1	Alpha Five
2	A Short History OLE - Object Linking & Embedding Primarily about Documents Introduction of scripting of objects Linking vs. Embedding Linking – References to Files Embedding – Files live with the program Servers activate inside the client COM – Component Object Model
3	ActiveX Re-branding of OLE Introduction of Windowing Controls Graphs Grids Date Controls Recognition of the importance of scripting Far more third-party controls than previously
4	What is Automation? Using an object written by someone else as if it were part of my own application Reading properties dim Title as C Title = someobject.Title Writing Properties someobject.Title = “Hello World!”
5	What is Automation? (continued) Calling functions someObject.Recalculate() Responding to events Objects “trigger” events by calling functions You implement those functions only if you care Example function Click as V (x as B, y as N) msg = “User clicked at x = “ + x + “ and y = “ + y ui_msg_box(Just Testing, msg) end function
6	Finding ActiveX Objects Objects are registered at install time Listed in the Windows Registry Entries describe Properties, Events & Methods (functions) How to create/load and use the object Identifies how the object should be used Control Programmable Insertable
7	Using a Programmable Object Creating a new object requires a short name Programmatic Identifier (ProgId) Call ole.create() to create a new instance Access the object using dot (”.”) syntax Example dim someobject as p someobject = ole.create(“owc.spreadsheet”) someobject.Range("A1").Select() someobject.ActiveCell = "Name"
8	Using Controls with Forms Select ActiveX (the big X) from the ToolBox and place a rectangle on the workspace.
9	Using Controls with Forms (continued) A dialog will open listing available controls. Select your control from the list and click Insert.
10	Using Controls with Forms (continued) Access control properties, and methods in form scripts with the syntax: dim object as p object = my_control_name.activex.this if object.title = “” then object.Title = “Hello World!” object.Refresh() end if
11	Using Controls with Forms (continued) Select ActiveX Event from the menu or right-mouse button to script events published by the control.
12	Using Controls with Forms (continued)
13	Using Controls with XDialogs Declare variables to identify the control dim img as p dim img.object as p dim img.class as c img.class = "imaging.editctrl.1"
14	Using Controls with XDialogs (continued) Add the control to the dialog definition {activex=80,25img}
15	Using Controls with XDialogs (continued) Access control properties, and methods in dialog event handlers with the syntax: dim object as p object = img.object if object.title = “” then object.Title = “Hello World!” object.Refresh() end if
16	Using Controls with XDialogs (continued) Script event handlers for the control img.events = <<%code% function Click as v () self.zoom = iif(self.Zoom + 10 < 6554, self.zoom + 10, 2) self.Display() end function function DblClick as v () ‘ To Do end function %code%
17	Using Controls with XDialogs (continued)
18	Browsing ActiveX Registry Entries