Variant BSTRs should automatically print nicely.

You say you found GetFileName in OLE View, but was it of type "Dispinterface" or something else? Do you have an automation/scripting object model for the component--or can you get one?

COM/OLE components can contain interfaces that only C/C++ can hit. And they often contain thin wrappers, called Dispinterfaces, around these C/C++ calls that VB, vbs, Perl, et al can easily use. You may have found the wrong one. I wonder if the syntax is going to be something different... for instance:

my $filename = $XRawFile->{Filename};
[download]

** /me shrugs ** But this is just a hunch.

--
Never tell me the odds!