Is ActiveX the answer?

I'm new to the forum. I am a Java developer by trade, however I've done (and still do) a good bit of Visual Basic. I have never done a VB ActiveX control, and I have a few questions so (hopefully) someone smarter than me can guide me in the right direction.

I have written a VB application that "helps" the user install browser plugins/applications that are required to use our main application based on Java applets. This VB app queries the registry and files on the file system to determine if a plugin has been installed and is the correct version. It will tell the user what he/she needs to download, then do the download, and start the installation proceedure.

My boss doesn't like that the user has to initially download and install the VB helper app. He would rather have a web page that could do this. My initial thoughts are to turn this VB app into an ActiveX control and embed it in an HTML page. Here are my questions:

1. Will this simplify the installation? I realize an ActiveX control has to be "installed" on the machine, but my experience shows this to be a much less obtrusive installation proceedure.... can that be true?

2. If I need to make changes to the ActiveX control, how is the "upgrade" process handled? Is it simply a matter of putting the newest version of the control on the web server... meaning it's as seamless as upgrading Java Applets?

3. How do I get past the browser security settings? I can't seem to get a control to run on anyone else's machine unless the browser security is super low. I've tried making the control marked "safe for scripting" (which is how I found this forum), but that didn't have any effect. Maybe I did it wrong. If I sign the control would that work? If so, is there a way to generate your own signature, or do I have to go to a third party vendor (Verisign, etc...)?

Thank you for your help.

kerank

in my option I tend to keep well away from OCX. as when you have any new updates to the OCX you need to register them agian. which in my option is very time comsumeing. I not tryed ActiveX tho pages my self. but once I did read that you are right you do need to sign the control. there is a tool for this on the Visual Studio 6 cd not sure what it's called now but it is there.

Have you though along the lines of ASP if this is for a webapp. you chould then use that to access the Registry to check for updates.

anyway good luck

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Originally Posted by dreamvb

in my option I tend to keep well away from OCX. as when you have any new updates to the OCX you need to register them agian.

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That's not quite true. If you change the interfaces on the ActiveX control - which I am assuming that if you're coming from a Java background you are familiar with IDL - you will need to re-register.

If the interface(s) remains unchanged so does the registry entries.

If you add a new interface (the 'right' way to ensure backward compatibility) then only the new interface will need to be registered. The old registry entries will remain the same.

The only real problem with ActiveX controls is that they only run on Windows clients. If that's not an issue, then using ActiveX controls is not an issue.

ActiveX has its place. I use them extensively in my Object-Oriented Component-Development. When used for standard applications and COM and DCOM applications, they are very freindly, powerful, and elegant.

I have used them embedded in HTML pages and found it a huge pain in the arse. For your case I would not recommend it. In order to bypass security issues I have seen ways to encrypt the ActiveX Control's signature as super-safe, but since XP SP2, even this has not been enough to deliver an elegant solution.