About ActiveX

[Geekgirl]

What is an ActiveX control?

ActiveX Controls are reusable software components that incorporate ActiveX technology. These components can be used to add specialized functionality, such as animation or pop-up menus, to Web pages, programs, and software development tools. Windows Update uses ActiveX controls to check what software is installed on your computer in order to provide you with a correct list of updates and other software you may want to download.

A key advantage of ActiveX controls over Java™ applets and Netscape™ plug-ins is that ActiveX controls can also be used in applications written in many programming languages, including all of the Microsoft programming and database languages.

There are more than 1,000 ActiveX controls available today with functionality ranging from a timer control (which simply notifies its container at a particular time) to full-featured spreadsheets and word processors. If you can imagine it, you can do it with an ActiveX control.

You can add ActiveX controls to your Web pages by using the standard HTML <OBJECT> tag. The object tag includes a set of parameters that you use to specify which data the control should use and to control the appearance and behavior of the control.