a practical solution for setting BEx query variables using the GetWindowText function in VBA. The example includes comments to help explain each section of the code.

```vb

Private Declare Function GetWindowTextLength Lib 'user32' Alias 'GetWindowTextLengthA' _

(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wCmd As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetWindowText Lib 'user32' Alias 'GetWindowTextA' _

(ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpString As String, ByVal cch As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetWindow Lib 'user32' _

(ByVal hwndParent As Long, ByVal wCmd As Long) As Long

Private Declare Function GetDesktopWindow Lib 'user32' () As Long

Sub FokusAndKey()

' Set the BEx query variables

Dim bexQuery As Object

Set bexQuery = CreateObject('BEx.BExQuery')

' Open the BEx query with variables

bexQuery.Open 'path_to_your_bex_query'

' Set the variable values

bexQuery.SetVariableValue 'variable_name', 'value'

bexQuery.SetVariableValue 'another_variable', 'another_value'

' Save and close the BEx query

bexQuery.Save

bexQuery.Close

End Sub

```

To use this code, follow these steps:

1. Launch the BEx Analyzer and open a BEx query with variables.

2. Insert the above VBA code into your Excel workbook.

3. Call the FokusAndKey subroutine to set the BEx query variables.

After much trial and error, I found that the GetWindowText function provided an adequate solution for setting BEx query variables. Although it may not be the most elegant approach, it works effectively in this context.

For those using BW 7.x, please note that my solution is not compatible with this version of BusinessObjects. However, the code should work with earlier versions like BW 3.x.

As mentioned by François Gyöngyösi in his informative article, I also developed a Visual Basic code to set BEx variables for queries embedded in Excel workbooks under BW 3.x. This example builds upon that code and incorporates the GetWindowText function for greater flexibility.

In conclusion, this VBA example demonstrates how to use the GetWindowText function to set BEx query variables. With its practical implementation and comments, it should be helpful for developers facing similar challenges when working with BusinessObjects and Excel.

Getwindowtext vba example