ActiveX

So you want to be an expert on ActiveX controls? I assume you already know C/C++ programming or atleast some kind of programming. Otherwise you probably surfed onto this page and now is a good time for you to leave!

I have included both good books and web links, so that even if you don't have access to books you can learn something!

Before I give the step by step method to master the suite of ActiveX technologies let me give you a series of quick articles, to those of you who are impatient to get things done quickly.

The Component Object Model: A Technical Overview by Sara Willliams and Charlie Kindel
ActiveX controls Overview by Nancy Cluts
Creating an ActiveX control using ATL/C++ tutorial.

Now, to learn about ActiveX controls the hard way:

The ActiveX controls use COM(Component Object Model) as their underlying technology, so it is a good idea to learn COM first.

Read the book, 'Inside COM'

by Dale Rogerson. You can buy it directly from the MSPress website by following the link. You can skip this step, if you are fairly intelligent and can read the actual COM specification indicated below, otherwise this book gives you the basic ideas in COM.

Read the COM (Component Object Model) specification

. This is one document you should read thoroughly. Simply the best documentation available on the subject.

It may be a good idea to look up some related cool new technologies like DCOM(Distributed COM), MTS, COM+ etc as well. These are not critical to the understanding of ActiveX controls, but it is good to know atleast something about them.

Read the book 'Inside DCOM'

by Guy & Henry Eddon. I haven't read it, but I heard it is ok to read and you might learn something about DCOM. There is also the DCOM protocol specification

. You can skip it, if you don't care about network protocol specific details.

Read the book 'Microsoft Transaction Server 2.0'

by Gray, Steven D., Rick A. Lievano, and Roger Jennings. I don't have much idea about MTS, neither do I know whether this book is good! If you don't have enough time, here is an introduction to MTS

COM+ is a relatively new technology, there aren't many good resources yet. But these two articles give a good introduction : Part I

& Part II

. To read the full articles you might need access to some old editions of Microsoft Systems Journal (MSJ)

. If you are not subscribing to it already, then you are not a serious PC developer!

Now it is time for more reading. Did anybody tell you learning to develop ActiveX controls was fun?

Read the book 'ActiveX controls Inside Out'

by Adam Denning. I rather liked the book by Kraig Brockschmidt : 'Inside OLE'

, it has more comprehensive coverage about the OLE technology from which ActiveX controls evolved. You can also read it online at MSDN

An excellent online information source for ActiveX controls is at MSDN Online

. You can also find the COM spec and other related ActiveX information.

Now, the next step you take depends on your programming language and object library.

My personal favorite is Active Templates Library(ATL) which ships with Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0 and higher. Start here, if you are a C++ programmer wanting to know more about kewl ATL programming

Want to get some hands on experience building ActiveX controls using ATL? Here is a tutorial

which gives you step by step instructions on how to build an ActiveX control using Active Templates Library(ATL).

Oh, I forgot to tell you about Don Box(the highly respected guy who writes the COM Q&A column in MSJ and has a license plate which says 'IUNKNOWN'). He recently wrote an excellent book on COM : 'Essentials of COM'.

By this time, you should be knowing enough about COM/OLE/ActiveX to find a new job! Otherwise, you better stick on to your current one!

Please let me know whether this site has helped you get some useful information. Sign my guestbook here or sent email to me. Your comments are important to me!

ActiveX Resources:

MSDN Library Online	The best site for ActiveX information, Click here to go directly to the COM/Activex info in MSDN.
Microsoft Activex site	Official gateway for ActiveX information, one useful thing I found there is the COM spec document.
'Open ActiveX' site	The non-microsoft ActiveX website.
ATL mailing list	If you want to hear about other people's problems and or share your problems while using ATL and Visual C++!

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