A puzzled newbie...

[12345666]

Hi all,

I am a newbie when it comes to ActiveX programming as you will definitely notice when reading my questions below. I have read lots of stuff about ActiveX but all the terminology makes my head spin and I cannot seem to put my finger on it. Below I have listed some questions and I would appreciate if someone could answer them.

If you can give me links to certain sites that are useful for newbies please don't hesitate to mention them as well.

1. What is exactly the difference between an ActiveX control and an ActiveX component?

2. What is an ActiveX Server Component compared to a ‘normal’ ActiveX component?

3. When should I choose to develop an ActiveX component (or control) instead of a normal COM component?

4. I have read that an ActiveX control is something you download and automatically gets installed whenever Internet Explorer hits a site that uses an ActiveX control. Is this correct and, if so, how does this differ than with an ActiveX component?

5. Any COM component needs to have the IDispatch interface implemented before it can be used in a HTML page using for instance JScript [y|n]?

6. Any COM component that implements the IDispatch interface can be considered an ActiveX component [y|n]?

7. If the answer to the previous question is negative; what is the difference between an ActiveX component and a COM component that has IDispatch implemented?

8. ActiveX Components can either be an EXE or a DLL. I have read somewhere that an EXE is used for DCOM (out-of-process & beyond one machine) and a DLL within an in-process application. Is this correct [y|n]?

9. When do I select “Simple Object” and when “Active Server Component” in the ATL Object Wizard of Visual C++?

Kind regards,
Mark

 

[Cagliostro]

1. no difference
2. the same thing
3. ActiveX you develop when you should have visual interface to your ActiveX, but there is quite no difference
4. Is correct, no difference
5. y
6. y
7. there is quite no difference. ActiveX it is a COM based specification which means COM object and COM client to it. Usualy when you say ActiveX it means it has visual interface, events, storage, but is enough to have implemented IDispatch.
8. y. If you use a DCOM dll, you should have a dll surrogate which wrapps this DCOM in an .exe and akts as an .exe server.
9. Simle object is when you do not need Visual Interface, connection points, events... But you can extend it to more complicated ActiveX. So, sometime you begin from something simple, but get in something more complicated which you could generate at the beginning with other type of wizard.

Ion Filipski

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AIM: IonFilipski
filipski@excite.com