Documentation on COM objects generally specifies COM data type names similar to those shown in the tables Default conversions from COM data types to ABL data types and Conversions from ABL to COM data typesTable 1 and Table 1. However, some documentation and some COM object viewers might use an alternative nomenclature. The following table shows the most common alternates.

Table 1. Alternative COM data type names
Alternative name Common name
VT_ARRAY Array
VT_BOOL Boolean
VT_BSTR String
VT_BYREF Pointer
VT_BYREF + VT_VARIANT Variant Pointer
VT_CY Currency
VT_DATE Date
VT_DISPATCH Object
VT_ERROR Error Code
VT_I1 Signed Byte
VT_I2 Signed Short (2-byte integer)
VT_I4 Signed Integer (4-byte integer)
VT_I8 Signed 8-byte Integer
VT_PTR Pointer
VT_PTR + VT_VARIANT Variant Pointer
VT_R4 Float (Single)
VT_R8 Double
VT_UI1 Unsigned Byte
VT_UI2 Unsigned Short (2-byte integer)
VT_UI4 Unsigned Integer (4-byte integer)
VT_UI8 Unsigned 8-byte Integer
VT_UNKNOWN Object
VT_VARIANT Variant ( anytype )