Here's the basics: 
use strict;

# This turns off output buffering, so output is immediate.
$| = 1; 

# Load Wordnet
use WordNet::QueryData;
# Adjust location as needed
my $wordnet = WordNet::QueryData->new("wordnet.db"); 

# This reads lines from STDIN.  If there is no input, 
# it waits.
while (my $input = <>) {
    # Remove the newline from the end
    chomp $input;

    # Here we have to think about a protocol.
    # I suggest something of the form command;arg1;arg2
    my ($command, $arg1, $arg2) = split ';', $input;

    my @results;

    # Dispatch based on command
    if ($command eq 'quit') {
       exit;
    } elsif ($command eq 'word') {
       # Do a WordNet queryWord
       @results = $wordnet->queryWord($arg1, $arg2);
    } elsif ($command eq 'sense') {
       @results = $wordnet->querySense($arg1, $arg2);
    } else {
       die "Unknown command $command";
    }

    # OK, send the results back out over STDOUT
    my $line = join ',', @results;
    print $line . "\n";
}

[download]
Now then, that's the Perl side. You can test it from the command line like this (if you saved it in wordnet-ipc.pl): 
  perl.exe wordnet-ipc.pl

[download]
It should appear to "hang", but really it's just waiting on your input. Try typing sense;run#v. To exit, type exit. The part I'm still fuzzy on is how to start up a process from VBA and get stream objects on it's input and output. I'm on a linux box now, so I don't have access to my VBA docs. I'll try to have a shot at it when I get home. --Clinton

In reply to Re^3: Absolute simplest way to keep a database variable persistent? by clwolfe
in thread Absolute simplest way to keep a database variable persistent? by natestraight

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