What does activex control mean?

ActiveX control refers to a "plug-in program", which is a very small program used on the Internet. It is a reusable software component. By using ActiveX control, you can quickly add it to a website or desktop application. , and add special functions to development tools.

The operating environment of this tutorial: Windows 10 system, Dell G3 computer.

What is the activex control?

activex is Microsoft's name for a series of strategic object-oriented programming technologies and tools, the main technology of which is Component Object Model (COM). In networks with directory and other support, COM becomes distributed COM (DCOM).

ActiveX controls are very small programs used on the Internet, sometimes called plug-ins. They can enhance your browsing experience by allowing animations to play or helping perform tasks such as installing security updates from Microsoft Update.

When creating an ActiveX program, the main job is the component, a program that can be self-sufficient and run anywhere on an ActiveX network (today's networks mainly include Windows and Mac). This component is an ActiveX control. ActiveX was proposed by Microsoft to compete with Sun Microsystems' JAVA technology. The function of this control is similar to the function of java applet.

If you are using a Windows operating system, you may notice some files ending with OCX. OCX stands for "Object Linking and Embedding Controls" (OLE). This technology is a program technology proposed by Microsoft to handle the mixed use of desktop files. Nowadays, the concept of COM has replaced part of OLE, and Microsoft also uses ActiveX controls to represent component objects.

One of the great advantages of components is that they can be reused by most applications (these applications are called component containers). A COM component (ActiveX control) can be developed by development tools in different languages, including C and Visual Basic or PowerBuilder, and even some technical languages ​​such as VBScript.

Currently, ActiveX controls run in Windows 95/NT and Macintosh, and Microsoft is also preparing to support UNIX ActiveX controls.

activex control component classification

1. Automation server: a component that can be driven by other application programming. The automation server includes at least one, and possibly multiple, IDispatch-based interfaces for other applications to generate and connect to. An automation server may or may not have a user interface (UI), depending on the server's features and capabilities.

2. Automation controller: Those applications that use and manipulate the automation server.

3. Control: ActiveX control is equivalent to the previous OLE control or OCX. A typical control includes design-time and run-time user interfaces. The unique IDispatch interface defines the methods and properties of the control, and the unique IConnectionPoint interface is used for events that the control can raise.

4. Document: ActiveX document, formerly known as DocObject, represents an object that is more than a simple control or automation server. ActiveX documents are structurally extensions of OLE links and models, and have more control over the container in which they reside. One of the most noticeable changes is how the menus are displayed. A typical OLE document's menu will be merged with the container menu into a new collection, while an ActiveX document will replace the entire menu system, showing only the characteristics of the document rather than the common characteristics of the document and container.

5. Container: An ActiveX container is an application that can serve as an automation server, control and document host.

activex control application

ActiveX control is a reusable software component. By using ActiveX control, you can quickly Special features are added to desktop applications and development tools. For example, the StockTicker control can be used to add active information to the web page in real time, and the animation control can be used to add animation features to the web page. Today, there are more than 1,000 commercial ActiveX controls, and controls can be developed using various programming languages, such as C, C++, the next generation of Microsoft Visual Basic®, and Microsoft's Visual Java development environment Microsoft Visual J™. The main editing languages ​​are: mainly C, VB, VC, C#, Java, delphi, PowerBuilder, and VBScript. Once an ActiveX control is developed, designers and developers can use it as a preassembled component for developing client programs. Using ActiveX controls in this way, users do not need to know how these components are developed. In many cases, they do not even need to program themselves to complete the design of web pages or applications.

ActiveX controls can be used on Windows Forms and Web programs, so no matter what language the application is developed, as long as it is used in Windows Forms and HTML pages, it can also be used on MAC and JAVA platforms. Some of them use ActiveX controls, which are the various online banking security controls and other applications we usually see.

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