This took some figuring, let me tell you!

Here's what I figured out:

A statement like

my $database= new Win32::OLE:: "SourceSafe";
$database->Open ($name);
[download]

fails if the variable $name is bound to a Tk text widget. Just making a local copy of the value and using that copy works fine!

My guess is that the XS code behind the OLE method generator is assuming plain scalars and doesn't like tied variables.

Ouch.

—John