Professional IronPython

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CHAPTER 9
InteractIng wIth cOM Objects
if MyBits.__and__(0x20) == 0x20:
print(‘\tAutorun Disabled for CD-ROM Drives’)
else:
print(‘\tAutorun Enabled for CD-ROM Drives’)
if MyBits.__and__(0x40) == 0x40:
print(‘\tAutorun Disabled for RAM Disk Drives’)
else:
print(‘\tAutorun Enabled for RAM Disk Drives’)
# Pause after the debug session.
raw_input(‘Press any key to continue...’)
This example starts by showing a different kind of 
import
call. In this case, the 
import
retrieves 
only the 
Activator
and 
Type
classes from the 
System
assembly. Using this approach reduces envi-
ronmental clutter. In addition, using this technique reduces the memory requirements for your appli-
cation and could mean the application runs faster. The example also imports the 
time
module.
The first step in this application can seem a little complicated so it pays to break it down into two 
pieces. First, you must get the type of a particular object by using its identifier within the registry 
with the 
Type.GetTypeFromProgID()
method. As previously mentioned, the object used in this 
example is 
Shell.Application
. After the code obtains the type, it can create an instance of the 
object using 
Activator.CreateInstance()
.
The 
Shell.Application
object, 
ShObj
, provides several interesting methods and this example 
works with three of them. The first method, 
ToggleDesktop()
, provides the same service as click-
ing the Show Desktop icon in the Quick Launch toolbar. Calling 
ToggleDesktop()
the first time 
shows the desktop, while the second call restores the application windows to their former appear-
ance. Notice the call to 
time.sleep(2)
, which provides a 2-second pause between the two calls.
The second method, 
GetSetting()
, accepts a constant value as input. Listing 9-4 shows common 
settings you can query using 
GetSetting()
. The example shows the results of three queries about 
Windows Explorer settings for file display. You can see these results (as well as the results for the 
third method) in Figure 9-15.