All Topics  
ActiveX

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

ActiveX
 
 
  Topics ActiveX Topic Home

ActiveX is a component object model
Component Object Model

Component Object Model is an interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages....
 (COM) developed by Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 for Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
. By using the COM
Component Object Model

Component Object Model is an interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages....
 runtime, developers can create software components
Component-based software engineering

Component-based software engineering is a branch of the software engineering discipline, with emphasis on decomposition of the engineered systems into Functional programming or logical components with well-defined Interface used for communication across the components....
 that perform a particular function or a set of functions. A software application can then compose
Function composition (computer science)

In computer science, function composition is an act or mechanism to combine simple subroutines to build more complicated ones. Like the usual function composition in mathematics, the result of the composed function is passed to the composing one via a parameter....
 one or more components in order to provide the functionality it intends to. Many Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 applications — including many of those from Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 such as Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of graphical user interface web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995....
, Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a popular set of interrelated desktop applications, servers and services. Microsoft Office is collectively referred to as an office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems....
, Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft. It can be used to develop Console application and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft W...
, Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a digital media media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing sound reproduction, video and viewing s on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices....
, etc. — use ActiveX controls to build their feature set as well as encapsulate their functionality as ActiveX controls so that the functionality can be embedded in other applications.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'ActiveX'
Start a new discussion about 'ActiveX'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


ActiveX is a component object model
Component Object Model

Component Object Model is an interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages....
 (COM) developed by Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 for Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
. By using the COM
Component Object Model

Component Object Model is an interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages....
 runtime, developers can create software components
Component-based software engineering

Component-based software engineering is a branch of the software engineering discipline, with emphasis on decomposition of the engineered systems into Functional programming or logical components with well-defined Interface used for communication across the components....
 that perform a particular function or a set of functions. A software application can then compose
Function composition (computer science)

In computer science, function composition is an act or mechanism to combine simple subroutines to build more complicated ones. Like the usual function composition in mathematics, the result of the composed function is passed to the composing one via a parameter....
 one or more components in order to provide the functionality it intends to. Many Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 applications — including many of those from Microsoft
Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a multinational corporation computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of computer software products for computing devices....
 such as Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of graphical user interface web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995....
, Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a popular set of interrelated desktop applications, servers and services. Microsoft Office is collectively referred to as an office suite, for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems....
, Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft. It can be used to develop Console application and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all platforms supported by Microsoft W...
, Windows Media Player
Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a digital media media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing sound reproduction, video and viewing s on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices....
, etc. — use ActiveX controls to build their feature set as well as encapsulate their functionality as ActiveX controls so that the functionality can be embedded in other applications. Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of graphical user interface web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995....
 also allows the ActiveX controls to be embedded inside web page
Web page

A web page or webpage is a resource of information that is suitable for the World Wide Web and can be accessed through a web browser.This information is usually in HyperText Markup Language or eXtensible HyperText Markup Language format, and may provide Navigation bar to other web pages via hypertext Hyperlink....
s.

ActiveX controls

ActiveX controls are small program building blocks that can be used to create distributed applications that work over the Internet
Internet

The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
 through web browsers. Examples include customized applications for gathering data, viewing certain kinds of files, and displaying animation.

ActiveX controls can be compared in some sense to a Java applet
Java applet

A Java applet is an applet delivered to the users in the form of Java bytecode. Java applets can run in a Web browser using a Java Virtual Machine , or in Sun Microsystems's AppletViewer, a stand-alone tool for testing applets....
, since both are designed to be downloaded and executed from web browsers. However, there are a few differences. Java applets can run on nearly any platform, while ActiveX components are only compatible with Microsoft's Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer , commonly abbreviated to IE, is a series of graphical user interface web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems starting in 1995....
 web browser
Web browser

A Web browser is a application software which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music, games and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network....
 and the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of software operating systems and graphical user interfaces produced by Microsoft. Microsoft first introduced an operating environment named Windows in November 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces ....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
. ActiveX controls are also granted a much higher level of control over Windows than Java applets, making them both more powerful and dangerous. Malware
Malware

Malware, a portmanteau from the words Malice and Computer software, is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's informed consent....
, such as computer virus
Computer virus

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without the permission or knowledge of the user. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability....
es and spyware
Spyware

Spyware is computer software that is installed wikt:surreptitiously on a personal computer to intercept or take partial control over the user's interaction with the computer, without the user's informed consent....
, is often distributed as ActiveX controls in webpages.

ActiveX controls can be written in MFC
Microsoft Foundation Class Library

The Microsoft Foundation Class Library is a Library that wrapper portions of the Windows API in C++ Class , including functionality that enables them to use a default application framework....
, ATL
Active Template Library

The Active Template Library is a set of template-based C++ classes developed by Microsoft that simplify the programming of Component Object Model objects....
, C++
C++

C++ is a general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as a middle-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level programming language and low-level programming language language features....
, C#, Borland Delphi
Borland Delphi

Delphi is a software development environment for Microsoft Windows applications. It has always supported development of native Windows applications in the Delphi programming language, a further development of Object Pascal....
 and Visual Basic
Visual Basic

'Visual Basic' is the third-generation programming language event-driven programming and integrated integrated development environment from Microsoft for its Component Object Model programming model....
. Common examples of ActiveX controls are the command button
Button (computing)

In computing, a button is a user interface element that provides the user a simple way to trigger an event , like searching for a query at a search engine, or to interact with dialog boxes, like confirming an action....
, list box
List box

A list box is a GUI widget that allows the user to select one or more items from a list contained within a static, multiple line text box. The user clicks inside the box on an item to select it, sometimes in combination with the the Shift or Control key in order to make multiple selections....
, dialog box
Dialog box

In graphical user interfaces, a dialog box is a special Window , used in user interfaces to display information to the user, or to get a response if needed....
es, and even the Internet Explorer browser
Web browser

A Web browser is a application software which enables a user to display and interact with text, images, videos, music, games and other information typically located on a Web page at a website on the World Wide Web or a local area network....
.

Other ActiveX technologies

Microsoft has developed a large number of products and software platforms using ActiveX objects, and many are still in use today.
  • ActiveX Data Objects (ADO)
    ActiveX Data Objects

    Microsoft's ActiveX Data Objects is a set of Component Object Model object s for accessing data sources. It provides a Abstraction layer between programming languages and OLE DB ....
  • Active Server Pages
    Active Server Pages

    Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP, was Microsoft's first server-side scripting Active Scripting for dynamic web page. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows_NT_4.0#Option_Pack, it was subsequently included as a free component of Windows Server ....
  • ActiveMovie
    ActiveMovie

    ActiveMovie is a streaming media technology now known as DirectShow, developed by Microsoft to replace Video for Windows. ActiveMovie allows users to view media streams, whether distributed via the Internet, an intranet and CD-ROMs....
    , later renamed to DirectShow
    DirectShow

    DirectShow , codename Quartz, is a multimedia framework and application programming interface produced by Microsoft for software developers to perform various operations with media files or streams....
  • Active Messaging
    Collaboration Data Objects

    Collaboration Data Objects , previously known as OLE Messaging or Active Messaging, is an application programming interface included with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Exchange Server products....
    , later renamed to Collaboration Data Objects
    Collaboration Data Objects

    Collaboration Data Objects , previously known as OLE Messaging or Active Messaging, is an application programming interface included with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Exchange Server products....
  • Active Scripting
    Active Scripting

    Active Scripting is the technology used in Microsoft Windows to implement component-based scripting support. It is based on Component Object Model and allows installation of additional scripting engines in the form of COM modules....
    , a technology for scripting ActiveX objects
  • ActiveX Streaming Format
    Advanced Systems Format

    Advanced Systems Format is Microsoft's Proprietary software digital audio/digital video container format , especially meant for streaming media....
     (ASF), renamed to Advanced Streaming Format, then to Advanced Systems Format


Active technologies

In the late 1990s Microsoft began to reuse the term "Active" in a large number of their technologies. The following technologies are unrelated to ActiveX itself, but have similar naming:
  • Active Channel
    Active Channel

    Active Channel is a website type which was introduced by Internet Explorer 4 in 1997. It allows synchronizing website content and viewing it offline....
  • Active Desktop
    Active Desktop

    Active Desktop is a feature of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4's optional Windows Desktop Update that allows the user to add Hypertext Markup Language content to the desktop metaphor, along with some other features....
  • Active Directory
    Active Directory

    Active Directory is a technology created by Microsoft that provides a variety of network services, including:* Lightweight Directory Access Protocol-like directory services...


See also

  • Active Setup
    Active Setup

    Active Setup is originally a feature of Internet Explorer and Outlook, thus, through "integration", a feature of Microsoft Windows. What Active Setup does is this: when you visit a web page belonging to a software company that uses Active Setup, you are told when there is an update to the software you are using and asked for permi...
  • IUnknown
    IUnknown

    In programming, the IUnknown interface is the fundamental interface in the Component Object Model . The published mandates that COM objects must minimally implement this interface....
     interface
  • Windows DNA
    Windows DNA

    Windows DNA is short for Windows Distributed interNet Applications Architecture, a marketing name for a collection of Microsoft technologies that enable the Microsoft Windows platform and the Internet to work together....
  • NPAPI is the alternative browser plugin interface


External links