Embed Object Link. 1

[Fendal]

Hi All,

I'm new to ActiveX, could somebody tell me if the ocx file I saved and registered on a server can be displayed without actually going to the server, for example with applet you could put this code in a html file

<applet codebase=[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.ClockBot.com/[/URL] code=clockbot.Clock width=300 height=30>

and it will load the class from the site, could an ActiveX ocx work the same way as that, or am I way off ?.

Thanks.

 

[BobRodes]

Well, not WAY off...

You will have to have the ocx installed on your machine to run it. If your page calls for it, it will download from the site, install on your machine, and run locally. The next time you call a page with it embedded that won't happen, because it will already be installed.

The way you typically accomplish this is with an HTML OBJECT tag. Here's an abbreviated example from macromedia's site:

<object classid="CLSID:15B782AF-55D8-11D1-B477-006097098764" 
codebase="[URL unfurl="true"]http://download.macromedia.com/[/URL] pub/shockwave/cabs/authorware/awswaxf.cab#version=5,2,0,61">
  <param name="SRC" value="myfile.aam">
  <param name="PALETTE" value="background">
  <param name="WINDOW" value="inPlace">
  <param name="BGCOLOR" value="#FFFFFF">
</object>

If the specified classid isn't in the local registry (under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID), you'll download the ocx file from the place specified in the codebase parameter. If a version is specified (as in this example), you'll download if the version you have registered is older than the one specified. Parameters are optional to this process, although they may of course be required by the ocx or dll you're installing.

Of course, this is all very nice on paper, but in the real world it's very often the case that network administrators don't allow users to download and install stuff from the internet, since it's a great way to propagate viruses. Furthermore, people were not usually in the mood to download some 12 meg file just to see whatever it was they could see. So, the usefulness of this has been rather limited, usually on intranets.

HTH

Bob

 

[Fendal]

Thanks, Bob.

 

[BobRodes]

You're most welcome, and thank you for the star.

The point about ActiveX components is that they are COM compliant. If you want to find out more about ActiveX (which is a so-often-used term it really has no meaning) Components, read up on COM, which will give you the lowdown. However, basically, it means that there must be a Classid (in the form of a GUID) in the local registry, or in some situations on the LAN (DCOM, or Distributed Component Object Model, is what covers this).

Bob