Win32::OLE::Enum (Perl in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition)

23.3. Win32::OLE::Enum

Collection objects should always provide a Count property (the number of items in the collection) and an Item method. The Item method is used to access a particular collection item using a subscript, which may be an integer or a string, depending on the server. Collection objects may also optionally contain an Add and a Remove method.

Collection objects also support a standard COM interface (IEnumVARIANT) that allows you to enumerate each item in a collection. It defines methods that let you advance the iteration to the next item, skip a given item, restart the enumeration, and create a new copy of the iterator. While all servers are supposed to provide this interface, some servers don't implement all of the methods (often Reset and Clone are not implemented).

$cnt = $coll->Count( );
if( $cnt) {
    $obj = $coll->Item(0);
    $obj->do_something( );
}

Count will tell you the number of items in the collection, and Item will return the desired item as a Win32::OLE object.

For the enumeration methods, you need to create an enumeration object for the collection object:

$coll = $obj->some_coll( );
$enum = Win32::OLE::Enum->new($coll);

23.3.1. Win32::OLE::Enum Methods

The following methods are defined in Win32::OLE::Enum.

new

Win32::OLE::Enum->new($obj)

Creates a new Win32::OLE::Enum object. Provides it with a collection object or an existing Enum object, in which case it calls Clone.

All

$Enum->All(  )

Returns a list of all objects in the collection. Note that to use All again, you need to first call Reset.

Clone

$Enum->Clone(  )

Returns a copy of the current iterator. This method is supposed to maintain the same iteration position, if possible, but may be unimplemented.

Next

$Enum->Next([count])

Returns the next item in the collection. You can optionally provide Next with a count (which must be greater than zero), in which case it returns a list of the next count items. Note that if you provide a scalar context in conjunction with a count, you'll get only the last item in the list of returned items. Next returns undef if it is currently on the last item in the collection.

Reset

$Enum->Reset(  )

Restarts the enumeration with the first item in the collection. Reset returns true if it succeeds, false if it fails. Note that this method may be unimplemented.

Skip

$Enum->Skip([count])

Skips the next count number of items of the enumeration (again, count must be positive and defaults to 1). Skip returns false if there are not at least countitems left.